# CruiseLink: Offline Messenger — Group chat at sea, no internet > Group chat at sea, no internet (iPhone/iPad app by Maximilian Youell.) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cruiselink-offline-messenger/id6812469217 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Maximilian Youell](https://appshunter.io/developer/6812092308) - Category: Travel, Social Networking - Price: Free - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 26.0 · 5 MB - Languages: American English - Released: 2026-09-22 - Data updated: 2026-11-06 ## What is CruiseLink? Message your family on a cruise ship without buying the ship's internet. CruiseLink is a free group chat for people travelling together on a cruise. It does not use the internet at all. Your phones pass messages straight to each other over Bluetooth and the ship's own Wi-Fi network, so nobody needs a wifi package, a signal, or an account. It works on iPhone and Android, and the two talk to each other. WHAT PEOPLE USE IT FOR • "Where are you?" — the question every family asks ten times a day on a ship • Agreeing where to meet, and seeing who is coming • Checking everyone got back on board • Looking for someone when their phone is on silent: every phone in your group joins the search • Sharing cabin numbers and the day's plans HOW IT WORKS Messages travel phone to phone. When two phones in your group are near each other they swap messages. When they are further apart, a message can be carried by another phone in your group that moves between you. Everything is sealed, so only your group can read it. In port, or if somebody has bought internet, CruiseLink will use that too. WHAT IT WILL NOT DO It reaches only the group you set up, not the whole ship. Everyone needs it installed before you sail, while you still have a normal connection. And it is not instant across a large ship: a message travels when phones come near enough, which is usually quick and occasionally is not. Every message shows whether it has been delivered and seen, so you are never guessing. PRIVATE BY DESIGN No account, no phone number, no adverts, nothing to subscribe to. Your group's messages are encrypted with a key only your group holds, and the relay that passes them between phones cannot read them. Free, from Youell Systems Ltd in the United Kingdom. ## Is CruiseLink safe? Not enough ratings yet to assess CruiseLink. ## Is CruiseLink legit? CruiseLink: Offline Messenger has limited verification signals. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for CruiseLink is 58 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data. ## Version history (last 5 releases) ### 2.8 — 2026-11-04 Remove someone from your group if they show up as a ghost or a duplicate. If you know the ship’s wifi network name, the app asks you to share it so everyone in your group can connect automatically. The app stays quiet until you set up your cruise and someone joins. ### 2.7 — 2026-10-26 This update brings everything from the last two releases together. • When a group's key changes, the new key now reaches everyone over the internet as well as face to face. Before, anyone you had not been near could quietly stop receiving messages. • A What's New screen, so you can see what changed after an update. • Making another group, and swapping between them, is far easier to find. • Read receipts are tidier: "Not checked" only appears when you ask to see who has read something. • Clearer wording when you are looking for someone, including what it means when a stranger's phone has heard from them. • The ship's wifi is explained properly, including when it is worth turning on. ### 2.5 — 2026-10-24 You can now be in more than one group at once — a family group and a wider group of friends, say. Tap the group name at the top to switch between them, or to add a new one. Messages, photos and locations stay in the group they were sent to, so nothing crosses over. Joining a group is a link now, so there's no code to type. ### 2.4 — 2026-10-21 Quieter, and easier to get your family onto. Far fewer notifications. CruiseLink used to tell you every day that a message hadn't reached someone. It now says it once, then leaves you alone. "Not seen since Friday." A person's card now tells you when their phone was last reached, which is the thing actually worth knowing when someone has gone quiet. Better at re-finding people. Phones that have met each other once now reconnect far more reliably as you move around a ship. Invite links come from cruiselink.app, so what you send your family looks like a proper address. And if nobody has joined your group after a day, the app says so plainly and offers to send the invite again — invite links get buried in messages more often than you would think. ### 2.3 — 2026-09-25 A large update since the first release. Looking for someone: start a search and every phone in your group joins in, so whoever is nearest finds them. They get one button to say they're here, which ends the search for everyone. Much faster, and much steadier. Long conversations no longer slow the app down, phones stop carrying old history around, and a phone that gets stuck now stops itself and tells you why. Far fewer notifications, and better ones. The app tells you when Bluetooth is switched off, which is the one thing you can fix in a tap, and it stays quiet when messages are getting through. Android and iPhone now reach each other properly, and "Is it working?" gives you a straight answer instead of a green tick it isn't sure about. ## Apps similar to CruiseLink | App | Rating | Price | Category | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [BestOf Madrid](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bestof-madrid/id6444720116) | — | Free | Travel | | [Malvern Hills Car Clubs](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/malvern-hills-car-clubs/id1613708399) | — | Free | Travel | | [Provence’s Best: Travel Guide](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/provences-best-travel-guide/id1492559759) | 5.0 (9) | $3.99 | Travel | | [Cruise Port Guide](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/cruise-port-guide/id6477956999) | — | $0.99 | Travel | | [Shore Bound - Cruise Planner](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/shore-bound-cruise-planner/id6773154859) | — | Free | Travel | | [Malaga Tips](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/malaga-tips/id6502944754) | — | Free | Travel | ## More apps by Maximilian Youell - [Civlo: Council Staff App](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/civlo-council-staff-app/id6812130981) All apps by Maximilian Youell: https://appshunter.io/developer/6812092308 ## Related topics [ctcae 5 pro](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ctcae-5-pro) --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-11-06.*