Ship Finder Lite vs Cruise Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ship Finder Lite
Track live moving ships on a global map with near real-time AIS data. Identify vessels using your device camera with Augmented Reality view. See ship details like name, type, and destination with color-coded icons for easy identification.
- Live worldwide ship tracking map
- Augmented Reality (AR) ship identification
- View ship name, type, and destination
- Color-coded vessel icons
- Near real-time AIS data
- Global AIS coverage
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Ship Finder shows live moving ships on a worldwide map. You can even use Augmented Reality (AR) view to identify ships out at sea using your device camera. Ship Finder has been top rated and top ranking since 2009 and covers most of the world, tracking 20,000+ ships simultaneously. Our incredible app performance means that you can see all tracked vessels at once - no clustering here! Simply tap on a ship to see it's name, type and destination. Colour coded icons make identification easy too. If you like this app you'll love the full version of Ship Finder. The full version includes a huge array of additional features including route history, search, filters, bookmarks, photos, the ability to add favourite ships and much more. Ship Finder works by picking up AIS ship feeds used by all passenger vessels, vessels over 300 tons and increasingly by smaller pleasure craft and yachts. This technology is actually faster than radar and is used by vessels for safety and navigation. Ship Finder provides near real time “virtual radar” AIS maps. It’s easy to use and is an amazing app for anyone interested in shipping, cruising and sailing in ports and locations across the world. It’s also great if you simply want to know what boats are out there or want to see where your friends and family are. Ship Finder is also used extensively by maritime professionals and mariners. Our global AIS coverage is impressive and expanding all of the time as we add new AIS feeds and receivers. Please check www.shipfinder.co regularly to see the latest coverage. Pinkfroot are committed to customer service and continually improve our Ship Finder apps based on feedback. Why not join our online community at www.pinkfroot.com or if you have any questions please email us via support@pinkfroot.com and we’ll be happy to help. Disclaimer: Ship Finder should not be used for navigational purposes. Under no circumstances will the developer of this application be held responsible for incidents resulting from the use of the data or its interpretation.
Cruise Tracker
Track your ship's journey with this app. It provides real-time data on speed, direction, and location, displaying your position on a map. Get essential navigation information easily.
- Track ship speed
- Measure moving direction
- Display coordinates
- Find location on map
- Real-time data
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Great tracking application for passengers of a ship. You can measure average or maximum speed, coordinates, moving direction or find yourself on map. Get the useful information in one click!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Ship Finder Lite at 4.3 against Cruise Tracker's 1.6. Ship Finder Lite also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). Cruise Tracker's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks) and review sentiment (32% vs 23%). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Ship Finder Lite holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 1.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ship Finder Lite has 3.2K ratings behind it against 10, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 23% of Ship Finder Lite's written reviews are positive against 32% of Cruise Tracker's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Ship Finder Lite ships an update every 6 weeks, Cruise Tracker every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 1, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ship Finder Lite | Cruise Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.3 (3.2K ratings) — better | 1.6 (10 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 22.7% of reviews | 31.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3.2K — better | 10 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.3 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 48 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | pinkfroot limited | margaret kovatch |
Customer experience
Ship Finder Lite
Cruise Tracker
Bugs and requests
Ship Finder Lite
Reported bugs
3 issues- Ships not showing up on the map
- App crashes or freezes
- Outdated or incorrect ship information
Requested features
4 requests- Search for specific vessels
- Alerts and notifications for ship movements
- Improved data coverage and accuracy
- Less intrusive advertising model
Cruise Tracker
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ship Finder Lite
No in-app purchases
Cruise Tracker
No in-app purchases
