More of a self-directed way, but check out eBird for submitting bird observations and iNaturalist for almost everything else. The cool part about iNaturalist is that your observations also get identified by other people, so you know the submissions have been reviewed. And you could help identify others’ observations too.

Absolutely. Somehow, Apple and Google convinced people (even more tech savvy ones) to want constant app and security updates as if the world would end otherwise. I’ve seen complaints about gemini (the protocol not Google’s AI) browser not being updated (protocol has not been updated since 2022), and someone asking if it’s safe to boot up an old Android 7 phone.

And Apple dev license consting money does not help the situation.

Now up the challenge: In App Store, find a simple app that is not a “solution”, “ecosystem” nor a “lifestyle”, does not have ads, and does not require a subscription for basic functionality.

(Years ago, I tried about 10 RSS readers, News Reader was what I finally found, way down the list)