Primarily sailors and cruisers, but also day sailors, racers and anyone who finds tracking and sharing trip data useful — including social media content.

Sailing Companion is an iOS app that helps sailors track their voyages, view real-time data, and manage their sailing trips — all from their iPhone or iPad.

No. All your sailing data stays on your device. Sailing Companion works fully local (except using maps) and does not upload your tracks or personal information to any server.

Most features work offline, including tracking, cockpit and anchor alarm. An internet connection is only needed to load and refresh maps.

No. As soon as you drop the anchor in the app, distance tracking pauses automatically. Your total trip distance reflects only the distance actually sailed, not the movement of your boat while at anchor.

A weak GPS signal can cause your device to lose its position fix. In that case the app does not record a timestamp or position — instead it logs when the signal was lost and when it was regained. This information is also included in your exported files (GPX, CSV, JSON).

You have two good options:

1. Start and end the trip each day in the app — this gives you separate daily logs. You have the possibility to merge trips later on.
2. Keep the trip running and use the pause / resume recording buttons on the trip tab to pause recording when you need to — for example overnight at anchor or when you leave the boat.

Keep your device charged or connected to a charger such as a power bank. For best GPS accuracy, place it on deck in the cockpit — signal reception below deck can be noticeably weaker. The Apple Watch support allows you to move around on the vessel, while staying connected to Sailing Companion.

Some cockpit metrics — particularly TTW (Time to Waypoint), DTW (Distance to Waypoint), TTD (Time to Destination), DTD (Distance to Destination), and CTS (Course to Steer) — require an active waypoint route to calculate. If no route is set, these fields display a dash ("–") until you start navigating to a waypoint.

Yes, the app tracks your position and speed in real time, making it suitable for both leisure sailing and racing scenarios.

Sailing Companion follows your iPhone's system language by default, but you can also set a language just for this app without changing your whole phone. Open Settings > Apps > Sailing Companion > Preferred Language and pick from the 20 supported languages. Alternatively, you can change your entire iPhone language under Settings > General > Language & Region — the app will follow along automatically.

No extra hardware is needed. Modern iPhones (iPhone 6 and later) include a built-in barometric pressure sensor, so the barometer tool works directly on your device — no accessory or external sensor required.

Not at the moment, but it is on our roadmap. In the meantime the iPhone version works on iPads. Important: Only iPads with WiFi and 5G module have a GPS sensor built in. iPads with WiFi only lack the compass function.

Currently, Sailing Companion is available exclusively on iOS. An Android version is not yet available.

No. The Apple Watch app requires your iPhone to be nearby and connected. It acts as a remote display and quick-access companion for cockpit data, logbook entries, anchor alarm and the MOB button — but it relies on the iPhone's GPS and the Sailing Companion app running on the phone. A standalone watchOS version is not available.

No. The MOB button records your current position, switches the app into emergency navigation mode, and provides spoken distance-to-target guidance back to the MOB position. A logbook entry — including the time, GPS position, and any notes you add — is created automatically so the incident is captured in your trip log. The button does not send a distress call.

No. Sailing Companion does not currently include professional nautical charts or bathymetric (depth) data. The map layer is designed for situational awareness and trip recording, not for navigating in shallow or unfamiliar waters. For depth-aware navigation, use a dedicated chartplotter or printed maps with updated official hydrographic charts. Adding depth is on our roadmap.

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