RYA Books vs cMate
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
RYA Books
Explore enhanced digital books with interactive features like animations, videos, and tools. Try free tasters before purchasing full editions, supporting RYA training courses for various boating levels. Optimized for tablets and smartphones.
- Interactive eBooks
- Embedded animations and videos
- 360° tools for navigation and regulations
- Animated examples for VHF procedures
- Tidal curve simulation tool
- Bookmarking and note-taking
- Free taster versions
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We have enhanced our digital editions (where possible) to bring the content to life by embedding animations, video and interactive tools to help illustrate the key points and skills from our popular books. Download this free app to browse the eBook editions – you can also try free taster versions of many eBooks, so you can try before you buy. These eBooks are a great resource supporting our world famous RYA Training Courses such as those within the trademark RYA Yachtmaster Scheme, the RYA Powerboat Scheme and the RYA Dinghy Sailing & Windsurfing Schemes among others. You will find eBooks of essential and recommended titles along with plenty of further reading and development, whether you’re starting to sail by taking a Competent Crew course, taking things further with a Day Skipper course or taking your RYA Yachtmaster exam – whatever you need, we’ve got it covered! There are great examples throughout our range of our use of interactive content in areas such as seamanship, boat handling, passage planning, knots and stability but you’ll find something very special in our editions for: • Collision Regulations – where we've developed over twenty interactive 360° lights and shapes tool to provide readers a more realistic way of viewing how vessels will actually present themselves in a wide variety of contexts, at four different times of day covering both day and night. • VHF – where we’ve created animated examples of the voice procedures in the RYA VHF Handbook and also linked the content to sample questions to help students pass the RYA SRC exam. • Navigation – where we’ve developed a special tool to replicate using the tidal curves in the RYA Training Almanacs to help students taking shorebased navigation courses. Although these eBooks are designed for tablets, we’re still keeping smart phones very much in mind. This way, you’ll still be able to access the enhanced interactive content on the smaller devices even if you feel you wouldn't read a book on something so small. There’s plenty for instructors as well with not only the interactive content, that can be used as demonstrations and enhanced learning on and off the water. There are also a whole host of useful features, (which we’re always evolving) such as bookmarking, note taking and inter-edition linking that will help you manage the content you want to support the way you teach. This updated version of the app now includes a wider range of boating categories to make it easier for you to navigate all the new content that we are regularly adding: • Sail • Dinghy • Sail Racing • Sail Cruising • Windsurfing • Power • Powerboating • Motor Cruising • Personal Watercraft • Inland Waterways
cMate
This app provides comprehensive maritime regulations and codes, including collision prevention, international signals, life-saving appliances, and safety at sea conventions. It also features weather forecast reading and maritime dictionaries.
- Collision prevention regulations
- International signal codes
- Life-saving appliance code
- Safety of life at sea conventions
- Weather forecast reading
- Maritime dictionaries
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This application contains: - Flags of State - ColReg-72(- International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) - Description of the system IALA (International Association of Lighthouse Authorities) - ICS (International Code of Signals) Includes signal flags, phonetic alphabet, Morse code - IMO signs - Sound and lights signals ColReg-72 (Lights and shapes ColReg-72) - Reading weather forecasts (NAVTEX Inmarsat-C) - Maritime and general language dictionaries - LSA code (International life-saving appliance code. 1-7 Chapters) - SOLAS-74 (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea)
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: cMate at 87% against RYA Books's 27%. cMate also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.0) and in-app purchases (none vs 38). RYA Books's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 51 months). On price, ads 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
Both are free to download. RYA Books sells 37 one-off in-app purchases. cMate asks for nothing beyond the download.
cMate holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 27% of RYA Books's written reviews are positive against 87% of cMate's.
RYA Books ships an update every 3 months, cMate every 51 months. Both last shipped on September 27, 2026.
| Parameter | RYA Books | cMate |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (1 ratings) | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 27.0% of reviews | 86.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 3 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 51 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.0 | 10.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 110 MB | 52 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Royal Yachting Association | Maxim Lukyanenko |
Customer experience
RYA Books
cMate
In-app purchases
RYA Books
- Guide to Boating Knots (E-G60)$3.99
- First Aid (E-FAB)$6.99
- Instructor Handbook (E-G27)$9.99
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- Handy Guide to CEVNI (E-G106)$9.99
- Intro to Radar (E-G34)$9.99
- Euro Waterways Regs (E-G17)$9.99
- Training Almanac North (E-TAN)$9.99
- Stability and Buoyancy (E-G23)$9.99
- Yachtmaster Quizzes (E-G79)$11.99
- ICC Handbook (E-G81)$12.99
- Racing Rules of Sailing ERRS25$12.99
- Day Skipper Practical(E-DSPCN)$12.99
- Day Skipper Shorebased (E-DSN)$14.99
- Yachtmaster Shorebased (E-YSN)$14.99
- Comp Crew Skills (E-CCPCN)$14.99
- Collision Regulations (E-G2)$14.99
- Intro to Navigation (E-G77)$14.99
- Astro Navigation Handbook (E-G78)$14.99
- Day Skipper Shorebased(E-G113)$14.99
- Start to Race (E-G66)$14.99
- Passage Planning (E-G69)$17.99
- Dinghy Techniques (E-G93)$17.99
- Boat Safety Handbook (E-G103)$17.99
- Day Skipper – Motor (E-G97)$19.99
- Advanced Powerboat (E-G108)$19.99
- Diesel Engine (E-G25)$19.99
- VHF Handbook (E-G31)$19.99
- Yachtmaster Handbook (E-G70)$19.99
- Navigation Handbook (E-G6)$19.99
- Day Skipper Sail (E-G71)$19.99
- Multihull Handbook (E-G92)$19.99
- Offshore Sailing (E-G87)$19.99
- Sail Trim Handbook (E-G99)$19.99
- Boat Handling Sail Power E-G68$19.99
- Electrics Handbook (E-G67)$19.99
- Weather Handbook (E-G133)$19.99
- Manual of Seamanship (E-G36)$22.99
cMate
No in-app purchases









