Waterway Guide vs VMGPolar
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Waterway Guide
This app provides a comprehensive boating resource with a verified database of marinas, anchorages, and navigation alerts. Users can access real-time hazard information, plan trips with a digital handbook, and utilize detailed content optimized for mobile devices. Engage with a community of boaters through comments and reviews.
- Verified points of interest database
- Real-time navigation alerts
- Community comments and reviews
- Skipper's Handbook for trip planning
- Offline content access
- Marina filtering by amenities
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Optimized for your mobile devices with Waterway Guide's detailed and verified points of interest database. Includes over 1.3 million data points on marinas, anchorages, navigation alerts, free docks, bridges and locks displayed on the embedded map or satellite view. Benefit from the experience of 75 years of publishing and hundreds of thousands of active boaters through verified comments and reviews. Share your comments, add points of interest, earn rewards and engage with others from within the app. Stay informed with the latest hazards to navigation reported real time from USCG, government agencies, local experts and boaters everywhere. Plan your time on the water with Waterway Guide's Skipper's Handbook, which is included with the free app download. Access Waterway Guide's library of books as individual chapters or entire guides for the information and details you need for navigation. Content is optimized for mobile devices and can be bookmarked for availability offline. Easily find marinas that fit your needs. Filter our entire database of marinas based on amenities and your preferences. Same functionality as Waterway Guide’s Marinas App. EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
VMGPolar
Calculate sailing wind and boat speed with this tool. Input three values to determine the rest and log your data for export. It helps build and validate polar graphs for sailing performance.
- Sailing wind and boat speed calculation
- Input three values to calculate others
- Save data into a log
- Export log data
- Build and validate polar graphs
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Sailing wind and boat speed calculator. Enter 3 values to calculate the rest, then save the data into a log that can be exported later. The input fields are highlighted, with the least intensive highlight marking the next field to become a calculated value when a new input is entered. BSP = Boat Speed TWS = True Wind Speed TWA = True Wind Angle AWS = Apparent Wind Speed AWA = Apparent Wind Angle VMG = Velocity Made Good (calculated only) Save and export data to build and validate polar graphs.
Screenshots
Verdict
Waterway Guide and VMGPolar both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of VMGPolar's written reviews are positive against 52% of Waterway Guide's. VMGPolar also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10). Waterway Guide's advantage is ratings volume (2.9K vs 3) and chart position (#134 vs unranked). On price, rating, update cadence 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. Waterway Guide sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. VMGPolar asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Waterway Guide against 4.7 for VMGPolar. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Waterway Guide has 2.9K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 52% of Waterway Guide's written reviews are positive against 100% of VMGPolar's.
Waterway Guide ships an update every 2 weeks, VMGPolar fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waterway Guide | VMGPolar |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.9K ratings) — better | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.9K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #134 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 | 15.6 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Waterway Guide | Andrei Skobtsov |
Customer experience
Waterway Guide
VMGPolar
Bugs and requests
Waterway Guide
Reported bugs
4 issues- App not working with latest iOS version
- Subscription purchases not working properly
- Unable to access purchased content
- Frequent crashes and errors
Requested features
4 requests- Provide vertical bridge clearances
- Improve offline functionality
- Enhance search and filtering options
- Implement dark mode
VMGPolar
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Waterway Guide
- Great Lakes Vol.2 Ch.8$14.991 Year
- Anchorages Along the ICW$20.991 Year
- ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423$29.991 Year
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- Northern Edition$49.991 Year
- 1st Ed. Bahamas Land and Sea$49.991 Year
- Chesapeake Bay Edition$54.991 Year
- Atlantic ICW Edition$54.991 Year
- Southern Edition$54.991 Year
- Western Gulf Coast Edition$54.991 Year
- Florida Keys Edition$54.991 Year
VMGPolar
No in-app purchases
