# CruiseLink — 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/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: 2026-10-29

## What is CruiseLink?

Stay connected with your group onboard, even without internet.

CruiseLink is a group chat for families and friends on a cruise. Instead of buying the ship's internet package for everyone, CruiseLink passes messages directly between your phones using Bluetooth and the ship's Wi-Fi network. No internet plan needed.

• Chat with your whole group
• Ask "Where are you?" and check everyone is OK
• Set a meeting point and see who's coming
• Share your cabin number and the day's plans
• See at a glance who is nearby and when you last heard from everyone

HOW IT WORKS
Messages travel phone to phone. When two phones in your group are close, they swap messages. When they're further apart, messages can hop through other CruiseLink phones on board, sealed so only your group can read them. In port, or if you do buy internet, CruiseLink can use that too.

GOOD TO KNOW
Messages reach people when phones are within range of each other or of other CruiseLink phones, so across a large ship they can take a while. Every message shows whether it has been delivered and seen, so you always know. Keep Bluetooth on and let CruiseLink run in the background, and it will tell you if it ever stops.

PRIVATE BY DESIGN
No accounts, no phone numbers, no adverts. Your group's messages are encrypted with a key only your group holds.

## Is CruiseLink safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess CruiseLink.

## Is CruiseLink legit?

CruiseLink 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)

### 2.7 — 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.

### 1.0 — 2026-09-22

No release notes.

## 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

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*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 2026-10-29.*