Swell Signal

Big ships make rideable waves. Swell Signal tells you which ones, where the wave lands, and what time to be standing on the beach. I built it at Three Tree Point in Burien, Washington, after too many afternoons of guessing. A container ship would go by, the water would come alive twenty minutes later, and I was still in the car. So the app watches every large vessel nearby over live AIS, runs real ship wake physics on each one, and puts the answer on your Lock Screen: the boat, how good the wave should be, and the clock time it passes your spot. WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU OPEN IT A dark nautical chart of the Sound with every tracked ship on it, state ferries and sailings included. Tap one for its size, speed, the wake it throws and a 3D view. The headline is always a time, like "2:20 PM, in 18 min", because that decides whether you grab the board. Nothing coming? It says so. PICK THE SPOTS YOU RIDE Search for a beach, address or landmark, or drop a pin on the water, and Swell Signal forecasts for that exact point: which ships matter, when their wake arrives, and how good it should be. Save up to twelve. For a pin, your location is read only if you tap the button. TIDE, DONE PROPERLY NOAA tides for the beaches you choose: a curve you can scrub, thirty days of highs and lows, the current and slack water, sun and moon. WIND YOU CAN TRUST Forecast models corrected against local buoys. A beginner view with the short answer, an expert view with every model. WIDGETS FOR EVERYTHING Next Boat, Tide, Wind, and a Swell Board that puts all three together, on the Home and Lock Screens. Or turn a spare iPad into a wall display. RATE THE WAVE After a predicted wave passes, the app asks how it was: three sliders, ten seconds. Every rating tunes the model for that spot. SWELL SIGNAL PRO An optional subscription that sends a push before a ship is predicted to pass a pin you chose. Set how big a wave is worth a buzz, pick lead times, snooze a pin or mute a ship from the notification, and set quiet hours and a daily limit. Alerts fire where ships are tracked (below). An alert is a heads-up, not a guarantee: never rely on one for navigation or safety. LINEUP, FOR WHEN YOU ARE ON THE WATER Part of Swell Signal Pro. On the tow boat, see where and when each wake reaches you, how big it should be, and a red keep-out zone around every hull. Record saves the boat track, speeds and wakes met to your account. Tick RODE IT on the wakes you rode: a tick matched to an archived wave and met outside every keep-out zone is verified, and ship cards count riders with a verified ride on its wake in the last 30 days. Three monthly plans, all with the same alerts and LINEUP; Supporter and Patron put more toward the live ship feed. The app shows each plan's price for your region before you subscribe. No free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically each month unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions. HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT IS The chart, pins, tide, wind, ferries, widgets, wave ratings and display mode are free and stay free. No ads or cross-app tracking. An account is optional (a handle and a password, deletable any time) and only needed to rate waves, record sessions or sync pins. Drop a pin anywhere: in most busy waters, ships that broadcast their position show up within minutes. Lanes and the sharpest pass times run from San Diego to Prince Rupert, up the Columbia River to Portland, and along the Texas Gulf. A forecast is not a safety system. Ship wakes come from working vessels in shipping lanes. Stay 300 ft off every hull, never cross a bow, read the water yourself, and treat every prediction as a maybe. Data: NOAA tides and currents, ferry schedules, live vessel traffic, public wind models and buoys. Terms of Use: https://swell-signal.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://swell-signal.com/privacy