The Mycoquebec app is Mycoquebec's field tool. It lets you consult species, photos, descriptions, taxonomy, the glossary, maps, and your personal data even when connectivity is limited.

It complements the website: the website remains very useful for online consultation and some historical tools, while the app focuses on fast access, offline use, personal observations, favorites, identification guides, advanced search, quizzes, challenges, and synchronization across devices.

Yes. The app is designed as offline-first: species, taxonomy, the glossary, guide data, and part of the photo library can be stored locally.

For reliable field use, open the menu, tap Sync, and choose what you want to synchronize. Thumbnails and core data are lightweight; detailed photos take more space and can be preloaded according to a per-species limit.

Before a field trip, first synchronize the database. This updates species, taxonomy, photo metadata, the glossary, guides, and other essential data.

Then synchronize photos for offline access. You can choose no photos, a number of photos per species, or all photos. The more photos you choose, the longer the download takes and the more local storage it uses.

Photo preloading must calculate missing photos, check the local cache, and then download files one by one. Duration depends on your connection, the number of species, the selected number of photos, whether macro/micro/table photos are included, and what is already cached.

The counter shows progress when the total is known. If you interrupt the download, already downloaded photos are normally kept and synchronization can resume later.

The profile lets you sign in to Mycoquebec with Facebook, Google, or Apple. These three methods are used to create or recover your Mycoquebec account and synchronize your personal data.

Once signed in, the app can synchronize your favorites, observations, saved advanced searches, saved guide searches, challenges, badges, and subscription information. The selected method is shown in the menu under your name or profile photo.

In the app, Facebook, Google, and Apple serve the same purpose: the Mycoquebec server verifies your identity and issues a secure app session. You do not need to sign in with all three methods.

Choose the method you want to keep using long term. If you switch methods, make sure your observations and favorites have been synchronized with the account you want to keep.

You can use the app in guest mode. Your favorites, observations, and searches may then exist locally on the device, but they are not automatically available on your other devices.

When you sign in later, the app may offer to merge some local data with the signed-in account, such as favorites, observations, and saved searches. Read the merge prompt carefully so you can choose between adding local data to the account or loading only the data already associated with the account.

The iNaturalist link is separate from your Mycoquebec profile sign-in. It is only used for iNaturalist features: importing iNat observations into Mycoquebec and exporting a Mycoquebec observation to iNaturalist.

The iNaturalist token is stored locally in the app. It is not used as a Mycoquebec sign-in and does not replace Facebook, Google, or Apple for synchronizing your favorites, observations, challenges, and badges with the Mycoquebec server.

In the menu, tap Add observation. The screen lets you create a manual observation or import an iNaturalist observation if you know its number.

For a single import, enter the iNat ID. For batch import, separate numbers with commas, semicolons, or line breaks, for example 66897578, 66897579. The app respects iNaturalist limits and progressively imports available data: recognized species if it matches Mycoquebec, date, photos, and geolocation when available.

Open or create an observation, then use Export to iNat. An active iNaturalist link is required. The exported observation can include the species name, date, notes, location, and photos depending on what is present in your record.

If the observation is for an unknown or temporary species, a temporary name is required. If an observation already has an iNat ID, change it only if you know exactly why.

Open the menu and tap Add observation. You can choose a Mycoquebec species, create an observation for an unknown/temporary species, add a note, a text location, a collection number, a date, a map position, and up to five photos.

Observations are first saved locally. If you are signed in, they are then queued for synchronization so they can be sent to the server and recovered on your other devices.

Geolocation can come from three sources: the device's current position, GPS metadata from a gallery photo, or a position manually selected on the map.

A live camera photo mainly uses the device's current position. A photo selected from the gallery may or may not contain EXIF coordinates. If the photo has no GPS, or if the coordinates are invalid, the observation simply remains without a position until you choose one.

The Your observations section groups your personal observations. You can view them by Mycoquebec species, by photos, or by unidentified/temporary observations depending on the available mode.

Search within your observations lets you quickly find a species, temporary name, note, or item related to your local data. Synchronized observations remain available on your other devices when you use the same account.

In the menu, tap Export your observations. The export can produce a CSV of your observations and, depending on the selected option, a photo archive.

Use export before changing devices, to keep a personal copy of your data, or to work with your observations in a spreadsheet. If you are in guest mode, only the local observations on the current device are exported.

In species lists and species detail pages, the favorite icon lets you add or remove a species from your favorites. Favorites remain usable offline on the device.

If you are signed in with Facebook, Google, or Apple, changes are synchronized with your account. If you had favorites in guest mode before signing in, the app may offer to add them to the account.

