# Dawn Patrol — Surf Tracking - Surf Watch

> Apple Watch surf tracker with wave analysis, forecasts, and performance metrics. (iPhone/iPad app by Dawn Patrol Surf Tracking.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dawn-patrol/id1161014179 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Dawn Patrol Surf Tracking](https://appshunter.io/developer/1448740824)
- Category: Health & Fitness, Sports
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.60/5 from 4,171 App Store ratings · 450 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 16.4 · 295 MB
- Languages: American English, Dutch, French (France), Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish
- Released: 2017-01-03
- Data updated: 2026-09-02
- Monetization: freemium
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dawn-patrol/id1161014179/reviews.md

## What is Dawn Patrol?

Your Apple Watch is a Surf Watch with Dawn Patrol.
The best surf tracker for Apple Watch, with todays Surfline forecast(*) of your favourite beaches right there on your wrist and glancable widgets immediately on your phone.
Our basic features are FREE for all surfers and if you subscribe to Soul Surfer you'll get access to all of our PREMIUM features.

The basic FREE features are:
• Track and Analyse your surf
• Record your surf work-outs
• Count your waves
• View them on a map
• Know your top speed
• Beat your personal records
• Measure your wave time 
• Know your distance surfed per wave and in total
• Measure your heart rate and calories burned in the Health and Activity apps 
• Relive and share your surf session
• Surfline compatible: watch back any wave you ride in front of a Surfline camera

Extra Premium Features for SOUL SURFERS (Monthly or Yearly subscription(*)):
• Your Watch as a beautiful Surf Watch with the Surfline forecast
• Track your paddling, learn about your paddle efficiency
• In-depth surf analytics, understand your speed development, learn where to make speed to make that nasty section.
• Beautiful state of the art widgets showing a Surfline forecast
• Learn to understand your beach better by knowing the tide vs. waves caught and deeper analysis based on that spot
• Deeper insights in your performance on different boards
• Add photos to your sessions and boards


Dawn Patrol integrates with the Health App and Activity App and Surfline Sessions™. It measures your heart rate and calories burned.
The first and best surf tracker for Apple Watch.

Happy surfing!


(*) SOUL SURFER SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS
PLEASE NOTE:
• The Soul Surfer subscription is available as a monthly or a yearly subscription
• Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase
• Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period
• Your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period
• Subscriptions may be managed by you and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to your Account Settings on the App Store after purchase
• Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable

For the full Terms and Conditions of this service: https://www.dawnpatrol.cloud/terms and https://www.dawnpatrol.cloud/privacy

## Key features

- Track and analyze surf sessions
- Record surf workouts
- Count waves and measure distance
- View surf sessions on a map
- Integrates with Apple Watch and HealthKit
- Surfline forecast integration
- Advanced surf analytics

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Soul Surfer (Monthly) | $3.49 | per month |
| Soul Surfer (Yearly) | $27.49 | per year |


## What do users think of Dawn Patrol?

Overall sentiment: mixed

**Pros**

- 🚀 Accurate wave tracking
- 👍 Useful data and analytics
- 🔒 Integrates well with Apple Watch
- 💡 Innovative features like Surfline integration
- 👍 Aesthetically pleasing interface

**Cons**

- 🐛 Inconsistent wave tracking and GPS accuracy
- 🔋 High battery drain on Apple Watch
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔒 Paywall for basic features like tide information
- 👎 Poor customer support responsiveness

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Apple Watch complications not working properly
- Incorrect wind/tide data displayed
- Sessions not syncing correctly with phone app
- App crashing on newer iOS/watchOS versions

**Most requested features**

- Add distance paddled metric
- Allow manual editing of recorded waves
- Improve Strava integration
- Provide option to lock app to specific location

## Recent user reviews (10 of 450)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/dawn-patrol/id1161014179/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Needs a lot of work before they ask for this kind of money.

*2026-08-12, version 6.4.5*

I had my fingers crossed I tried using the free version and nothing worked, so I got the subscription and I can barely get this app to work with the paid subscription on. I’ve had it work how it should once. Other times it stops before I start surfing, or it closes after one wave, or it records the first wave and then it freezes. Some of my sessions don’t upload to the app.  I have to make sure I start the app on my phone, along side starting it on my watch to have any chance of it recording anything. The app needs a lot of work before they are asking this kind of money to use it.  I really want this app to work, and will keep an eye on it and hopefully one day they will improve it.

### 1/5 — Won’t Reliably Sync With Garmin

*2026-08-12, version 6.4.5*

The Dawn Patrol app seems to have significant issues syncing with Garmin. My Garmin Forerunner 970 successfully records the activity, and Garmin Connect receives it, but Dawn Patrol often takes a long time to import the session or fails to sync it at all.

