CBSA CanBorder vs BC Ferries
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
CBSA CanBorder
Get real-time land border wait times for Canadian and US ports of entry. Plan your trips with estimated best crossing times and get turn-by-turn directions.
- Real-time border wait times
- Select ports of entry
- Trip planner function
- Estimated best crossing times
- Turn-by-turn directions
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Having land border wait times at your fingertips helps you make an informed decision about where and when to cross the border. The CanBorder app provides estimated wait times at select ports of entry in Canada and the United States. Short on time? Use the trip planner function to generate an estimated best day, time and port of entry at which to cross the border, along with turn by turn directions to get you there. The CanBorder app is a free service provided by the Canada Border Services Agency.
BC Ferries
Plan and book personal ferry travel with ease. Manage your trips, check schedules, and view current conditions instantly. Receive timely alerts for service notices and booking reminders.
- Personalized dashboard
- Set travel preferences
- Book and manage trips
- Express booking
- Seamless check-in
- View schedules and conditions
- Push notifications for alerts
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Introducing a new travel resource for planning and booking personal ferry travel. Book sailings, manage your trips, and check schedules and current conditions in a flash with the BC Ferries app. HOMEPAGE DASHBOARD Your personalized home screen features an at-a-glance view of your upcoming bookings, travel preferences, deals and offers and more. TRAVEL PREFERENCES Get quick access to schedules, current conditions and a faster booking experience on your frequently travelled routes by setting up travel preferences. Give your travel preferences nicknames, set departure and arrival terminals and add passenger and vehicle details on bookable routes. BOOK AND MANAGE YOUR FERRY TRAVEL Make your booking experience easier with personalized travel preferences. Quickly jump to the next available sailing with the new Express book feature, and change or cancel existing bookings on-the-go. SEAMLESS CHECK-IN AT THE TERMINAL Get quick access to your upcoming trips right from your home screen for seamless check-in with the app at the terminal. SCHEDULES Plan your trip with confidence with enhanced features on daily and seasonal schedules for all BC Ferries routes. Easily check sailing times for your favourite routes with travel preferences, and book directly from the schedules pages for bookable routes. Daily schedules now show the next sailing being ticketed and estimated deck space available. CURRENT CONDITIONS Route sailing status and estimated deck space are now easier to check with the updated Current Conditions layout. Travel preferences make it easier to find your frequently traveled routes, check which sailing is being ticketed, and view status of upcoming sailings. ALERTS Never miss any updates on the routes that matter the most to you. Opt-in to receive timely push notifications for service notices and upcoming booking reminders on your device. ADDITIONAL FEATURES AVAILABLE • Foot passenger bookings • Request accessibility products: boarding assistance, wheelchair at the terminal Note: Tablet landscape view is currently not supported in the app. If you are using a tablet, use the app in portrait view only. VISIT BCFERRIES.COM TO ACCESS THE FOLLOWING FEATURES • Booking BC Ferries Vacations packages • Commercial vehicle bookings • Group bookings of 10 or more passengers • To create an account
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: BC Ferries at every 2 months against CBSA CanBorder's every 4 months. CBSA CanBorder's advantage is iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 2.2 for CBSA CanBorder against 2.2 for BC Ferries. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 24 and 18 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 11% of CBSA CanBorder's written reviews are positive against 7% of BC Ferries's.
CBSA CanBorder ships an update every 4 months, BC Ferries every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | CBSA CanBorder | BC Ferries |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.2 (24 ratings) | 2.2 (18 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 11.4% of reviews — better | 7.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 24 — better | 18 |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 15.1 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Canada Border Services Agency | BC Ferry Services Inc. |
Customer experience
CBSA CanBorder
BC Ferries
Bugs and requests
CBSA CanBorder
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
BC Ferries
Reported bugs
17 issues- Update loop requesting repeated updates despite being current
- App crashes on launch, especially on iOS 26
- Login screen freezes and authentication errors
- Booking confirmation not displaying in 'My Bookings' section
- Reverse direction button activates on accidental touch
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- Payment page spinning indefinitely then failing
- Session expiration and random logouts
- Bookings showing as cancelled when they're active
- App won't accept correct credentials despite website login working
- Navigation buttons at bottom not functioning
- Schedule direction inverted for certain routes
- Current Conditions showing inaccurate space availability
- Booking edit functionality not accepting changes
- Account lockout with no recovery option
- Foreign email addresses not receiving verification codes
- Oversized vehicle selection cutting off edit buttons
- Password authentication error during booking despite being logged in
Requested features
14 requests- Calendar integration for bookings
- Dark mode option
- iPad landscape mode support
- Service notifications within app without email duplicates
- Ability to view bookings beyond 45 days
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- BC Experience Card reload functionality
- Native iOS app design instead of web wrapper
- Password manager support
- Account creation option from app login screen
- Booking reference number recognition for pre-made reservations
- Ferry delay/lateness visibility
- Grace period for accidental bookings without fees
- Accessibility improvements for VoiceOver/screen readers
- Better error messaging for failed transactions
In-app purchases
CBSA CanBorder
No in-app purchases
BC Ferries
No in-app purchases