The home screen offers several modes: species search, taxonomic navigation, practical groups, favorites, and observations. You can search by Latin name, French name, or synonyms depending on available data.

Sorting and display options let you change result order, name priority, image/name display, and some filters such as sequences or collections when available.

Taxonomic navigation lets you explore species by levels such as family, genus, or other taxonomic groups. Depending on the active mode, you can browse a list or a taxonomic tree.

It is useful when you know a family or genus but not the exact species, or when you want to compare all species in the same group.

Practical groups organize species into field-useful categories rather than strict taxonomy. They help quickly narrow the list when you start from a general impression: shape, ecology, fruiting type, or another practical grouping.

They do not replace a full identification, but they are very effective for starting a search when the name or family is not yet known.

A species page can include macro, micro, and table photos, a scientific description, glossary links inside the text, taxonomy, a distribution/observation map, and author, collection, and sequence information when available.

Photos can be viewed in panoramic or mosaic mode. HD mode loads more detailed images when connectivity and data allow it.

The glossary is available from the menu. It lets you search mycological terms and understand technical words used in descriptions.

In many descriptions, glossary terms may be directly linked. Tap a term to open its definition, then return to the species to continue reading.

Advanced search lets you combine criteria on species descriptions. First choose a search base: all species, a practical group, or a taxonomic group. Then add criteria targeting all sections or one specific section.

Criteria can be combined with AND to require all criteria to be true, or OR to accept species matching at least one criterion. Results can then be reviewed, temporarily removed, or marked as candidates.

Inside a criterion field, you can use a small logical syntax:

• | means OR: red|orange.
• & means AND: yellow&viscous.
• ! means NOT: !red.
• (...) groups an expression: (red|orange)&!viscous.
• @term requires case and accent sensitivity: @H or @É.

Useful examples: !red&white, yellow&!red&!@H&viscous. Without @, the search is normalized to make matching easier.

The global AND/OR choice at the top of advanced search controls how multiple separate criteria combine with each other. For example, a cap criterion and a gill criterion may both need to be true in AND mode.

The symbols &, |, !, (...), and @ act only inside a criterion text field. They are used to write a more precise condition within one section or across all sections.

Yes. The save button stores the search base, criteria, removed species, candidates, and overall search state. You can reopen it later from the saved searches list.

If you are signed in, these searches can also be synchronized with your account, allowing you to recover them on another device.

The Identification guide menu first opens a selection of available guides. Choose the guide matching the group you want to identify.

In the Criteria tab, each block shows a property and its possible values, with the number of matching species. By checking values, you progressively filter species. The Results tab shows the species still compatible with your choices.

Yes. A guide search can be saved with the selected guide, checked criteria, potential candidates, and removed species. This lets you resume an identification later without starting over.

Saved guide searches can be kept locally and synchronized with your account if you are signed in.

The geolocation map in the menu is used to explore geolocated species and observations. It can help visualize distributions, compare areas, and find your observations that have coordinates.

Displayed content depends on available data, active filters, zoom level, online/offline mode, and valid coordinates. An observation without latitude/longitude cannot appear as a map point.

Challenges and badges encourage exploration of the app and actions such as signing in, observations, favorites, or quizzes. Progress is calculated locally for responsiveness, then synchronized with your account when possible.

The quiz is a learning mode: it may ask you to match photos to a name or a name to photos. To work offline with photos, enough photos must be preloaded for the relevant species.

The menu contains settings for display, sorting, filters, app language, and synchronization preferences. You can adjust Latin/French name priority, sort order, view modes, and some data filters.

Important: the interface language can change, but the main scientific content remains in French when translated data is not available.

The app is field-oriented: offline access, fast consultation, personal observations, favorites, synchronization, guides, advanced search, and mobile tools.

The website provides broader online consultation and historical or specialized sections. Some new features may appear on the website before being adapted for the app.

No. The website is designed for online consultation. It can be very convenient on mobile, but it depends on an internet connection.

For a field trip or an area without network coverage, use the app instead and synchronize the needed data ahead of time.

The website map is used to explore geographic data online. It may display points, distributions, or layers depending on available data and active filters.

It is not designed as a complete replacement for the app's offline field mode. Results may differ between website and app depending on caches, zoom levels, permissions, filters, and sources used.

The most common causes are no connection, incomplete offline cache, interrupted synchronization, a photo not yet downloaded, or missing location data.

Try running synchronization again, temporarily reducing filters, checking your connection, or preloading more photos before a field trip. For maps, also make sure observations have valid coordinates.

Start with practical groups if you have a general impression. Then use the identification guide if a guide matches the observed group. If you have precise traits, use advanced search with sections such as cap, gills, stem, flesh, odor, habitat, or other available sections.

