There are so many fantastic apps for the iPhone. Many are non-boating ones that greatly improve our cruising experience. Some are specifically for
boating. Here are a few that I have and use (free and paid):
AroundMe (free) - this app provides distances and locations of various categories of need. Want to know where the closest pharmacy is? AroundMe will tell you.
DexKnows (free) - a nice app for finding things in a location. I use this for video stores, Post Offices, Dollar Stores, etc. when cruising. It picks up where AroundMe leaves off.
Navionics Mobile ($9.99/US region - large regions) - you you have an iPhone and don't have this product, stop reading this
posting and go buy it now. As a
chartplotter, it is sort of OK. It'll get better. What is outstanding about it is the tide and
current handling. I use it every time our
boat is moving. I also have
iNavX which I'm not so fond of - I find
iNavX to be one of the most antagonistic apps I've ever used. I makes me want to throw my iPhone into the
water. Navionics is different. Before you pay for another tide app (I have), just get this. It does tides and has a nice chart browser.
HanDBase ($10 or so) - an excellent non-boating tool for creating databases of information about your
boat. I have the following databases: Projects, Captain's Log,
Engine Room Log,
Fuel Log,
Maintenance,
Parts Database, and Spares - I put these databases together myself. I go to it multiple times a day. It reminds me when there's a
maintenance items to do and gives me a place to log that I've done it. It keeps track of every
passage we've ever made (what did we think of the trip between Coinjock and Belhaven 2 years ago?). I've been using something similar since the day I got my
current boat and have every hour logged, every part
serial number in my pocket. It is a lifesaver.
BuoyData ($2) - a nice tool for quickly getting buoy reports. Sure, you can use the NOAA web site but this saves a lot of time and is easier to use when underway.
Windfinder (free) - companion app to their web site. Nice for evaluating
wind and wave conditions.
ShralpTide (free) - offline tide prediction. There are many online apps that require an
internet connection. This one uses the XTide code base and displays the predictions without any
internet connection.
Swellinfo ($2) - basic swell data for the US coastline. Most of the coastal NOAA forecasts are for "out 20 nm" or more. Often the weather is much different closer to shore where most of us actually travel. Swellinfo is a nice app that accesses their web site to provide information nearshore swell info quickly. We use it when moving along the NJ coast - it's well worth the $2.
Google Earth (free) - no need to describe. Get it.
Speedtest (free) - a nice way to quantitatively see the connection speed of your iPhone (then update that information to ActiveCaptain so everyone will have it for the anchorage or marina you're staying at!).
Skype (free) - no need to describe it. Get it for
WiFi phone use. When you're at Nippers in the
Bahamas, you can now make calls anywhere for "free".
Planets (free) - explore the sky at night. Allows you to answer the question, "what's that up there?"
Stars (free) - similar to Planets.
Apps requiring a jailbroken iPhone:
PDANet ($29) - allows you to tether your
laptop from your iPhone's data connection. Works over
WiFi. There are no extra charges. I couldn't live without this app.
MxTube (free) - allows you to download and store YouTube video's on the iPhone itself. It's nice to grab videos/vblogs/etc. and watch them at a later time.
Bambuser (free) - I'm just starting to play with this one. It uses the
camera to broadcast live video. I'd like to keep it at the
helm to let friends and
family cruise with us virtually...