Comparison

Boater's Pocket Reference vs Knots 3D

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

Head to head
About

Boater's Pocket Reference

This comprehensive guide offers hundreds of pages of boating information, including navigation, regulations, and seamanship. It features illustrations, charts, and calculators to assist both new and experienced boaters in making their time on the water safer and more enjoyable.

Highlights
  • Piloting and Navigation
  • Communications
  • Boating Regulations
  • Navigation Rules
  • Weather Understanding
  • Seamanship and Knots
  • Boat Maintenance and Trailering
Features
Read full description

Hundreds of pages of boating information on your iPhone,iPod Touch or iPad! The Boater’s Pocket Reference caters to all levels of boating expertise with a wide variety of content including 800 illustrations and photographs and a myriad of charts and graphs. Boater’s Pocket Reference is a popular and useful printed book and the app is even better. Handy, Fact-Filled Boating Guide Boater’s Pocket Reference offers handy, how-to-do-it information and reference facts, figures, formulas, graphs, and tables about boating. Who needs this book? New boaters: This app provides an extensive introduction to all aspects of boating. Experienced boaters: A great reference and memory jogger. Everyone who wants to make their boating safer and more enjoyable. Features: * Piloting and Navigation—including the use of charts, GPS, radar, and sonar. * Communications—VHF, SSB, satellite. * U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard boating regulations * International, U.S., and Canadian Navigation Rules (Rules of the Road) * Understanding aids to navigation * Understanding weather—air movement, fronts, clouds, weather maps. * Boat types, design, and construction as well as boating terminology * The essentials of good seamanship—the basics of operating a boat. * Marlinespike seamanship—lines and knots—including 50 different knots. * Mechanical—engines and propellers. * Electrical—circuits, DC and AC wiring, batteries, chargers, inverters, lightning. * Boat trailering tips, techniques, maintenance, wiring. * General reference tables—time zones, holidays, weight and volume of liquids, and more. * Extensive unit conversion tables * Boating resources—organizations, phone numbers, web sites, including Coast Guard and Power Squadron. * Glossary of marine terminology. * Over 100 boating-related calculators. No boater can afford to be without this valuable and handy guide. About the Author Thomas McEwen is an avid boater and former mining engineer. Tom is also a member of the Boulder Valley Sail and Power Squadron in Colorado. You might also be interested in our other boating apps: - Navigation Rules - Boating Calcs - Seamanship - Ship Captain's Medical Guide

About

Knots 3D

Master over 220 essential knots with detailed 3D animations and offline access. This app is perfect for learning rope work for activities like fishing, climbing, and boating, offering interactive tutorials and customizable organization features.

Highlights
  • 225+ knots in 12+ categories
  • Offline access, no internet required
  • Interactive 3D knot animations
  • Rotate and scrub through knot tying
  • Customizable knot categories
  • Add personal notes and keywords
  • ABOK number cross-reference
Features
Read full description