Then compare candidate pages: macro, micro, and table photos, description, taxonomy, map, and glossary. A personal observation can remain temporarily unidentified; you can correct it later.

Yes. Open the observation from the species page or from the Your observations section. You can edit notes, date, location, position, photos, and collection information depending on available fields.

If the observation was already synchronized, the change or deletion will be queued for synchronization so the server can be updated when connectivity allows.

If synchronization says a session is expired or invalid, open the profile and sign in again with your usual method. The app can then resume synchronization of favorites, observations, and searches.

Your local data does not disappear just because the session expires. The main issue is that the server cannot accept new synchronization until you sign in again.

The subscription grants access to the app's full feature set and may also activate web access associated with the account. The app checks subscription status and may show a subscription screen or export-only mode depending on the situation.

Even with limited access, the app aims to protect your personal data, especially by preserving the ability to export your local observations when that option is available.

The menu contains Help, which opens this FAQ. The menu also contains Replay tutorial, useful for repeating the onboarding path: menu, sign-in, observations, guide, advanced search, map, quiz, glossary, challenges, export, and settings.

If you are new, replaying the tutorial is often more effective than linear reading because it shows buttons in their exact context.

Two devices may differ if one is offline, if synchronization was interrupted, if you are not signed in to the same account, or if some data is still in the local queue.

Sign in on both devices with the same profile method, run synchronization, and let the process finish. Also check merge choices if guest-mode data existed on one device.

Before changing devices, sign in to your Mycoquebec profile, synchronize your favorites and observations, then use Export your observations to keep a CSV copy and, if desired, a photo archive.

On the new device, sign in with the same method and let synchronization finish. Unsynchronized and unexported data that exists only locally on the old device may be lost if the app is deleted.

On the website, use the sign-in icon or the Your MQ menu, then choose Sign in. The sign-in page offers Facebook, Google, and Apple.

After being redirected to the selected provider, the site returns to Mycoquebec and shows your name or profile at the top of the page. Prefer the same method you use in the app if you want to recover the same favorites, observations, and preferences.

The Your MQ menu groups account-related website features: your favorites, your observations, your Mycoquebec contributions when available, and your profile.

These sections generally require sign-in. If you are not signed in, the site redirects you to the sign-in page or shows a prompt asking you to sign in.

Yes. Facebook, Google, and Apple can be used to recover the same Mycoquebec account on the website and in the app, as long as you use the same sign-in method and the same provider identity.

If you switch methods, the site may treat you as another account. To avoid surprises, check your favorites and observations after signing in and keep the method you want to use long term.

After signing in, open Your MQ, then Your observations. The page lets you search among your observed species, view unidentified observations, display your photos, and consult related details.

You can filter or sort results by Latin name, French name, date added, taxonomic order, number of photos, sequences, collections, or other criteria depending on available data.

In Your observations, use Add observation. The form lets you choose a Mycoquebec species or an observation to identify, then add the date, collection number, iNaturalist number, location, coordinates, photos, and notes.

Photos can be added by selecting files or by drag and drop, with a limit of five photos per observation. Coordinates can be entered directly, taken from your current position, or chosen on a map.

In Your observations, open the desired observation, then use the edit button when it is available. The same form opens in edit mode and lets you correct the species, temporary name, date, location, coordinates, photos, iNaturalist number, collection number, and notes.

The Delete button removes the observation. Because these data are associated with your account, make sure you are signed in to the right profile before editing or deleting an important observation.

In the website observation form, enter an iNaturalist number and use Import. You can also use Batch iNat import to enter several numbers separated by commas, semicolons, spaces, tabs, or line breaks.

The import attempts to retrieve available information: a Mycoquebec-compatible identification, date, photos, location, and other useful metadata. iNaturalist service limits and availability can affect speed or results.

Observations linked to your Mycoquebec account can be viewed from the website and from the app once synchronization has had time to complete. Changes made on the website are saved server-side; the app must then synchronize to recover them locally.

If an observation is missing on a device, first check that you are signed in with the same method, that the network connection works, and that app synchronization has finished.

The website offers several entry points: species-name search, taxonomic groups, practical groups, photographic index, Latin or French name lists, genera, taxonomic trees, and advanced search.

Results can lead to species pages with macro photos, micro plates, descriptions, comparative tables, identification keys, maps, collection information, and external links when available.

From the website menu, open Search, then Advanced. Advanced search is used to search within species descriptions. You can start from all species, a taxonomic group, a practical group, or an initial search, then add criteria in a specific section or in any section.

