Last updated: August 21, 2026
Every beekeeper starts out certain they will remember. You will remember which hive was queenless in May, when the strips went in, which colony ran through its syrup twice as fast as the other. By August you remember none of it, and the questions that matter in a second year are exactly the ones you did not write down.
Records are the cheapest improvement available to a backyard beekeeper, and the argument for an app over a notebook is not that it is better at storing words. It is that the phone is already in your pocket, it timestamps and locates entries for you, and it can nag you about the mite strips you meant to pull. Here is what the options actually do and where a paper page still wins.
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Quick Answer
Do you need a beekeeping app to keep hive records?
- No, but you do need records, and the app usually wins because the phone is already with you.
- Apiary Book and HiveTracks are the two general-purpose hive log apps most backyard keepers land on.
- BroodMinder is a different animal: sensors in the hive feeding weight, temperature and humidity to an app.
- Whatever you use, the treatment log is the part that matters most, because dates and product names are what you cannot reconstruct later.
Bottom line: pick something you will still be using in September, and make sure it records mite counts and treatment dates.
What Records Are Actually For
Not nostalgia. Records exist so that next season you can answer three questions: what did this colony do last year, what did I do to it, and when. Those answers change decisions about requeening, splitting, feeding and treatment timing, and without them every year is a first year.
The treatment log carries the most weight. Which product, which date in, which date out, and what the mite count was before and after. That sequence is the difference between knowing a product worked in your apiary and believing it did, and it is the one thing nobody reconstructs accurately from memory in February.
What to Capture Each Visit
Queen seen or eggs seen, brood pattern, stores, temperament, space added or removed, and anything odd. Five fields, ten seconds each. Our ten minute inspection checklist is built around the same list, which makes the recording step feel like the end of the inspection rather than a separate chore.
The General Purpose Hive Log Apps
Apiary Book and HiveTracks are the two names that come up most for backyard-scale record keeping. Both let you set up apiaries and hives, log inspections against a structured form, record treatments and feeding, and attach photos. Both run on phone and web, and both have a free tier alongside a paid one, so check the current terms before committing.
The differences are matters of taste more than capability. HiveTracks leans toward a dashboard view and reporting, which suits people who like a season summary. Apiary Book leans toward quick entry and cross-platform sync, which suits a household where one person uses an iPhone and the other an Android tablet.
The Test That Matters
Install both, use each for two inspections, and keep whichever one you did not resent while standing in a bee suit with sticky gloves. Entry speed is the only feature that predicts whether an app survives to autumn. Everything else is a preference you can live with either way.
Sensors and the Scale Under the Hive
BroodMinder takes a different approach: small sensors that sit under or inside a hive and report weight, temperature and humidity to an app, so you can see what a colony is doing without opening it. Weight over time is genuinely informative, since it shows a nectar flow starting, a dearth arriving, or stores draining through winter.
It is also a hobby within a hobby, and it does not replace looking at brood. A scale cannot tell you the queen has failed, only that the hive stopped gaining. For a keeper who travels, or who wants to know whether the cluster is still consuming stores in January without cracking a lid in the cold, that data earns its place.
Paper Still Wins Sometimes
A waterproof notebook in the bee kit needs no signal, no battery and no gloves off, and a pencil works when a touchscreen will not read a sticky finger. Plenty of experienced keepers write in the field and transcribe later, or keep a simple card taped inside the telescoping cover of each hive.
The failure mode of paper is that it never gets aggregated. A shoebox of notes is not a record you can search in March. If you go paper, set a habit of copying the essentials into a spreadsheet at the end of each month, and keep that file somewhere that survives a lost notebook.
The Marker on the Lid Trick
The lowest-tech record in beekeeping is a date written on the hive lid in permanent marker, and it is startlingly effective for one specific job: the removal date for a mite treatment. You cannot miss it, it does not require unlocking anything, and it is right there when you next walk past. Use it alongside whatever else you keep.
Comparing the Options
There is no best answer here, only a match between how you work and what you will maintain. The comparison worth making is about entry friction and what happens to the data over a winter, not about feature lists.
| Option | Best at | Falls short on | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apiary Book | Fast structured entry, cross-platform sync | Deep analytics | Mixed-device households, one to four hives |
| HiveTracks | Dashboards and season reporting | More setup before it pays off | Keepers who like reviewing a season |
| BroodMinder sensors | Weight and temperature trends between visits | Cannot see brood or a queen | Data-minded keepers, travelers |
| Notebook and spreadsheet | Works with gloves on, no battery | Nothing aggregates unless you do it | Anyone who distrusts subscriptions |
What to Log About Mites Specifically
This is the part worth being fussy about. Record the date of each count, the method used, the number found and the sample size, then the product applied, the date in and the date out. Mite management only improves if you can compare a count after a treatment to the count before it.
Do not log the dose or the interval from memory or from an app template, because those come from the EPA-registered label of the product you bought and they differ between products. Log which product and which dates, and keep the label. Our walkthrough of counting varroa mites covers the sampling side that makes the numbers comparable.
Records and Everybody Else
Two situations turn a private log into something you are glad you kept. The first is a state inspection or a registration requirement, which varies by state and county and is worth asking your state apiarist about rather than guessing. The second is a neighbor complaint, where a calm record of what you do and when helps more than any argument.
The third, less official, is a mentor. Someone helping you diagnose a struggling colony will ask what you did and when, and being able to answer with dates rather than impressions changes the quality of the advice you get. Local associations run on this kind of specificity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best beekeeping app for a beginner? Apiary Book and HiveTracks are the two most commonly used general-purpose hive logs, and both have a free tier. The better test is which one you can enter an inspection into quickly while wearing gloves.
Do I need an app if I only have two hives? No. Two hives can live comfortably in a notebook. The value of an app at that scale is reminders and the fact that your phone comes with you anyway, not storage capacity.
Can an app tell me when to treat for mites? It can remind you to count and it can hold your dates. What to do about a given count comes from extension guidance such as Penn State Extension or the University of Minnesota Bee Lab, and how to apply a product comes from its label.
Are hive scales worth it? They are informative rather than essential. Weight trends show a flow starting and stores draining without opening the hive, which is most useful in winter and for keepers who cannot visit often.
Will an app work without cell service at my apiary? Most log entries locally and sync later, but not all do it well. If your bees are out of signal range, test that specifically before you rely on it for a season.
What should I write down if I keep it minimal? Date, queen or eggs seen, stores, space changed, mite count, and any treatment with dates in and out. That is enough to make next season’s decisions better than this season’s.
The Bottom Line
The app matters less than the habit. Pick something you can fill in with sticky gloves at the end of an inspection, make sure it captures mite counts and treatment dates, and write removal dates on the hive lid as a backup. A season of records turns your second year into an informed one instead of a repeat of the first. Next, read our ten minute inspection checklist for the routine the records follow, and beekeeping books worth the shelf space for the reading that fills the winter.