Your favorite anchor app for your phone.

[Moncoeur]

I use Anchor! drag alarm. Intuitive and easy to set, accurate and reliable with a deafening alarm that will wake the dead. Very reassuring for single handed sailing when you’re exhausted and finally get to sleep at a tricky anchorage.

[sailjumanji]

My wife uses the one on AquaMap. We also have use WatchMate on a cell phone, monitoring movement via WiFi to the Vesper AIS. The later requires that the Vesper stay on overnight, but all of the other instruments can be turned off. AquaMap just uses the iPad GPS.

[capblasters]

We use Anchor! as well. Another function I like is the ability to move the anchor position if you forgot to set it when dropping the anchor. If you know the rode you let out, the depth you're in and the wind strength you can easily set the anchor to where you estimate where the anchor is.
If you have a second phone you can also send alerts tot hat phone when you and your partner have gone ashore.
Finally it has a good false alarm filter which can be customised to your preferences.

[RaymondR]

I have OpenCPN on a cheap Android tablet which is mounted at the nav station for anchor watching and route planning. If I'm feeling paranoid I sometimes take the tablet to my bunk.

[Rjt]

We’ve also been using Anchor! by Pomacanthus for years now. Living aboard and cruising 24/7 means we rely on it. Tried a few others, liked this best. Able to change safety distance, move the anchor, set an avoidance arc , even helps me home in on my boat in a mooring field. And the remote monitoring is great. Very reliable. Love it.

[noelex 77]

While they work, in the past I have generally found that anchor apps are not very satisfactory. The problem is not so much the apps, but the accuracy of the GPS signal from the tablet.

Anchors frequently move a short distance before letting go completely and it is important to be able to reliably detect these small changes for the anchor alarm to work well. Unfortunately, these small movements are on the limit of GPS accuracy. While tablets generally have quite advanced GPS chips, the fundamental accuracy is limited by not having a clear view of the sky and also by aerials that are are not ideal. The issue is further complicated by the distance to the anchor changing as the tablet is moved around the boat.

The answer is an external GPS aerial, but the software tends to randomly switch back to the internal GPS unit with no warning.

The answer has been to purchase an iPad without a GPS chip. This manages to stay locked onto the better GPS signal.

There are still no apps I am aware of that take into account heading information to correct the distance from the bow to the anchor like the better marine anchor alarms, but the accuracy is much improved via a stable input from a GPS unit with a good view of the sky and in a fixed location.

[Flatswing]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

My wife uses the one on AquaMap. We also have use WatchMate on a cell phone, monitoring movement via WiFi to the Vesper AIS. The later requires that the Vesper stay on overnight, but all of the other instruments can be turned off. AquaMap just uses the iPad GPS.

WatchMate is very accurate & easy to use. Allows adjustment of anchor position in case u didn’t get it perfect the first time. I find the breadcrumb display on the iDevice to be much more reassuring than plain numbers at a glance. With both MFD’s turned off, the Vesper draws minimal current & I prefer to leave it on at night anyway.

If you are using Vesper & Aquamaps via WiFi, your iDevice can use the more accurate Vesper GPS signal to run the Aqua-maps navigation & anchoring if the “AIS” button is activated in the AQua Maps settings

[rupertfb]

Anchor Pro (in addition to whatever your chartplotter can do)
Very simple, effective, and very loud.
Free

[Floridajohnb]

Originally Posted by Kd9truck

Just Like the tittle reads folks, what is your favorite anchor app for your smart phone? I did not want to hi Jack a thread I was contributing too, to some peoples dismay.
A follow up question about the app for me would be does it display your charts?
I don’t want to run my Raymarine I am looking for the best energy conservation option. (Not on lithium batteries system yet.

Ty all in advance,
Cheers

Anchor Pro. It’s an iPhone app. Works great.

[Nepidae]

Mine is Anchor Pro in the Play Store.

IdeaBoys are the authors.

[COOGOR]

Anchor chain calculator - written by a physicist:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...haincalculator
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1533741243

[DeValency]

I’m using Anchor Pro plus alerts from the electronics, but I like the app, as it is fully independent and works well.

[Alita49DS]

iSailor has alarms and includes an anchor alarm. I therefore use that rather than using a separate app consuming more battery power on the tablet. Another advantage is that if you are using it anyway with tracking on it shows your approach.

C-Map also has a specific anchor function and the same advantage if that is what you are running when you anchor.

I suspect that in reality there is not a fag paper between all these apps. They are using the same device related GPS data and if your device is putting rubbish in it is not their fault if they are putting rubbish out. With the converse being true.

That in turn might indicate that it is better to use your chart plotter with its more powerful GPS and, if you cannot hear it in the cabin, use the WiFi enabled replication onto the tablet or phone.

[dcondit]

Originally Posted by Rjt

We’ve also been using Anchor! by Pomacanthus for years now. Living aboard and cruising 24/7 means we rely on it. Tried a few others, liked this best. Able to change safety distance, move the anchor, set an avoidance arc , even helps me home in on my boat in a mooring field. And the remote monitoring is great. Very reliable. Love it.

I've been using Anchor! also and like it. It has the option to re-set if you forget to push the button when you drop (which I forget 100% of the time), has color-coded tracks, allows for either a full circle or various-sized pie shapes, is super loud and flashes and can remote to another device while on the beach. It also has satellite imagery as an option which is nice to compare to the visual. It's a paid version but was only a couple bucks and worth it. I've tried just about every other app.



The one thing I don't like is that when out of cell range in more remote locations (thus no satellite imagery), there is no scale on the blank map. That makes it difficult to reset the anchor after I forget. It's such a bad flaw that I'm pretty convinced I'm doing it wrong. Maybe someone on here can tell me the secret.

[Rjt]

Hi Dcondit,
Anchor! has a 100m marker on the top map border. But more usefully the top right corner show bearing and distance to the anchor, nice you drop it. I’m often out of wifi & cellular range and use this daily.
Let me know if you want more info and I’ll set up a few screen shots and send you.