Learn to tie over 240 knots for fishing, climbing, boating, sailing, camping, scouting and other ropework. Knots 3D is the original 3D knot-tying app, first released in 2011 and rated 4.9 by tens of thousands of users worldwide. Choose a knot app with care, as your safety may depend on it. Watch each knot tie itself in 3D, slow it down, and turn it around until it makes sense. Browse by category or type, search by name, common synonym or Ashley Book of Knots (ABoK) number, or describe what you need the knot to do. Save your favorite knots for quick review. Features: - 241 knots in over a dozen categories, with new knots added regularly - No ads, no subscriptions and no in-app purchases. Ever! - Completely OFFLINE and self-contained. No additional downloads or internet access required! - Watch knots tie themselves and pause or adjust the speed of the animation at any time - Rotate knots in 360-degree, 3D views to study them from any angle with a swipe of a finger - "Scrub" over the knot with a finger to advance or rewind the animation - Mirror (left-hand) mode, zoom, and rotate the view to match how you hold the rope - Describe a task in your own words, like "tie a boat to a dock", to find the right knots for the job - High-res graphics with photorealistic rope textures - Dark mode and light mode - List, Card and Icon view options - Create your own custom categories to group knots, such as "Mastered", "Practice" or "Top Ten" - Add personal notes, links and your own search keywords to any knot - Share a knot link by text message, email, social media and more - ABoK numbers for cross-reference to The Ashley Book of Knots Includes the knots people look for most: Bowline, Clove Hitch, Figure Eight, Trucker's Hitch, Square Knot, Sheet Bend, Prusik, Taut Line Hitch, Cleat Hitch, Palomar Knot, Uni Knot, Double Fisherman's Knot, Alpine Butterfly, Monkey's Fist, Munter Hitch and many more. Every knot comes with a description of what it is for and a list of common uses. Most also include the other names the knot goes by, strength and reliability notes, structure, related knots, ABoK numbers and history. Available in 25 languages: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese Categories: - Essential Knots - Arborist - Boating - Camping - Caving - Climbing - Decorative - Diving - Fire & Rescue - Fishing - Military - Neckties - Pioneering - Rope Care - Scouting - Theatre & Film Types: - Bends - Binding - Coils - Friction Hitches - Hitches - Lashings - Loops - Mats - Multi-Loop - Quick Release - Stoppers - Whippings The complete list of knots: https://knots3d.com/en/complete-list Missing a knot? Suggest one from inside the app. Knots 3D is a learning reference. Learn from a skilled instructor if you plan to use ropes or knots in a situation where failure could cause property damage, injury, or death.

Screenshots

Boater's Pocket Reference4 screens
Knots 3D4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Knots 3D at every 2 weeks against Boater's Pocket Reference's every 5 months. Knots 3D also leads on ratings volume (13K vs 406) and chart position (#2 vs unranked). Boater's Pocket Reference's advantage is price ($4.99 vs $5.99) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 16.0). On rating, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases 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

Boater's Pocket Reference costs $4.99 and Knots 3D $5.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Boater's Pocket Reference against 4.9 for Knots 3D. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Knots 3D has 13K ratings behind it against 406, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 93% of Boater's Pocket Reference's written reviews are positive against 98% of Knots 3D's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Boater's Pocket Reference ships an update every 5 months, Knots 3D every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 5 level
Boater's Pocket Reference versus Knots 3D: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBoater's Pocket ReferenceKnots 3D
Price$4.99 — better$5.99
Rating4.8 (406 ratings)4.9 (13K ratings) — better
Positive reviews93.3% of reviews97.8% of reviews — better
Number of ratings40613K — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFree — better
Best chart rank—#2 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS9.0 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size103 MB520 MB
Age rating+44+
DeveloperCalculated IndustriesNynix

Customer experience

Boater's Pocket Reference

All ratings406 ratings
Positive97.3%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.0%
Written reviews105 reviews
Positive93.3%
Neutral1.0%
Negative5.7%

Knots 3D

All ratings12,839 ratings
Positive98.3%
Neutral0.9%
Negative0.8%
Written reviews634 reviews
Positive97.8%
Neutral0.9%
Negative1.3%

Bugs and requests

Boater's Pocket Reference

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Knots 3D

Reported bugs

1 issue
  • Favorites list disappearing after updates

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add more splices and advanced knots
  • Implement step-by-step instructions and ability to pause/rewind animations
  • Add a continuous loop option for the knot animations
  • Introduce a game mode or practice feature

In-app purchases

None

Boater's Pocket Reference

No in-app purchases

None

Knots 3D

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Boater's Pocket Reference free?
Boater's Pocket Reference costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Knots 3D free?
Knots 3D costs $5.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Boater's Pocket Reference or Knots 3D?
Knots 3D is rated higher. Boater's Pocket Reference averages 4.8 out of 5 from 406 ratings, while Knots 3D averages 4.9 from 13K ratings.
Do Boater's Pocket Reference or Knots 3D have ads?
Neither Boater's Pocket Reference nor Knots 3D shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Boater's Pocket Reference or Knots 3D?
Boater's Pocket Reference ships an update every 5 months, and Knots 3D every 2 weeks. Most recently, Boater's Pocket Reference was updated on October 15, 2026 and Knots 3D on October 16, 2026.

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