Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker vs Paddle Paddle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
Track your performance across over 30 water sports, including sailing, wingfoiling, and kayaking. Analyze speed, distance, wind, and more to understand your progress and improve your skills. Plan your sessions with integrated forecasts and stay safe with live tracking.
- Track 30+ water sports sessions
- Analyze speed, distance, wind, and performance metrics
- Log gear and equipment usage
- View progress trends over time
- Live safety tracking
- Integrated wind and weather forecasts
- Connect with Strava and GPS-Speedsurfing.com
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Waterspeed is a GPS tracker for sailing, wingfoil, windsurf, SUP, kayak and 30+ other water sports. Record every session on the water and see your speed, distance and track in detail. WIND ALERTS AND FORECASTS • Wind alerts: pick when you want to head out, and Waterspeed tells you when the wind is right, with time to get ready (Pro) • Wind, weather and tide forecasts for the spots near you (Pro) • Wind history and spot conditions (Explore+) MEASURE • Speed, max speed, average speed, distance and duration • Best speeds over 2 s, 10 s and 500 m (Pro) • Your track on the map, with speed shown along the route • Heart rate from your watch, wind, strokes and foiling time • Tacks and gybes analysis, foiling efficiency (Pro) • VMG (velocity made good) and true wind angle (Ultra) • Polar charts and performance against target speeds (Ultra) • Upwind/downwind and port/starboard analysis, legs and runs, gains and losses in distance and angle (Ultra) • Countdown timer for race starts (Pro) • Session history and progress over months and seasons WORKS WITH YOUR DEVICES AND APPS • Apple Watch: record your session right from your wrist • Garmin, Coros, Suunto and Vakaros: your sessions sync into Waterspeed automatically • Strava and GPS-Speedsurfing.com: send your sessions there automatically (Pro) SPORTS Sailing (dinghy, keelboat, catamaran), wingfoil, windsurf, kitesurf, foil, efoil, pumpfoil, SUP, kayak, canoe, downwind, powerboat and 30+ water sports. IMPROVE • Log your gear (boards, sails, wings, foils, boats) and compare sessions • Challenges and leaderboards with the community • Share sessions with friends LIVE SHARING • Live location sharing, so people on shore can follow you (Pro) PLANS Free to download and record. Pro unlocks full stats, history and sync. Ultra adds advanced sailing and racing analysis: VMG, true wind angle, polars, legs and runs. Waterspeed Pro and Ultra are monthly or yearly subscriptions. Payment is charged to your Apple account and renews automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. One subscription works on all Apple devices linked to your iCloud account. Waterspeed can export activities to Apple Health. We love hearing from the community: support@waterspeedapp.com Terms of Service: https://www.waterspeedapp.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.waterspeedapp.com/privacy
Paddle Paddle
Track your kayaking, canoeing, paddleboarding, or rowing sessions with detailed metrics and a full-screen map. Enjoy high-visibility mode for bright days and set targets for your routes. Syncs with Apple Health and offers export options.
- Full-screen route mapping
- Real-time speed, distance, and stroke rate tracking
- High-visibility mode for sunny conditions
- Target setting for routes
- Stroke rate measurement via motion sensors
- Apple Watch integration
- GPX/TCX export and Strava sync
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Paddle Paddle is the tracker made for life on the water. Kayak, canoe, paddle board or rowing shell: start a session and Paddle Paddle maps every stroke, keeps your numbers big and readable in the sun, and saves each outing so you can relive it, share it and beat it next time. See everything at a glance. A full-screen map shows your route as you paddle, while clean floating panels keep speed, one-minute and total average speed, distance, stroke rate, stroke effort and heart rate in view. On bright days, switch to high-visibility mode for opaque panels, extra-large numbers and full screen brightness. Pause, Resume and Finish use slide-to-confirm controls, so splashes and wet fingers never stop your session by accident. Paddle with purpose. Long-press anywhere on the map to set a target and Paddle Paddle shows the direction and distance to it. Loved a past route? Choose “Paddle this route again” and follow it on the map. Voice cues announce your time, distance, speed, heart rate and battery at the interval you choose, so you can keep your eyes on the water. Lock your iPhone and put it in a dry bag: tracking continues until you press Finish. Know your stroke. Paddle Paddle measures your stroke rate with the iPhone’s motion sensors, tuned separately for kayak, canoe, paddle board and rowing. Wear an Apple Watch for even better wrist-based stroke rate, or pair a standard Bluetooth heart-rate strap for live heart rate. Every session, beautifully organized. History gives you monthly totals, an eight-week trend and a route preview on every session, plus a map of everywhere you’ve paddled. Open a session to see your route colored by speed, charts of speed, stroke rate and heart rate over