AV Assistant vs Coastal Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
AV Assistant
This app provides U.S. waters navigation information, displaying your location and details of surrounding aids like buoys and lights. It downloads weekly U.S. Coast Guard Light List data and includes relevant Local Notice for Mariners information. It also allows users to report discrepancies in navigation aids to the U.S. Coast Guard.
- Location-based aid display
- U.S. Coast Guard Light List data
- Local Notice for Mariners integration
- Discrepancy reporting to USCG
- Informational aid for U.S. waters
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AV Assistant is an informational aid for U.S. waters that shows your location and details on all surrounding aids to navigation (buoys, lights, etc) within your Area of Interest. The app downloads the weekly U.S. Coast Guard Light List for your district, and then shows the aids within your Area of Interest and their details. Any applicable Local Notice for Mariners information is also shown with the light data. For reference use, Nearest Light, also in the App Store, is the better choice. AV Assistant is capable of making reports to the U.S. Coast Guard regarding discrepancies in aids to navigation and is primarily intended for USCG and USCG Auxiliary use. Refer to the website (url in Settings|Reference) for additional information. Warning: AV Assistant, which provides Light List data, is not intended to be used in place of charts or Coast Pilots. Charts should be consulted for the location of all aids to navigation. It may be dangerous to use aids to navigation without reference to charts.
Coastal Explorer
Plan and log your cruises with detailed nautical charts and weather forecasts. Enhance your experience with a subscription for offline access, real-time navigation, and integration with marine electronics.
- View NOAA and USACE nautical charts
- Create routes and waypoints
- Cloud synchronization
- ActiveCaptain points of interest
- US Coast Pilot information
- Marine weather forecasts
- Tide and current predictions
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Coastal Explorer™ is a sophisticated, full-featured, easy-to-use cruise planning and logging tool designed specifically for the pleasure boater. And it becomes a complete navigation system with the purchase of a chart subscription. The free Coastal Explorer app provides these great planning features: * View NOAA and USACE nautical charts for the US in vector format * Create routes, waypoints, boundaries, and other navigation objects * Cloud-synchronization of your navigation objects * ActiveCaptain points of interest * US Coast Pilot information * Marine weather forecasts and observations for the US * Tide and current predictions for the US Purchasing a chart subscription turns Coastal Explorer into a complete navigation system that includes: * Downloadable charts, tide and current predictions, Coast Pilot, and ActiveCaptain places for offline use * Interfacing with compatible networked marine electronics devices, including GPS, compass, depth sounder, anemometer, AIS, autopilot, and more * Customizable instrument panels * Route following with cross-track error, distance and time to go, estimated time of arrival, etc * Track and event recording * Integrated blogging Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. See our Terms of Service at https://www.rosepoint.com/legal/terms_of_service.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: AV Assistant at 5.0 against Coastal Explorer's 2.8. AV Assistant also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.4 vs 14.0). Coastal Explorer's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (16 vs 4). On price, 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
Both are free to download. Coastal Explorer sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. AV Assistant asks for nothing beyond the download.
AV Assistant holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.8. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 4 and 16 respectively.
AV Assistant ships an update every 2 months, Coastal Explorer every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | AV Assistant | Coastal Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (4 ratings) — better | 2.8 (16 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 11.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 4 | 16 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.4 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 54 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Clint O'Connor | Rose Point Navigation Systems, Inc |
Customer experience
AV Assistant
Coastal Explorer
In-app purchases
AV Assistant
No in-app purchases
Coastal Explorer
- Monthly Subscription$19.991 Month
- Yearly Subscription$49.991 Year









