Favorite Boating App

[JohnS211]

Hi all - recently joined the forum, and really appreciate the advice received on my first posts. Was planning to ask for some thoughts on the best apps to monitor anchor position (alarms etc - beyond chartplotter) and I thought it might be good to expand the question a bit. Over time I’ve started using more and more mobile apps in concert with installed navionics, etc as the capabilities have improved. For me, Navionics, AquaMap, Active Captain, and Windy are go to apps pretty regularly. Any others out there that you all recommend? (…and if you have an anchor alarm suggestion, I’m all ears….). Thanks!

 

[4fun1]

For an anchor alarm, I use Anchor Pro. There is also a free version, Anchor Lite.

 

[Osprey69]

A buddy of mine surreptitiously added "Drag Queen" anchor app to my phone. Did not know until the Verizon guy discovered it as I was looking over his shoulder as he was removing junk apps to speed the phone up.

Funny and a pretty good app as it turns out.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Shoulda stopped the Verizon guy from removing Drag Queen. I hear it's no longer available.

 

[JohnS211]

Thanks 4Fun1 - just downloaded Anchor Pro. Looks well reviewed - pretty intuitive interface. Thanks for the suggestion.

Gotta say - Drag Queen is a pretty great name for an anchor alarm app….!

 

[Jeff F]

I've used Anchor Lite for years, and set the track on Navionics as well when at anchor. You can tell at a glance at the track what's happening.

Some fiddling with the power saving and location settings may be required to ensure the app stays active while the phone is at rest.

 

[Simi 60]

OpenCPN has a drag alarm built in.
Runs 24/7 on our vessel.

Only other thing we use on the rare occasion we can't do satellite overlays on OpenCPN are
OfflineMaps
Zulu Offshore

 

[sjisailor]

+1 on Anchor Pro and also the others you listed (Aqua Map is my preferred backup to chartplotter).

Another app we use all the time is Marine Traffic. It's great to see who's coming down a shipping lane, look up details like length (potential wake), speed, etc. Also to check out how busy an anchorage might be (better than no info) before heading there.

Also a tide app. For Washington, Tide Now WA is pretty good on Android. I'm away from my iPad but on it, Tide XL (or something similar to that) is better.

Finally I often use airport weather apps just because I'm familiar with them, AWOS/ATIS, etc. There are 1000s of small airports that report high quality weather. Of course they're not on the water (mostly) but are often close.

 

[ScottC]

Windy Pro

Logbook

Lightning (shows lightning strikes approaching and in the vicinity and sends alerts)

Navily (marina booking - mostly Med region, but REALLY good)
VRM Victron Global Remote (to monitor house and propulsion battery status from afar)
Marine Traffic
Cocktail Flow
Rome2Rio (options for getting from "Point A" to "Point B") Not nautical focus, but a very useful complement to cruising, if you venture ashore occasionally.
TurboScan (photo to pdf from iPhone)

 

[DrissZougari]

I use " Zenkou" for anchor alert, Argo Nav and "Active Captain" for some planning on the dock, "Fish Rules" if you like fishing (get all rules according to your GPS location) and the must have App on the Chesapeake Bay "Dockwa" all the Apps are free and easy to use.
Happy cruising,