# OpenWater - Water Speed — GPS water speed & info

> GPS watersports speed and technique tracker for wingfoiling, kitesurfing, and sailing. (iPhone/iPad app by Laan Labs.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/openwater-water-speed/id6796586875 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Laan Labs](https://appshunter.io/developer/310916919)
- Category: Health & Fitness, Sports
- Price: Free
- Rating: 5.00/5 from 3 App Store ratings · 2 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 18.0 · 19 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2026-08-15
- Data updated: 2026-09-04
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/openwater-water-speed/id6796586875/reviews.md

## What is OpenWater?

openWater is a GPS speed and technique tracker for wingfoiling, parawinging,
downwinding, windsurfing, kitesurfing and sailing. It is open source, works
entirely offline, and never asks you to create an account.

RECORD ON YOUR WATCH OR YOUR PHONE

Start a session in one tap. The Apple Watch app runs standalone — it does not
need your phone nearby, or even installed. Water Lock engages automatically,
and the session keeps recording with the screen off and your wrist down. Your
track is written to disk continuously, so a flat battery or a crash costs you
seconds, not your session.

Seven live screens: speed, splits, session totals, wind angles, foil time,
controls, and a racing start countdown you can sync to the committee boat's gun.

SPEED, MEASURED PROPERLY

Every category the speedsurfing community actually uses:

• 2 second peak
• Best 10 seconds, and the average of your 5 best 10-second runs
• 100 m, 250 m, 500 m, 1 km, 2 km, nautical mile, 5 km, 10 km
• Alpha 500 — a 500 m run with a gybe, finishing within 50 m of its start
• 30 minute and 1 hour averages
• Any custom distance you add, applied retroactively to sessions you already
  recorded

These are computed on the continuous track rather than snapped to the nearest
GPS fix, because a single second of slop is ten metres at twenty knots. Speed
comes from the receiver's Doppler measurement, not from differencing positions.

SEE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED

An hour of winging in a bay is forty passes through the same water, and drawn
as one line it is unreadable. openWater fixes that:

• Flights are drawn bold, slow sections fade back, falls get a marker
• Pick any single run and the other thirty-nine drop away
• The Runs view drops the map entirely — one lane per run, stacked in time, so
  nothing overlaps. It reads top to bottom like a score.
• Replay the whole session with a playhead, speed heatmap and live readout

FOR FOILERS

• Time on foil, number of flights, longest flight, takeoff speed
• How long your pump-up takes
• Falls counted separately from touchdowns, because they are not the same thing
• Longest clean run — the metric that keeps improving long after top speed stops

FOR WING AND PARAWING

• Wind direction worked out from your own track, with no weather service and no
  internet needed
• Polar curve, VMG upwind and downwind, tacking and gybing angles
• Gybes and tacks detected and scored: entry speed, minimum speed, recovery
  time, and whether you stayed on the foil
• Port versus starboard comparison, so you can see the side you have been
  quietly avoiding

FOR DOWNWINDING

• Glides detected from the pump-and-glide rhythm
• Glide count, longest glide, and what share of the run was on foil
• How often you linked to the next glide without dropping
• The swell period you were riding

YOUR DATA IS YOURS

• Import GPX, TCX, FIT and CSV — Garmin, Coros, Suunto and most apps
• Export GPX, TCX, CSV, GeoJSON, or a complete lossless archive
• No account, no server, no tracking. Nothing leaves your device unless you
  send it.
• Sharing trims the start and end of your track by default, because those are
  usually your car or your home

## Key features

- GPS speed and technique tracking
- Offline functionality
- Standalone Apple Watch app
- Detailed speed metrics
- Session visualization tools
- Data import/export

## Recent user reviews (2 of 2)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/openwater-water-speed/id6796586875/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Great app

*2026-08-17*

It shows lots of cool foiling locations within an easy drive

### 5/5 — Great app

*2026-08-16*

Really great ui and functionality love it!

## Frequently asked questions about OpenWater

### What watersports can OpenWater track?

OpenWater is designed for wingfoiling, parawinging, downwinding, windsurfing, kitesurfing, and sailing. It provides specific metrics tailored to each of these activities.

### Does OpenWater require an internet connection?

No, OpenWater works entirely offline. It does not require an internet connection to record or analyze your sessions, making it ideal for use on the water.

### Can I use OpenWater without my phone?

Yes, the Apple Watch app runs standalone. You can start a session directly from your watch without needing your phone nearby or even installed on the watch.

### How does OpenWater measure speed accurately?

Speed is measured using the receiver's Doppler measurement, not by differencing positions. This method provides more accurate speed readings, especially for fast-moving activities.

### What kind of speed metrics does OpenWater offer?

OpenWater offers a wide range of speed metrics used by the speedsurfing community, including 2-second peaks, best 10-second averages, various distance records (100m to 10km), Alpha 500, and 30-minute/1-hour averages.

### Can I import my past session data into OpenWater?

Yes, OpenWater supports importing data from GPX, TCX, FIT, and CSV files. This allows you to bring in data from other devices and apps like Garmin, Coros, and Suunto.

### Does OpenWater have ads?

OpenWater is ad-free. As an open-source application, it focuses on providing a clean and uninterrupted user experience without advertisements.

### What is the age rating for OpenWater?

OpenWater has an age rating of 4+. This indicates it is suitable for users of all ages, with no content restrictions.

## Version history (last 3 releases)

### 1.1.1 — 2026-08-25

bug fixes

### 1.1 — 2026-08-20

misc bug fixes

### 1.0 — 2026-08-16

No release notes.

## More apps by Laan Labs

- [3D Sailing Compass](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/3d-sailing-compass/id321685175)
- [Sonar Ruler](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sonar-ruler/id324621243)
- [iVideoCamera](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ivideocamera/id332166209)
- [iTimeLapse Pro - Time Lapse videos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/itimelapse-pro-time-lapse-videos/id335866860)
- [iVideoCamera Lite](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ivideocamera-lite/id359478708)
- [iBanner HD for iPad - LED Scrolling Marquee](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/ibanner-hd-for-ipad-led-scrolling-marquee/id365602542)

All apps by Laan Labs: https://appshunter.io/developer/310916919

---

*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 2026-09-04.*