time, weather at the start and finish, notes and a timeline of your pauses. Trim the end of a session, merge two sessions, or change the equipment in a tap. A real Apple Watch app. Start a session right from your wrist with live time, distance, speed, stroke rate and heart rate, plus Water Lock built in. Leave your iPhone on shore if you like: sessions recorded on the watch sync to your iPhone automatically. Paddling with both? Your watch adds its stroke rate and heart rate to the session recorded on your iPhone. Share and sync. Create a shareable image of any session, export GPX or TCX files for other apps and services, or send sessions to Strava. Keep your history safe and in sync across your devices with iCloud. Paddle Paddle works with Apple Health: it reads your weight and age for accurate calorie estimates and saves each session as a paddle-sports workout. Distances can be shown in kilometers, miles or nautical miles. Paddle Paddle is free to download and use for tracking, with ads. An optional subscription removes ads and unlocks iCloud sync, automatic upload to Strava and the full set of voice cues. Monthly and annual subscriptions are available, and the annual plan offers the best value. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and you can manage or cancel them in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://oxigenator.com/products/paddle-paddle/terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://oxigenator.com/products/paddle-paddle/privacy-policy/ Grab your paddle. See you on the water!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker at none against Paddle Paddle's shown. Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker also leads on review sentiment (85% vs 67%) and update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). Paddle Paddle's advantage is iOS requirement (15.6 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and in-app purchases 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. Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker sells 18 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Paddle Paddle sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker against 4.7 for Paddle Paddle. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 386 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker's written reviews are positive against 67% of Paddle Paddle's.
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker ships an update every 10 days, Paddle Paddle every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker | Paddle Paddle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.1K ratings) | 4.7 (386 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.7% of reviews — better | 66.7% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 386 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Freemium | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 144 MB | 19 MB |
| Age rating | +4 | 4+ |
| Developer | Waterspeed Technologies Limited | OXiGENATOR LLC |
Customer experience
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
Paddle Paddle
Bugs and requests
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Paddle Paddle
Reported bugs
5 issues- 🐛 App freezes when viewing history
- 🐛 History not showing without upgrade
- 🐛 Apple Watch shows speed in km/hr despite miles setting
- 🐛 No data collected in Apple Watch stats
- 🐛 Cannot view history due to unavailable ads/subscription
Requested features
7 requests- 💡 Add watch version
- 💡 Grab heart rate data from Apple Watch
- 💡 Make app fully functional without subscription
- 💡 Improve Apple Watch integration
- 💡 Allow starting/pausing/stopping recording on Apple Watch
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- 💡 Show useful data on Apple Watch
- 💡 Explain color coding (red, orange, green)
In-app purchases
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
- WS Monthly subscription14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Monthly14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Waterspeed Pro Monthly$3.991 Month
Show 15 moreShow fewer
- Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Monthly Plan14 Days trial$4.991 Month
- Monthly Plan14 Days trial$5.991 Month
- WS Quarterly subscription14 Days trial$7.993 Months
- Waterspeed Ultra Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Waterspeed Ultra Monthly14 Days trial$12.991 Month
- Waterspeed Ultra Monthly$19.991 Month
- WS Yearly subscription14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Waterspeed PRO Yearly2 Months trial$29.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription$29.991 Year
- Yearly Plan14 Days trial$59.991 Year
- Waterspeed Ultra Yearly1 Month trial$99.001 Year
- Waterspeed Ultra Yearly14 Days trial$149.001 Year
- Waterspeed Ultra Yearly14 Days trial$199.001 Year
Paddle Paddle
- Monthly Subscription$2.991 Month
- Annual Subscription$29.991 Year
Questions
Is Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker free?
Is Paddle Paddle free?
Which has better reviews, Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker or Paddle Paddle?
Do Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker or Paddle Paddle have ads?
Which is updated more often, Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker or Paddle Paddle?
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