Unfortunately, the Forerunner 970 does not have Garmin’s native Surf activity, so I purchased a full year Dawn Patrol subscription specifically to record my surf sessions. Based on my experience, I would recommend getting a Garmin watch with the native Surf activity rather than relying on Dawn Patrol for Garmin integration.

I paid for the full year subscription but have been disappointed with the reliability of the app. I’m now considering buying a Garmin Epix so I can record my surf sessions natively and no longer need to rely on Dawn Patrol.

### 2/5 — App Stability Still Wonky

*2026-07-23, version 6.4.2*

Still regularly crashes especially when naming new spots or adding things like ratings for the session, type of board used etc. There are also typos in the app like the word Threshold is spelled “tresold” in the HR section. Hopefully the Surfline acquisition will help stability and Accuracy.

### 1/5 — Doesn’t work

*2026-07-19, version 6.4.1*

Scam app isn’t accurate. Surfline charges over $100 and doesn’t include this? Wtf. I’m not paying another $15 on top of that.

### 3/5 — Crashes watch

*2026-07-15, version 6.4.1*

Keeps crashing my watch when I use the wheel to end a session. Other than that it tracks sessions quite well.

### 5/5 — Great Session Tracking

*2026-07-14, version 6.4.1*

Use it to track my sessions. Trying to progress my surfing and this helps. I think.  It's cool to review your waves and your misses.

### 5/5 — A must app for every surfer!

*2026-06-16, version 6.4.1*

Great surfing app, integrates perfectly with Garmin to record and Surfline to get the videos of my sessions. Good job guys! A+ / 5 stars!

### 1/5 — このアプリは故障の原因

*2026-06-15*

過去2年以内、本日までApple Watchが5台も故障した。

因果関係が分からないが、このアプリを使い終わってからApple Watchが故障する。
アプリ使用中に浸水もあった。
このアプリが原因としか言いようがない。

幸い、AppleCAREのおかげで数千円の支払いや、無料で交換に至る。

他の方はこんな事ないでしょうか？

**Developer response:** Hi, thank you for the review, Dawn Patrol accepts no responsibility for damages to your Apple Watch. Please let us know if you have App feedback or if you experience any issues, please reach out to support@dawnpatrol.cloud

### 5/5 — Great for Progress

*2026-06-14, version 6.4.1*

I’ve been tracking rides for several years and it’s been easy to track progress and use the videos from Surfline to improve.  Improving ride lengths and speeds alone is useful when trying different boards or tracking progress at frequented spots.

### 2/5 — Sync is a mess

*2026-06-13, version 6.4.1*

Constantly loses the board / session settings.  After each session it blows away the last weeks worth of changes.  Still can’t get such a basic thing right after all these years.

## Frequently asked questions about Dawn Patrol

### What does the Dawn Patrol Surf, Wave Tracker app do?

This app functions as a surf tracker, primarily for Apple Watch. It allows users to track and analyze their surfing sessions, recording metrics like wave count, distance surfed, top speed, and wave time. It also integrates with Apple's Health and Activity apps to measure heart rate and calories burned.

### What are the key features of the app?

Key features include tracking and analyzing surf sessions, recording workouts, counting waves, viewing sessions on a map, measuring speed and distance, and integrating with Surfline for wave replays. Premium features offer advanced analytics, tide-wave correlations, and detailed paddle tracking.

### How much does the Dawn Patrol app cost?

The app offers basic features for free, allowing all surfers to track and analyze their sessions. Premium features are available through a 'Soul Surfer' subscription, offered on a monthly or yearly basis. Payment is handled through your iTunes account.

### What devices is the Dawn Patrol app compatible with?

The app is designed to work with Apple Watch, functioning as a dedicated surf watch. It also integrates with the iPhone for viewing forecasts and widgets, and syncs data with the Health and Activity apps on your Apple devices.

### What are the common use cases for this app?

Common use cases include monitoring and improving surfing performance by analyzing session data, understanding wave conditions through integrated forecasts, and reliving surf sessions with recorded metrics and potential video replays. It's also used for general fitness tracking during water sports.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 6.4.5 — 2026-08-03

Added paddle tracking support to Garmin devices and better importing of sessions

### 6.4.4 — 2026-07-24

Improved session import for Garmin sessions.

### 6.4.3 — 2026-07-24

Fixed an issue where the app could unexpectedly close your session while adjusting details.

### 6.4.2 — 2026-07-21

Small fixes, big improvements: heart rates data based on age is fixed, Garmin heart rates import. See your total water time in a certain period in one glance on your profile and many more fixes. Smooth paddling ahead. Also for Garmin users, on certain devices Watch Faces were struggling to populate data, this version should fix that as well, make sure to also update your Garmin app and Watch Face!
Happy surfing.

### 6.4.1 — 2026-06-05

Heart rate zones now sync correctly to Strava again when you share a session.

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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 2026-09-02.*