PlantPal

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  welcome prototype of plantpal

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  prototype of plantpal

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  prototype of plantpal

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  logo

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  ai helper

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  main page

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  community section

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  flower section

Inspiration

As someone who recently moved from a big city to start a small sustainable farm for my family, I quickly realized how hard it is to know what plants to grow—or even where to begin. I wanted to support local biodiversity, grow useful plants, and avoid making beginner mistakes like planting invasive species. But the information was fragmented and overwhelming.

That’s what inspired me to create PlantPal—an app I wish I had when I started. It’s designed to help people like me: beginners trying to do the right thing for the planet and their own backyard or plant some herbs on their kitchen table.

What it does

PlantPal is a mobile and web app that helps people create eco-friendly gardens by recommending native plants based on their location. Creating community to share your ideas, or your experience. It uses AR to preview how plants will look in their space, calculates an eco-score to show environmental impact, and builds a community around sustainable gardening. Users can:

Discover native plants suited to their area

See how plants look in their real garden using AR

Track their eco-impact

Share their gardens and achievements with others nearby

How we built it

Frontend: React Native with Expo for the mobile app, ensuring cross-platform compatibility.

Backend: Firebase for authentication, user profiles, and storing garden data.

AR: Implemented with AR.js to preview plants in real environments.

Data: Used the GBIF API and local JSON sets to suggest region-appropriate native plants.

Website: Built with Next.js and hosted on Vercel, showcasing our mission, garden map, and educational blog.

Challenges we ran into

Finding accurate and localized plant data that’s beginner-friendly.

Balancing simplicity vs. functionality—making the app helpful without overwhelming the user.

Getting AR to work.

Designing an experience that works both for city apartment gardeners and rural landowners.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a working prototype of the PlantPal app in just a few days

Successfully integrated real biodiversity data and turned it into user-friendly suggestions

Developed an AR preview feature that works

Designed a clean, beginner-friendly UI for people with zero gardening experience

Created a strong narrative and mission that’s both personal and globally relevant

What we learned

Native plant gardening is both powerful and underrepresented in tech

AR can be challenging outdoors, but offers amazing potential for environmental education

Users need hyper-local recommendations to feel confident taking action

Gamification and visuals make sustainability more accessible to beginners

Building for both urban and rural users requires thoughtful design decisions

What's next for PlantPal

Add plant recognition using the camera (computer vision)

Partner with local seed providers and environmental NGOs

Launch monthly eco-challenges and leaderboards to build a community

Expand the plant database with user-contributed data and local experts

Create a “Garden Map” to visualize green spaces planted by users globally

Release a public beta and gather feedback from real-world gardeners

Built With

• and
• ar.js
• firebase-for-authentication
• garden
• gbif
• json
• react-native-with-expo-for-the-mobile-app
• storing
• user-profiles