Inside a criterion field, search is normally insensitive to case and accents: tete can therefore match tête or Tête. To search near the beginning of a word or avoid a partial-word match, a leading space can be useful: green will more easily find a phrase such as green cap than a word that only contains the same letter sequence.

You can use a simple logical syntax: & means AND, | means OR, ! excludes a term, and @ requires case and accent sensitivity. Examples: red&yellow, red|green, red&yellow&!white, @H, or @É.

Separate criteria can also be combined with AND or OR. The plus button adds a new section, and the list of relevant sections can update according to the results that are still possible. Results update as you type; then open a species from the results to consult its photos, description, tables, keys, and other sections.

The comparator lets you load several species side by side from search results. Depending on screen width, you can compare two species on mobile or up to four on a wider screen.

The tabs provide access to macro photos, micro plates, descriptions, and the map. This is useful for quickly checking differences between similar species without opening several separate pages.

The interactive map displays geolocated specimens according to available data. You can search by species, taxonomic group, or practical group, then explore points on the map.

Results depend on collections or observations that have valid coordinates. No point on the map does not necessarily mean a species is absent from an area; it may simply not be geolocated in the consulted data.

The Genetics tools section lets you compare an ITS sequence against several mycological databases. You can paste a sequence in FASTA format or as plain text containing only GATC characters.

You can also retrieve a sequence from a GenBank number, an iNaturalist identifier, or an MQCOLL collection number when these data are available.

The Database choices panel lets you enable or disable BLAST targets. Local databases are faster: Mycoquebec, MycoMap, local BOLD, UNITE reference sequences, all UNITE sequences, and local GenBank TYPES.

Full online GenBank is also available, but it is slower and depends on the external service being available. Result tabs appear only for the selected databases.

Yes, if you are signed in. The save button in the database panel stores your BLAST target choices in your website preferences.

Recent BLAST searches are also associated with your account when you are signed in. You can name a search, find it in Your recent searches, refresh the list, and reopen a saved result from its identifier or link.

BLAST results are an identification aid, not an automatic identification. On Mycoquebec, only ITS sequences are indexed. A match above 99.5% is often significant, but it must be manually validated with morphology, ecology, provenance, and data quality.

Some species require a higher threshold, sometimes close to 100%, while other distinct species may share identical or nearly identical ITS sequences. External databases should also be cited correctly when their data are used in a scientific context.

Identification keys can be searched by species, taxonomic group, or practical group. When a key is opened, it progressively guides character comparison and leads toward compatible species.

The Glossary lets you search mycological terms, and on some pages description terms may link directly to their definition. This is useful for reading descriptions without losing taxonomic or morphological context.

The website offers the Mycoquebec quiz at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, with a high-score page. The quiz can use names and photos to practise species recognition.

The Help menu also gives access to the FAQ and explanatory videos. Forums and the blog complement learning by providing access to discussions, announcements, identifications, and community contributions.

If you are starting mostly from a visual impression, the website photographic index is often a good entry point. Open Index, then Photographic, and limit the search by species, taxonomic group, or practical group if you already have a lead.

If you are new, browse a broader set of photos instead. Similar or related species often appear near one another in the navigation, which helps you find a photo resembling your collection.

When a species looks plausible, open its page, then move upward in its taxonomic hierarchy or related groups if you need a broader comparison. This helps turn a visual resemblance into a more serious list of candidate species, which you can then verify with descriptions, micro photos, keys, maps, sequences, or collections.

Mycoquebec aims to document Quebec fungi with photos that are useful for identification, comparison, and scientific follow-up. Photos of rare, underrepresented, well-documented species, or specimens associated with a preserved collection, are especially useful.

The goal is not to accumulate many repeated images of every species, but to retain photos that add scientific or educational value: visible characters, developmental stages, habitat, morphological variation, material linked to a fungarium, or material linked to morphological/genetic study.

To propose a photo, use the Flickr group Identification des champignons du Québec. The photo can then be commented on and evaluated. If the identification is solid enough and the image fills a need, it may be integrated into the Mycoquebec website with the relevant information.

The big news is that Mycoquebec is launching a completely updated app very soon. It carries forward the spirit of La Fonge, but with a modern technical foundation, an interface adapted to current iOS/Android standards, and features designed for field use.

The website remains a very complete online resource for consultation, specialized tools, genetics, maps, keys, searches, and historical content. It is not designed to work fully offline.

For field trips or areas without network coverage, use the new Mycoquebec app instead and synchronize the needed data ahead of time: database, taxonomy, glossary, guides, observations, favorites, and photos according to available storage. The app becomes the modern continuation of the field use many people associated with La Fonge.