Comparison

Calcbot 2 vs Boatlink

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

Head to head
About

Calcbot 2

This app offers a smart calculator with a history tape and expression view to track your calculations. It includes over 500 unit conversions and scientific functions, with an Apple Watch extension for on-the-go use.

Highlights
  • History tape for saved calculations
  • Expression view for typed input
  • Over 500 unit conversions
  • Apple Watch extension
  • Scientific functions in landscape
  • Favorites for instant access
Features
Read full description

Calcbot is an intelligent calculator and unit converter for the rest of us. Featuring an easy-to-read history tape, expression view, intuitive conversion, and much more! History Tape*. Every calculation you enter gets saved to the history tape. Refer to calculations later or send them right back to your current calculation. Expression View. Calcbot's original expression view allows you to see everything you have typed so you'll never forget what you entered or miss a typo. Apple Watch Extension. Perform basic calculations, conversions, calculate tips, and split bills right from your Apple Watch. Conversion*. Convert any of your calculations with over 500 units across 22 different categories including auto-updating currency rates. Favorites. Fave a calculation and get instant access to its result via the Favorites Key. No more cryptic memory keys. Scientific Functions. Rotate your device into landscape mode to gain access to common scientific functions. Constants. Get instant access to scientific constants like Pi, Atomic Mass, or add your own*. Round for Currency. Have all of your results rounded to two decimal places. Sounds & Animations. Beautiful custom animations and sound effects provide positive feedback and an enjoyable experience while performing calculations. * In-App purchase required.

About

Boatlink

Facilitates hands-free communication among crew members on a boat, even in noisy environments. It creates a private, local network that requires no internet or phone signal, ensuring secure and reliable communication.

Highlights
  • Hands-free crew communication
  • No internet or phone signal required
  • Local network creation
  • Encrypted communication
  • Individual volume control
  • Direct ringing feature
Features
Read full description

A boat is a loud place. The engine is running, the wind takes your voice away, and the person you need is at the other end of the deck with a line in both hands. Boatlink puts the crew on one line. Every phone and tablet aboard talks to every other one, hands-free, so "ready on the bow" is heard at the helm in a normal voice. It needs no internet and no phone signal. On a boat with wifi, the router carries it. With no router, one person turns on Personal Hotspot in iOS Settings and the crew join that. Boatlink cannot switch a hotspot on for you — iOS does not let any app do that — so somebody has to do it by hand. GETTING ABOARD One person hosts. Their screen shows a QR code; everyone else points a camera at it and they are on. If a camera will not do the job — rain, dark, glare, a cracked screen — the host reads out a four-letter code instead, and the crew type that in with the boat's address. TALKING Open mic by default: speak and the crew hears you. Or switch to VOX, which opens the line when you start talking and closes it when you stop. Mute is one large control, sized to be hit with a glove on and found without looking. If someone is not answering, ring them. Their phone chimes, vibrates and flashes its camera light. They answer or they decline. LEVELS The ICS panel gives you a level for each person on the line, plus a master. Every level is yours alone. Turning the foredeck down on your phone changes nothing for anybody else, and the person you turned down is never told. MUSIC Everyone plays music in their own app. Boatlink can show the crew what you have on, as text, so they can put the same thing on. Boatlink plays no audio itself, and it cannot read your music app — you type the track in. PRIVACY Nothing leaves the boat. No account, no sign-up, no server, no analytics, no tracking, no ads. Traffic between phones is encrypted with AES-256-GCM under a key derived from the boat's own code, so a phone in the next berth can neither join the line nor read what is on it. IF THE HOST GOES DOWN If the phone that is hosting runs its battery flat or goes over the side, the rest of the crew re-form around another phone in about three seconds. Nobody types anything in again. WHAT IT NEEDS Two devices, at least. One phone on its own shows an empty "find the boat" screen, because there is no boat to find. All devices on the same network — the boat's wifi, or a Personal Hotspot somebody has turned on. Permission to use the local network, which iOS asks for the first time you host or join. WHAT IT DOES NOT DO YET It does not relay from phone to phone. If there is no router and no hotspot, there is no line. It does not reach anyone who is ashore or otherwise off the boat's network. Ringing does not wake a locked phone the way an incoming call does. It has no alarms of any kind. Man overboard, anchor watch and alarm handling belong to the full Sea Glass Cockpit product, not to this app. There is no chat, and no music service is connected to it. Boatlink is free, and it stays free.

Screenshots

Calcbot 24 screens
Boatlink4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Boatlink at 100% against Calcbot 2's 60%. Boatlink also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and rating (5.0 vs 4.7). Calcbot 2's advantage is ratings volume (11K vs 1). On price, ads, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Calcbot 2 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Boatlink asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Boatlink holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calcbot 2 has 11K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Calcbot 2's written reviews are positive against 100% of Boatlink's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Calcbot 2 ships an update every 2 months, Boatlink fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Calcbot 2 versus Boatlink: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCalcbot 2Boatlink
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (11K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.1% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.5
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTapbotsRobert wood

Customer experience

Calcbot 2

All ratings11,110 ratings
Positive92.8%
Neutral2.6%
Negative4.6%
Written reviews656 reviews
Positive60.1%
Neutral9.1%
Negative30.8%

Boatlink

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Calcbot 2

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • History tape not recording all calculations
  • Conversion settings not syncing to Apple Watch
  • App crashing on launch for some users
  • Blank app icons after iOS updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Widgets for quick access
  • More currency and unit conversions
  • Improved Apple Watch integration
  • Ability to edit calculations in history tape

Boatlink

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Calcbot 2

One-time1
  • Calcbot Pro$1.99
None

Boatlink

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Calcbot 2 free?
Calcbot 2 is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Boatlink free?
Boatlink is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Calcbot 2 or Boatlink?
Boatlink is rated higher. Calcbot 2 averages 4.7 out of 5 from 11K ratings, while Boatlink averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Calcbot 2 or Boatlink have ads?
Neither Calcbot 2 nor Boatlink shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Calcbot 2 or Boatlink?
Calcbot 2 ships an update every 2 months, and Boatlink fortnightly. Most recently, Calcbot 2 was updated on November 3, 2026 and Boatlink on October 31, 2026.

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