Comparison

Wavve Boating vs XMap

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Wavve Boating

Navigate waterways with detailed nautical charts, tide predictions, and weather forecasts. Connect with a community of boaters to share points of interest and track friends on the water. Enjoy simplified GPS navigation tailored to your boat's draft.

Highlights
  • Simple GPS navigation
  • Customizable nautical charts
  • Community points of interest
  • Tide predictions
  • 7-day weather forecasts
  • Friend tracking (Fleets)
Features
Read full description

Ever have a stressful day navigating on the water? Wanted to know more about the conditions you are about to head into? Are you looking for exciting places to explore, the best place to refuel, or just trying to meet up with a friend? Wavve Boating takes a new spin on traditional boating navigation by bringing detailed nautical charts, tide predictions, weather forecasts, and more in one easy-to-use tool. Join a fast-growing community of boaters building a network of marine knowledge that everyone can enjoy. With Wavve Boating you get: - Simple and Seamless Marine GPS Navigation - Put away overcrowded and complex charts and apps. Wavve Boating's GPS focuses on important and relevant information so that navigating is as easy as staying in the blue and avoiding the red. - Custom Nautical Charts - View and change Wavve Boating's nautical charts based on your unique boating needs and preferences. Set your draft and Wavve Boating redraws the nautical charts to fit your boat. Nautical charts are available for the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. You can view a map of our coverage on our website. - Community Boating - Just like at the dock or on the water, we all help each other in Wavve Boating. Share expert knowledge of the local waterways by adding shared points of interest to the map. The community can vote on pins, making sure they are all valid and valuable. Not quite ready to share a great find? No problem, you can keep your points of interest private as well. - Tides - Track changes in water height in tidal regions and along rivers and lakes with the tides function. View a body of water in North America, and the app will update to reflect the current water levels. View predicted water heights up to 18 hours in advance and track the next tidal variances. - Weather - Check the weather, including a complete seven-day forecast, across all of North America. Easily view the temperature, wind speed, and wave height as you move around the map. The local daily forecasts are color-coded to show if it is dangerous to go boating, using guidelines from the Coast Guard's small vessel advisory. - Fleets of Friends - See who is on the water and where they are by adding friends to your fleet. Share your locations with members of your fleet to make meeting up a breeze. Want to keep your best fishing hole a secret, even from your boating buds? Easily hide your location to boat under the radar. - So Long Chart Plotters - Marine navigation is more than concentrating on a cluttered chart plotter. Get your head out of the cabin and enjoy the journey. Stop buying marine charts piece by piece for your chart plotter. Wavve Boating has integrated all the marine charts into one map for your boating GPS needs. Subscription Pricing and Terms Wavve Boating is free to download, and all customers are welcome to a free 14 day trial period. Should you choose to continue to use the Wavve Boating app after the free trial, we offer two auto-renewing subscription options, monthly ($11.99/month) or yearly ($69.99/year). Wavve Boating needs you! We've built the platform, but it is boaters that will build our Wavver community. Share your knowledge, share your time, and save a prop or two in the process. MORE INFORMATION Want to learn more about Wavve Boating’s marine navigation aid? Still deciding if this is the right boat GPS app for you to replace your chart plotter? Looking for an alternative to Navionics, Embark, Garmin Active Captain or other? Head to our website to learn more. TERMS OF SERVICE https://wavveboating.com/terms-of-service/ PRIVACY POLICY https://wavveboating.com/privacy-policy/

About

XMap

Features
Read full description

XMap-Better Map Give you better travel plan By switching the bottom tab, you can find the most suitable route for your trip. On the home page, you can search where you want to go and plan the best route. More functions are under development, please look forward to it

Screenshots

Wavve Boating4 screens
XMap4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Wavve Boating at Free against XMap's $0.99. Wavve Boating also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs every 5 weeks) and chart position (#16 vs unranked). XMap's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 16.0). On ads and device support 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Wavve Boating is free to download; XMap costs $0.99 up front. Wavve Boating sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. XMap asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Wavve Boating ships an update every 6 days, XMap every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 22, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Wavve Boating versus XMap: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWavve BoatingXMap
PriceFree — better$0.99
Rating4.7 (6.4K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews51.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings6.4K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 days — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
Best chart rank#16 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size197 MB69 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWavve Boating INCHan Fei Shu

Bugs and requests

Wavve Boating

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • App crashes when accessing depth data
  • Logged out unexpectedly, unable to log back in
  • Subscription charges despite cancellation

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add more inland lake and river coverage
  • Improve auto-routing capabilities
  • Allow editing of saved routes
  • Integrate with more boat displays
  • Add social features to share trips with friends

XMap

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Wavve Boating

Subscriptions5
  • Monthly Subscription (No Data)$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Subscription$11.991 Month
  • Best Value - Wavve Boating14 Days trial$69.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Yearly Subscription (No Data)14 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Best Value - Wavve Boating1 Month trial$69.991 Year
None

XMap

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Wavve Boating free?
Wavve Boating is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is XMap free?
XMap costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do Wavve Boating or XMap have ads?
Neither Wavve Boating nor XMap shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Wavve Boating or XMap?
Wavve Boating ships an update every 6 days, and XMap every 5 weeks. Most recently, Wavve Boating was updated on September 22, 2026 and XMap on September 13, 2026.

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