Waterway Guide vs Helm Boating
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/
Helm Boating
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Helm is a US marine navigation app for boaters who run shallow, unfamiliar or poorly charted water and want to know what is under the hull before they get there. YOUR DRAFT IS PART OF THE CHART Enter your boat's draft once. Helm shades the water you cannot safely cross and plans routes around it, instead of drawing a straight line through a two-foot shoal. DEPTH AGAINST YOUR DRAFT Helm reads depth from NOAA electronic navigational charts on the coast and the Great Lakes, and from the US Army Corps of Engineers Inland ENC on the rivers. Where a NOAA tide station is close enough, it adds the predicted tide and tells you whether that leaves enough water under your keel. TIDES AND CURRENTS Tide predictions come from NOAA CO-OPS against the MLLW datum. Tidal current arrows rotate with the time you scrub to, so you can see whether you will be pushed or held back before you commit to a pass. WEATHER YOU CAN READ AT A GLANCE Animated wind, wave and current overlays on the chart. A multi-day strip with three-hour columns for wind, gusts, air temperature and rain, plus water temperature where data exists. Outside US waters the forecast falls back to a global model so the app still works. OFFLINE FIRST Coverage is packaged into downloadable chart packs. Take the ones you need and leave the rest. Once a pack is on the device, the chart, depth and the anchor alarm keep working with no cell service, and so does routing in the coastal and Great Lakes regions. That is the point on open water. WHILE YOU ARE UNDERWAY - Depth, speed over ground and course over ground on one strip - Anchor alarm that wakes you if you drag - Nearby vessels on AIS - Satellite and night chart styles - Trips you run recorded to a logbook you can replay QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK Does it work without cell signal? Yes. Download the chart packs for your area first and the app keeps working offline, including depth, the anchor alarm and routing in the coastal and Great Lakes regions. Is it only for the ocean? No. Coastal water, the intracoastal, the Great Lakes and the major commercial rivers are charted, and the lakes in every state are on the map by name and shoreline. What makes it different from other chart apps? Most of them render a chart and leave the depth judgement to you. Helm knows your draft, reads the charted depth against it with the predicted tide, and plans around water that is too thin for your boat. Does it work on iPad? Yes, natively — a real iPad layout rather than a stretched phone screen. Can I use it for fishing? Yes. Save spots, read the depth contours around them and return to the same place later from your recorded trips. Is it good for a small boat? That is the case it was built for. Small boats in shallow water are where a generic chart app is least useful and where knowing your draft matters most. Helm is built by Loop Mobile FZCO. Privacy Policy: https://loopmobile.io/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://loopmobile.io/tos.html
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Waterway Guide at none against Helm Boating's shown. Waterway Guide also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). Helm Boating's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 2 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, chart position 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. Waterway Guide sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year and Helm Boating sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $19.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Waterway Guide ships an update every 2 weeks, Helm Boating weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Waterway Guide | Helm Boating |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.9K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.9K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #126 — better | #186 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 16.6 — better | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 52 MB | 72 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Waterway Guide | LOOP MOBILE FZCO |
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
Helm Boating
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
Helm Boating
- Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Month
- Premium3 Days trial$99.991 Year









