Comparison

TideApp vs Tide Charts

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

Head to head
About

TideApp

Access real-time tidal charts and data for over 4,000 locations globally. Plan trips with future tide information and view daily highs, lows, and sun/moon cycles.

Highlights
  • Global tidal charts
  • Daily tide highs and lows
  • Sun and moon cycles
  • Future tide graphs
  • Trip planning tool
  • Updated interface
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

TideApp turns your phone into a tide table for 3,486 NOAA stations across the United States — the 1,251 reference stations NOAA publishes full harmonic data for, plus 2,235 subordinate stations derived from them. Drag the chart and the water follows your finger. Predictions are computed on your device from NOAA's published harmonic constants, so once the app has loaded, no signal or connection is needed to read the tide. FREE • Today's tide at any station, with sunrise, sunset and the day's moon • Conditions above the chart — the sky, the temperature, and the day's high and low • Nearest-station lookup from your location, or find any of the 3,486 by name or on the map • Switch between stations any time — starred stations are free, not a Pro feature PRO • Every day, not just today — drag the chart and the day strip as far as you like • Wind and gusts on a compass, pressure and which way it's going, visibility, and the chance of rain • Apple Watch app and complications • Widgets on your home screen • Alerts for high and low tides as well as thresholds The weather needs a connection. The tide does not — it is computed on your phone, so an outage takes the sky off the screen and leaves the water exactly where it was. TideApp Pro is a 4.99 USD/month or 49.99 USD/year auto-renewing subscription with a 7-day free trial for new subscribers. Payment is charged to your Apple ID at purchase confirmation; the subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in your Apple ID account settings. See Terms of Use and Privacy Policy below. Predictions are computed from published NOAA CO-OPS harmonic constants. They are not official NOAA products, are not endorsed by NOAA, and are not a substitute for official navigational sources — they exclude storm surge, wind, and other weather effects and should not be relied on for navigation. Weather data provided by Apple Weather. Terms of Use: https://tideapp.com/terms.html Privacy Policy: https://tideapp.com/privacy.html

About

Tide Charts

Access worldwide tidal estimates, lunar data, and weather forecasts. Plan outdoor adventures with ease using current radar and offline predictions. Supports Apple Watch and includes a Today Extension for quick access.

Highlights
  • Worldwide tidal estimates
  • Lunar data
  • Weather forecast
  • Current radar
  • Offline predictions
  • Favorite station management
  • Apple Watch support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Finally a beautiful and simple way to view tides on your mobile device! In addition to worldwide tidal estimates at tide stations, you can see the lunar data, weather forecast, and current radar making your next outdoor adventure as easy to plan as possible. By default, the application will pick the closest tide station to you, but picking a different tide or weather station is as easy as viewing a map of your current location. You can also setup and quickly switch between many stored favorite stations if you need to. No internet access while outdoors? No problem. This app has been designed to give you tidal and lunar predictions without internet access! Tides at a glance • A clear chart of the whole day, with the current height marked and daylight hours shaded (lunar rise and set is the small gray bar on the bottom) • The times and heights of every high and low tide • Swipe left or right to move through the days, or pick a date on the calendar • Swipe down to see sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and the phase of the moon • Subscribe for tide alerts that notify you before a chosen high or low tide • Home Screen widgets with today's tides and the next tide Worldwide Tidal Stations • Nearly 8,000 stations, from the coasts of the United States and Canada to Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America and the Pacific islands • Find the nearest station with one tap, search by name, or browse the map, with satellite imagery when you want it • Keep your favorites one tap away Adjustable Height to Match Your Local Tide Table • Heights use the datum your local charts and tables use: MLLW in the United States, chart datum in Canada, Japan and Korea, LAT in Europe and Australia, MLWS in Peru and Ecuador (or you can choose your own from Mean Sea Level, MLLW, MLW, MLWS or LAT) Weather and Radar • Weather forecast is included for the station's location, with wind, temp, precipitation, and the day's high and low • Animated rain radar with a scrubber, so you can see what is coming Apple Watch • A full-screen tide chart on Apple Watch: turn the Digital Crown to step through highs, lows, sunrise, sunset and moon times, or drag to scrub through the next 30 days • Complications for every watch face, from a tide gauge to a chart of the next 24 hours, in the color you choose • Your favorite and nearby stations, with the current height and the next tide Tides is free with ads, however we do offer a one-time purchase to remove them if you would rather a clean distraction free experience.

