Navy COOL vs NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Navy COOL
This app provides U.S. Navy personnel with a comprehensive set of tools for career development and credentialing. It offers information on certifications, licenses, and civilian career paths relevant to military occupations, aiding in professional growth and transition.
- Credentialing information for Navy occupations
- Career advancement roadmaps
- Civilian certification and licensing opportunities
- Transition assistance to civilian workforce
- Information on apprenticeships and academic credit
- Funding availability for credentials
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An Official U.S. Navy mobile application, produced by the Navy PMW 240 Program. Navy COOL offers major elements of the U.S. Navy’s Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL) website in a convenient app. The app is essentially a toolbox – or COOLbox – that provides Sailors and others with a set of credentialing and career tools to help them make informed professional development decisions throughout their Navy career and beyond. Navy COOL tools provide information for making enlistment decisions, roadmaps to career advancement and retention, in-Service civilian/industry certification and licensing opportunities, and insights into prospective occupations during the eventual transition from the Navy back to the civilian workforce. Navy COOL tools are relevant to all Navy applicants, current Sailors, transitioning Sailors, Veterans, counselors, recruiters, credentialing organizations, employers and others. The app is geared toward both military and civilian users, and features public content only. No authentication or authorization is required. Navy COOL helps Navy Service members find information on certifications, licenses, and Dept. of Labor Registered Apprenticeships related to their jobs, including detailed information on: -- Credentials related to Navy ratings, designators and collateral-duty/out-of-rate assignments -- Credential requirements and potential gaps between Navy training and civilian credentialing requirements -- Resources available to fill gaps between military training and civilian credentialing requirements Upon launch of the app, users select an Enlisted rating or Officer designator and Collateral duties. Once this is chosen, Navy COOL filters content to only display data relevant to the user’s selection. The app includes tools related to the following: -- Credentials (certs and licenses mapped to Navy occupations) -- Learning and Development Roadmaps, or LaDRs, now including the new OaRS section (career development) -- United Services Military Apprenticeship Program, or USMAP (Dept. of Labor credentials) -- Joint Service Transcript, or JST (generic/non-PII; academic credit for Navy training and experience) -- Civilian Related Occupations (recruiting and transition tool) -- Rating Information Cards (Navy Recruiting, reclassification and enlisted rating changes) -- Post 911 Government Issue (G.I.) Bill funding of credentials (funding availability for Veterans) Spend a little time getting acquainted with Navy COOL by reviewing the "How To" links at the top of the app. Then dive into your occupation-specific information. Welcome to "your" COOL tools!
NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs
This reference app provides visual aids for Navy/Marine Aviation professionals on Product Data/Technical Data and Intellectual Property rights. It simplifies complex concepts related to management, acquisition, and marking of data, offering decisional tools and best practices.
- Visual aids for aviation data rights
- Best practices for PD/TD IP
- Decisional logic trees
- Conformal assertion markings samples
- References and links for practitioners
- Supplementation to DR SAVE toolset
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The SmartTabs mobile app is a Navy/Marine Aviation's "Best Practices" and "Lessons Learned" desktop reference set of visual aids constructed using the Department of Defense Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) requirements for participants dealing with Product Data/Technical Data (PD/TD) and their associated Intellectual Property (IP) (commonly known as "Data Rights"). These Best Practices graphically represent a compendium of most commonly encountered PD/TD IP related planning, acquisition, marking, reporting, and alternatives mitigation situations (so it fits most- but not all- situations). SMART TABS illustrates simplified concepts and decisional tools treating PD/TD related IP's: (i) management planning, assessment, and alternatives reporting, (ii) decisional logic trees associated with most commonly encountered IP pathways as part of creation, acquisition, usage rules and issues (including potential mitigation alternatives), (iii) conformal assertion markings samples (AKA "Stickers") using "Best Practices" treatment, and (iv) references and links for practitioners, including its supplementation to the Data & Rights Sustainment & Acquisition Validation Engine (DR SAVE) toolset.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs at 5.0 against Navy COOL's 3.3. NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs also leads on update cadence (every 4 months vs every 14 months). Navy COOL's advantage is ratings volume (38 vs 3). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Navy COOL has 38 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Navy COOL ships an update every 14 months, NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and August 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Navy COOL | NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.3 (38 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 13.3% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 38 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 14 months | Every 4 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 70 MB | 25 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems, Sea Warrior Program | Naval Air Systems Command |
Customer experience
Navy COOL
NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs
In-app purchases
Navy COOL
No in-app purchases
NAVAIR 6.8.5 Smart Tabs
No in-app purchases






