It is late at night and above you stretches the vast expanse of the Southern African sky that stretches to eternity. You are alone with your thoughts, or at least you think you are. Suddenly, your senses are jolted awake by an unexpected sound. You look around, but see nothing. Then you hear it again: “Ribbit-ribbit… ribbit-ribbit…” You take out your phone. It’s time to discover who your companion is.

This is thanks to a new app, Frogs of Southern Africa, the brainchild of Prof Louis du Preez from the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at the North-West University (NWU), developed in collaboration with herpetologist Vincent Carruthers.

Southern Africa is home to more than 170 species of frogs, a number that reflects its rich biodiversity, but also highlights its ecological fragility. Amphibians, as members of the vertebrate class Amphibia, are the most threatened of all vertebrates globally. This means they also serve as warning alarms for environmental degradation – although those calls often go unheard. Until now.

The app’s development is rooted in a desire to change that. “The general public do not know frogs like they know birds and mammals,” says Prof du Preez. “This is an attempt to bring the information to them, to raise awareness and promote appreciation.” Built over several years through painstaking fieldwork, collaboration, and a dash of personal obsession, the app curates a trove of photographs, audio recordings and videos that vividly capture each species’ behaviour, habitat, and most notably, its call.

From the croaky “kwaark” of the Common River Frog to the duck-like quack of the Raucous Toad (Sclerophrys capensis), each entry is presented in English, Afrikaans and scientific terminology. More than a mere directory, the app offers geo-referenced tools that allow users to identify which frogs occur where – whether in their back garden or at a planned destination. A photographic key further assists identification, making it invaluable to both researchers and amateurs.

That accessibility is precisely the point. The Lite version of the app is free to download. “Our hope is that people will get interested,” says Prof du Preez. In resource-constrained regions where environmental education is often a luxury, mobile apps like this offer a rare intersection of technology and the public good. By making biodiversity tactile and engaging, they foster curiosity and stewardship – especially among the youth, for whom conservation must become second nature.

“The app provides, for each of the more than 170 species of frogs of Southern Africa, the Afrikaans name, an explanation of the name, a description of the frog, a description of the call, the preferred habitats, the frog’s habits, and key identification points. Then, for each frog, we provide the call, and for most, we also provide a short video,” Prof du Preez explains.

“A very handy feature is that you can ask the app which frog species might occur where you are in Southern Africa, or if you plan to visit a particular area, you can tap on the map and the app will give you a list of which species you may expect. The app also provides a photographic key to help you identify any frog in the region.”

Remember that late-night visitor you wanted to identify…?

“The goal is to create awareness and get the public interested in frogs. There are no frogs in our region that pose any risks to humans.”

It’s not a threat, it’s a potential friend.