Screenshots

TideApp4 screens
Tide Charts4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: TideApp at none against Tide Charts's shown. TideApp also leads on monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Tide Charts's advantage is review sentiment (69% vs 40%) and ratings volume (113K vs 8). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. TideApp sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Tide Charts sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Tide Charts holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tide Charts has 113K ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 40% of TideApp's written reviews are positive against 69% of Tide Charts's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

TideApp ships an update every 2 weeks, Tide Charts every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 10, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
TideApp versus Tide Charts: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTideAppTide Charts
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (8 ratings)4.8 (113K ratings) — better
Positive reviews40.0% of reviews68.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings8113K — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#199#30 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Apple WatchiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS16.415.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB104 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperForrest Grant7th Gear

Customer experience

TideApp

All ratings8 ratings
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%
Written reviews55 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral12.7%
Negative47.3%

Tide Charts

All ratings113,466 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral2.3%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews508 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral6.9%
Negative24.6%

User reviews

TideApp

From 8 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Used to be great
  • 👍 Phenomenal for timing slack tides
  • 👍 Useful for planning activities
  • 👍 Good free app
  • 👍 Comprehensive location listings

Room to improve

  • 😞 App is dead
  • 😞 Stopped working
  • 😞 Startup ad issues
  • 😞 Now terrible
  • 😞 Full screen ads

Tide Charts

From 113K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Clear tide information
  • 👍 Useful for planning activities
  • 💡 Comprehensive data including weather and moon phases
  • 🤖 Accurate and reliable
  • 🌟 Great app for Apple Watch

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inaccurate tide data in some locations
  • 🙈 Intrusive and unskippable ads
  • 🤯 Ads crashing the app
  • 🤔 Confusing UI and navigation
  • 🤖 Unreliable Apple Watch complications

Bugs and requests

TideApp

Reported bugs

41 issues
  • Startup ad forces browser launch
  • Cannot get past opening ad
  • Full screen ads that can't be closed
  • Ads fill entire screen
  • Full screen adds one after the other
Show 36 more
  • Screen to install a game that can't be bypassed
  • Update ruined app
  • Deleted useful functionality
  • Blank colored screen or lock up when working with favorites
  • App needs to be forced quit
  • Tide waveform does not allow scrolling
  • Full screen ad on opening blocks tide info
  • Ad can't be closed without downloading something unrelated
  • Cannot drag line on tide graph
  • New version doesn't list things in order
  • Doesn't tell next high or low tide
  • Screens don't move to reveal information
  • App does not get past opening ad
  • Not possible to scroll down graph
  • Does not load
  • Previous version opened in an ad that could not be closed
  • No way of seeing data for any day other than current
  • Changing a date does nothing
  • Crashed frequently
  • App crashes
  • Graph part of application quit, immediately closing the app
  • White banner and a black screen
  • Dates back on track (temporary glitch)
  • App crashes when surfing other locations
  • Freezing
  • Washington, D.C. sites listed under Washington state
  • Tolerable work-around needed for launch
  • App can be launched when no network connection is available
  • Latest app deleted, old version synced back
  • App takes too much memory
  • Advertisement needs WiFi connection sometimes
  • App says it needs WiFi, cellular is fine other times
  • Totally failed
  • Undo the upgrade and give back old version
  • No time zone correction for tides
  • Base time zone appears to be US Eastern Time Zone

Requested features

21 requests
  • Make a version I can buy and go ad free
  • Bring back scrolling through chart waveform
  • Bring back future date chart view
  • Bring back ability to scroll waveform
  • Add tide time offset feature
Show 16 more
  • Add option to offset time for specific location
  • Add moonphase percentage to moon rise
  • Add a black (or red) line at 0 ft mark in chart mode
  • See chart for one week at a time
  • Get favorites loaded offline
  • Include CURRENTS
  • Date picker in calendar format
  • Graph scrollable for 7 days
  • Support switching to landscape
  • Search for minus tides
  • Add option to use GPS location to find tide stations nearby
  • List locations under actual geographic state
  • Update icon to match other apps
  • Add bookmarks/default to often-used locations
  • Go straight to last port viewed when opened
  • Add time zone correction

Tide Charts

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Tide data off by several hours
  • Tide graph not displaying correctly
  • App crashing on ad dismissal
  • Apple Watch complications freezing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to set custom locations
  • Improved accuracy and data sources
  • Option to purchase ad-free version
  • Landscape mode support
  • More detailed tide height information

In-app purchases

2 purchases

TideApp

Subscriptions2
  • TideApp Pro Monthly7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • TideApp Pro Annual7 Days trial$49.991 Year
1 purchases

Tide Charts

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99

Questions

Is TideApp free?
TideApp is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Tide Charts free?
Tide Charts is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, TideApp or Tide Charts?
Tide Charts is rated higher. TideApp averages 4.5 out of 5 from 8 ratings, while Tide Charts averages 4.8 from 113K ratings.
Do TideApp or Tide Charts have ads?
Tide Charts shows ads; TideApp does not.
Which is updated more often, TideApp or Tide Charts?
TideApp ships an update every 2 weeks, and Tide Charts every 3 weeks. Most recently, TideApp was updated on October 10, 2026 and Tide Charts on October 17, 2026.
Which is more popular, TideApp or Tide Charts?
TideApp currently peaks at #199 in the App Store charts, and Tide Charts at #30. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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