Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker vs Surf Athlete
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 with detailed metrics like speed, distance, and wind conditions. Analyze your sessions, compare gear, and connect with a community of water sports enthusiasts. Offers advanced features for dedicated athletes.
- GPS tracking for 30+ water sports
- Detailed speed, distance, and duration metrics
- Wind, weather, and tide forecasts (Pro)
- Heart rate and gear logging
- Session history and progress tracking
- Live location sharing (Pro)
- Integration with Apple Watch, Garmin, Coros, Suunto
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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
Surf Athlete
This app provides surf-specific training programs designed to enhance strength, endurance, and mobility. It offers workouts, stretching routines, and breath training to improve performance in the ocean and prevent injuries. Users can join a community and track progress.
- Surf-specific workouts
- Strength, endurance, and mobility training
- Stretch routines
- Breath training
- Technique tutorials
- Global surfer community
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Surf fitness that fits around your life. Build strength, paddle endurance, and mobility with training designed for surfers. Work out at home, while travelling, or wherever you have space, with minimal or no equipment. Surf Athlete brings together workouts, exercise demos, and coaching from Surf Strength Coach. Each exercise includes coaching cues and an explanation of how it relates to surfing, so you know what to do and why. START WITH THE FREE FEATURES • Bodyweight and mobility workouts • Stretch routines for surfers • Breath training to help you stay calm in heavy water • Technique tutorials and surf-specific drills • A community of surfers sharing their progress TRAIN FOR YOUR TIME IN THE WATER Work on paddling longer, moving more freely, and building strength for your pop-up. Training combines strength, mobility, breathwork, recovery, and mindset to help you stay active in the surf over the long term. Sync with Apple Health to track your progress. When you’re ready for more, upgrade to unlock full surf-specific programs, personalized training plans, and ongoing coaching from Surf Strength Coach. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://surfstrengthcoach.com/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Surf Athlete at 4.9 against Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker's 4.6. Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Surf Athlete sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $18.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Surf Athlete holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.1K and 405 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker's written reviews are positive against 91% of Surf Athlete's.
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker ships an update every 10 days, Surf Athlete every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker | Surf Athlete |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (1.1K ratings) | 4.9 (405 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 84.8% of reviews | 90.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 405 |
| Update frequency | Every 10 days — better | Every 3 weeks |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 146 MB | 236 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Waterspeed Technologies Limited | Nautilus Surf Performance LLC |
Customer experience
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
Surf Athlete
Bugs and requests
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Surf Athlete
Reported bugs
3 issues- Registration not working
- App crashing on launch
- Music playback interruptions
Requested features
6 requests- Dark mode option
- Offline workout mode
- Better music integration
- More free content
- Expanded exercise library
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- Improved app stability
In-app purchases
Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker
- WS Monthly subscription14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Monthly14 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$3.991 Month
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- WS Quarterly subscription14 Days trial$7.993 Months
- Waterspeed Ultra Monthly1 Month trial$9.991 Month
- Waterspeed Ultra Monthly$19.991 Month
- WS Yearly subscription14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Yearly Subscription14 Days trial$29.991 Year
- Waterspeed Ultra Yearly1 Month trial$99.001 Year
- Waterspeed Ultra Yearly14 Days trial$199.001 Year
Surf Athlete
- Ocean Sports Academy (1 month)$18.991 Month
- SURF ATHLETE PRO (1 month)$29.991 Month
- Surf Athlete Academy (3 month)$83.993 Months
- Stretches for Surfers$27.99
- The Perfect Pop Up$79.99
- Bodyweight$119.99
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- Surf Athlete$129.99
- Cardboard Surfer$129.99
- Surf Skate$139.99
- Surf Training Foundations$159.99
Questions
Is Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker free?
Is Surf Athlete free?
Which has better reviews, Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker or Surf Athlete?
Do Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker or Surf Athlete have ads?
Which is updated more often, Waterspeed Sailing GPS Tracker or Surf Athlete?
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