Marine Barometer vs BayCurrents
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Marine Barometer
This app provides accurate atmospheric pressure readings for mariners, allowing them to manually save readings with location and time data. It explains sea level pressure calculation and offers calibration checks with adjustable sensor offsets.
- Accurate atmospheric pressure readings
- Manual saving of pressure, location, and time
- Sensor offset adjustment
- Sea level pressure explanation
- Calibration check instructions
- Multiple pressure unit options
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Marine Barometer is a barometer sensor interface that is uniquely designed to meet the needs of mariners who rely on accurate atmospheric pressure for weather routing and the evaluation of weather maps. Pressure readings can be manually saved permanently along with the latitude, longitude, and time of the reading. If a sensor offset has been applied, that value is also stored with each recorded pressure. These recorded pressures can then at the navigator's convenience be transferred to the vessel's printed logbook. The GPS sensor is accessed for latitude and longitude only. The elevation of the sensor (your iOS device that includes a barometer) above sea level must be entered manually. Elevation values from the GPS are not accurate enough for the intended application. The concept of sea level pressure is explained along with how it is determined from the sensor reading. Instructions are provided on how to check the calibration of the sensor, and a sensor offset can be applied as needed. Links to sources of accurate sea level pressure are included. Sources of accurate elevation are included for use on land. The standard units for marine applications are millibars (mb) or hectoPascals (hPa). The main pressure display can also be set to inches of mercury, millimeters of mercury, or kiloPascals. However, because the primary reference pressures that would be used to check the sensor calibration are in mb, the sensor calibration must be set using millibar units. Reference links are provided for learning more about the tactical use of pressure for weather forecasting and weather map evaluation. Discounts are offered for barometer related reference books.
BayCurrents
Visualize high-resolution surface currents in the San Francisco Bay. This app supports various maritime activities with data up to 48 hours in the future. It operates autonomously offline, using NOAA model data enhanced by radar and tidal observations.
- High-resolution surface current maps
- 48-hour future forecasting
- Offline autonomous operation
- NOAA numerical model data
- Supports recreational and professional maritime activities
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BayCurrents is a mobile app for displaying maps of high resolution surface currents within the San Francisco Bay. The app is intended to support a wide range of maritime activities, from recreational fishing and sailing to the operation of professional transport vessels. The source for the surface current data is a numerical model operated by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The model benefits from oceanographic high-frequency radar (HFR) measurements from the Central & Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS) HFR Network, along with other observations such as tides and wind. The resulting dataset contains current vector fields for hourly timestamps ranging from the recent past, to the present and up to 48 hours into the future. The complete vector dataset is downloaded by the app to allow autonomous offline operation. This app contains experimental data and is NOT for navigational purposes.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: BayCurrents at 5.0 against Marine Barometer's 4.5. BayCurrents also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 15 months). Marine Barometer's advantage is ratings volume (33 vs 3) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). 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.
BayCurrents holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Marine Barometer has 33 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
Marine Barometer ships an update every 15 months, BayCurrents every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 4, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Marine Barometer | BayCurrents |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (33 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 33 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 15 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 | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 38 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Starpath Corp | Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute |
Customer experience
Marine Barometer
BayCurrents
In-app purchases
Marine Barometer
No in-app purchases
BayCurrents
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Marine Barometer free?
Is BayCurrents free?
Which has better reviews, Marine Barometer or BayCurrents?
Do Marine Barometer or BayCurrents have ads?
Which is updated more often, Marine Barometer or BayCurrents?
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