Listed below are iOS and Mac boating applications we own and recommend for general boating and cruising. For more information, double click on the bold title or use the App Store List box below.

General Boating iOS Apps:

LuckGrib - Awesome, fully featured, fast GRIB reader, viewer, downloader & weather router. The HRRR grib helps me spot potential microbursts.

Lightening Pro - Alerts and radar of current lightening, so you know when to move, go around, or put the electronics in the microwave & oven.

MyRadar Pro - powerful radar + weather prediction app. Used with LuckGrib and Lighting Pro, let’s me know when to more or go-around weather.

iNavx - Works with the boat’s GPS via NMEA or independently. I have issues with it corrupting my waypoint and routes.

AquaMaps - the satellite images are a great help when anchoring later then your should in the Bahamas.

BoatRef - a must have comprehensive pocket boating reference (digital version of their book).

AyeTide (iPhone) / AyeTide XL (iPad) - awesome tide app (built-in, no wifi needed, which is great in the Bahamas).

Hurricane Tracker - a must have during hurricane season. They are two different Hurricane apps and they are both worth having both.

Hurricane - a must have during hurricane season. They are two different Hurricane apps and they are both worth having both.

Windy (paid) - quick weather update and feature that compares all the weather model.

Marine Barameter - Barometric pressure and logger.

SkySafari 3 - wonderful reference for looking at the stars.

pUniverse - tells me which star I’m aiming at with the iOS device.

Navigation Rules Pro - quick reference or test your knowledge.

ColRegs: Nav Lights and Shapes - quick reference or test your knowledge.

AIS Radar - good for near shore and coastal cruising

Boating Calc - fun tool for all kinds of boating calculations, especially, the finance calculators.

Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Systems - This is the BEST Book (We have the hard copy, we couldn’t afford the dig copy, yet)

Cruising (and at home) iOS Apps:

DropBox - Free and Secure place for boat, personal and insurance documents. Dropbox syncs your files between devices and allows you to access them from a web. A must have when you live a vessel, especially when cruising to other countries.

1Password - system, web and account passwords as well as a safe place to store sensitive files. 1Password is synced between all devices with Dropbox which also provides cloud backup of the data.

GoodNotes - ya, a note taking app but fabulous for designing, diagraming, & documenting boat stuff such as new NMEA/instrument design, Hurricane Docking plan, new Battery wiring, Bilge Pumps Diagram/Capacity, new Safey Nettings, new Refrigeration system, and so on.

Teamwork - an easy to use Project & Tasks Management plus collaboration.

Things - Is our To Do list for both the boat and ourselves. Things has items, areas, projects and schedule tasks. The project is great for tracking items for commissioning, decommissioning, next haul tasks, buying a boat and more). Scheduled tasks (is great for tracking daily, weekly, monthly and annual item such as pouring vinegar in the heads, checking zincs, checking hoses/camps, and replacing water alarm batteries. Things has the option of tags that can be filtered and organizes items in Today, Next, Someday, Scheduled, Areas and Projects. Things is synced between all devices using Dropbox which also provides cloud backup of the content.

Scrivener - a writing app but also incredible for quickly creating business (RFP, Product & Marketing plans, etc.) and IT/Dev Requirement docs.

EverNotes - is not as fast as Apple Notes but has significantly more features, including creating checklist and tagging. Evernotes is synced between all devices which also provides cloud backup of the content. [Might be migrating to Obsidian].

Kindle - is great for going digital with the books.

Audible - audio books.

iThoughtsHD - is a mind mapping app that imports and exports to just about everything.

Affinity Photo, Acorn, Paint Brush - Photo editing

Numbers - for spread sheets.

Mac Apps for Boating and Cruising

Note: not all items listed are in the Mac Store, yet. And some are free.

MacEnc - Create routes and waypoints on laptop or desktop and sync them with iOS devices.

OpenCPN - open source navigation app that is growing in features and available charts.

1Password - a MUST HAVE for banking, credit card sites, online shopping, computer/device and other account passwords as well as a safe place to store sensitive files. 1Password is synced between all devices with Dropbox which also provides cloud backup of the data.

Things ( we also use Teamwork and Jira) - Is our To Do list for both the boat and ourselves. Things has items, areas, projects and schedule tasks. The project is great for tracking items for commissioning, decommissioning, next haul tasks, buying a boat and more). Scheduled tasks (is great for tracking daily, weekly, monthly and annual item such as pouring vinegar in the heads, checking zincs, checking hoses/camps, and replacing water alarm batteries. Things has the option of tags that can be filtered and organizes items in Today, Next, Someday, Scheduled, Areas and Projects. Things is synced between all devices using Dropbox which also provides cloud backup of the content.

YummySoup - another recipe app. Different from My Recipe but not sure about the syncing with iPad

Kindle - is great for going digital with the books.

Delicious Library - Book inventory with option for bluetooth scanner. We have 118 books on the boat and hundreds more Mom’s. We’ve used the bluetooth scanner the scan and re-scan books on the boat, old office and previous home - now the camera on your iOS device is the scanner.

Handbrake -DVD to hard drive (not as fast but efficient)

Ripit - DVD to hard drive (fast but takes space)

Numbers - for spread sheets.

MoneyWell - Budgeting

Scrivener - a writing app but also incredible for quickly creating business (RFP, Product & Marketing plans, etc.) and IT/Dev Requirement docs.

Side Note: a portable printer (e.g. Canon iP100, HP OfficeJet 250), scanner/ocr app on your iOS (e.g. PFDPen) and label makers (Brother PC Connectable Labeler, Brother Cube, etc.) are also helpful to have onboard for cruising (e.g.pre-printing entrance forms, labeling wires and boxes, etc.).