Essential Boating Apps Every Kiwi Mariner Needs in 2024

Looking for the best apps to enhance your boating experience in New Zealand this year? Whether you’re a seasoned sailor or a weekend fisherman, there’s a wealth of apps designed to make your time on the water safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable. The right apps can turn your smartphone into the ultimate boatie companion, from essential navigation tools to up-to-date weather forecasts, safety alerts, fishing tips, and tide tracking. Here’s a roundup of the top apps that every Kiwi boatie should have on their radar in 2024.

Safety and Navigation

• Coastguard App simplifies trip reporting and marine weather updates for boaters and fishers in Aotearoa, offering features like trip logging, weather forecasts, VHF channels, and tide information to enhance safety and convenience on the water.
  
  
• Marinemate provides New Zealand boaties with tide information, safety checklists, marine reserve guidelines, local VHF channels, and details on nearby boat ramps to help with trip planning and staying safe on the water.
  
  
• Navionics provides nautical charts. While savvy boaters are told not to rely on their GPS, this is a useful app and a sound backup to your main plotter. It has features such as marina phone numbers, tidal height, stream and drift. This app doesn’t need to be in cell phone range as it uses the on-board GPS.
  
  
• iNavX  is a comprehensive marine navigation app with features like NMEA integration, offline maps, and weather forecasts. This app is a reliable option for boaties seeking detailed navigation tools beyond basic charts.
  
  
• Dragging Anchor Alarm is also a free app and a nice little gizmo that could work in tandem with your GPS system.

Weather and Tides

• PredictWind is a must-have for Kiwi boaties, offering highly accurate, localised wind and weather forecasts from six models, plus features like weather routing, departure planning, live maps, and alerts to help navigate New Zealand’s unpredictable waters safely.

• The MetService Marine App offers New Zealand boaties comprehensive coastal and recreational marine forecasts, severe weather alerts, tide information, live rain radar, and surface pressure charts, along with the ability to set favourite locations and upload boating photos, making it a convenient tool for safe and informed boating trips.
  
  
• Windy is a popular weather app known for its accurate marine forecasts. It provides detailed information on wind, waves, temperature, and more. The app also includes interactive maps, which can be invaluable for boaties navigating New Zealand’s unpredictable weather.
  
  
• SwellMap delivers detailed marine forecasts for New Zealand, covering swell size, wind speed, tides, and sea temperature. Its clear charts makes it easy to plan safe and enjoyable boating, fishing, or diving trips.

Fishing and Entertainment

• The NZ Fishing Rules App  provides easy access to local fishing regulations, including size limits, catch restrictions, and closed areas, while also offering features like species identification, safe shellfish collection locations, poaching reports, and instructional videos on fish handling—all available offline once downloaded.
  
  
• Fishbrain helps anglers discover new fishing spots, log and track catches, and access community-shared data on best fishing locations, times, and baits, with features like GPS-marked waypoints, weather forecasts, and social sharing to enhance the fishing experience.
  
  
• Fishtrack offers advanced data like sea surface temperatures, ocean currents, and chlorophyll charts. These features can help maximise fishing success in New Zealand's diverse waters.
  
  
• Fishing Knots (Apple or Android) - no boating app guide would be complete without a knot app, and this one’s a goodie.

As technology continues to evolve, staying updated with the latest apps means you'll always be ready for whatever the sea throws at you. So, before you set off on your next adventure, make sure your phone is as prepared as you are.