Comparison

Beachsafe vs JCU App

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

Head to head
About

Beachsafe

Discover Australian beaches with real-time information on surf conditions, weather, hazards, and lifesaving services. Find patrolled beaches, learn about safety, and get expert advice on rip currents and marine life.

Highlights
  • Find nearby beaches with GPS
  • View surf, weather, and tide forecasts
  • Check patrol service information
  • Identify beach hazards and warnings
  • Access surf safety advice
  • Save favorite beaches
Features
Read full description

Taking a road trip up the coast? On holiday? Or just looking for the right beach for you? Find your nearest beaches in seconds. Brought to you by Surf Life Saving Australia, the Beachsafe app includes the location, weather, surf conditions and hazards plus the local facilities for all Australian beaches. Importantly, the current lifesaving service for each beach is listed to help you find the nearest patrolled beach. Beachsafe also provides expert advice about rip currents, flags and signs, waves, marine creatures, surf skills and more. SLSA recommends swimming at patrolled beaches, between the red and yellow flags. App Features Find a beach • Find beaches near you with your device’s GPS • Use the map view to quickly locate beaches near you • Search for a town, city, region or beach • Save your favourite beaches Patrol service information • Quickly and easily see if a beach is patrolled by surf lifesavers or lifeguards • Find out when a beach will be patrolled using the future search function Conditions • View detailed weather forecasts • See the tide information • Check the swell and wind forecast • Push notifications - Beach closures and major hazard alerts for Beaches that you follow Hazards • Review a beach’s hazard rating • Read detailed summaries of each beach written by coastal safety experts • See hazard information about a patrolled beach including rip currents, stingers and sharks when these have been entered by surf lifesavers or lifeguards Surf Safety • How to identify and escape rip currents • Lifeguard’s top tips • Read about flags and signs • Waves and weather • Surf skills • Marine creatures • Stingers • First aid advice • And more… The Beachsafe app was produced in conjunction with SLSA's beach safety website beachsafe.org.au. If you find this app useful and you wish to help support Surf Life Saving Australia and our 160,000 volunteers, please visit https://sls.com.au. Be safe at the beach, get Beachsafe.

About

JCU App

This app helps students manage their university life, offering features for enrolment, accessing study tools, finding campus information, and connecting with university support services. It provides quick access to essential resources like email, library search, and campus maps.

Highlights
  • Enrolment and subject registration
  • Access to eStudent and LearnJCU
  • Library search integration
  • Campus maps and parking information
  • Quick access to JCU security and email
  • Links to university events and activities
Features
Read full description

Features: - Enrolment: accept your offer, complete important details, enrol in subjects and register for classes - Study tools: access eStudent and LearnJCU without having to log in again, easily access the Library search - Study Support: find help with your study and life at uni - Security: quick access to the JCU security number for your course campus - Email: open your JCU email from the App - Need help?: access online help for your study and support for student life - Mobile Maps: find your way around campus with JCU campus maps - Uni life: links to events, sports and other activities on campus - Parking: find information on where to park and what it’ll cost - Got an idea? We are working hard to improve and build the features you want. Help us by sending your feedback using the in-app feedback or emailing jcuapp@jcu.edu.au - Want to get involved? Join our beta team to help design and test new features. Email jcuapp@jcu.edu.au if you want to be involved

Screenshots

Beachsafe4 screens
JCU App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Beachsafe at 5.0 against JCU App's 3.0. JCU App's advantage is update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 6 months). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Beachsafe holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 2 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 46% of Beachsafe's written reviews are positive against 40% of JCU App's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Beachsafe ships an update every 6 months, JCU App every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 19, 2026 and September 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Beachsafe versus JCU App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBeachsafeJCU App
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (3 ratings) — better3.0 (2 ratings)
Positive reviews46.5% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 6 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.013.0
Further details — not scored
Size100 MB67 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSurf Life Saving Australia Ltd.James Cook University

Customer experience

Beachsafe

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews71 reviews
Positive46.5%
Neutral2.8%
Negative50.7%

JCU App

All ratings2 ratings
Positive50.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative50.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

In-app purchases

None

Beachsafe

No in-app purchases

None

JCU App

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Beachsafe free?
Beachsafe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is JCU App free?
JCU App is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Beachsafe or JCU App?
Beachsafe is rated higher. Beachsafe averages 5.0 out of 5 from 3 ratings, while JCU App averages 3.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Beachsafe or JCU App have ads?
Neither Beachsafe nor JCU App shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Beachsafe or JCU App?
Beachsafe ships an update every 6 months, and JCU App every 6 weeks. Most recently, Beachsafe was updated on September 19, 2026 and JCU App on September 3, 2026.

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