Comparison

WatchMate vs AIS Live

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

Head to head
About

WatchMate

This app provides remote control and situational awareness for your Vesper Marine AIS Transponder. View AIS targets, manage alarms, and control transponder settings directly from your mobile device.

Highlights
  • View AIS targets
  • Manage collision prevention alarms
  • Control Anchor Watch alarm
  • View GPS position, course, and speed
  • Remote control transponder settings
  • Configure vessel AIS static data
  • Perform firmware upgrades
Read full description

The WatchMate App connects with your Vesper Marine AIS Transponder to place remote control functionality and situational awareness in the palm of your hand on your iPhone or on your iPad. The WatchMate App becomes the user interface for configuring and remote control of your Vesper Marine AIS Transponder, especially where it does not have its own display such as the Vesper Marine XB-8000. - View AIS Targets received by your Vesper Marine AIS Transponder. - Setup and manage collision prevention alarm profiles. - Manage your MOB alarms. - Control and view your Anchor Watch alarm. - View your AIS Transponder's own GPS Position, Course and Speed. - Check the operational status of your AIS Transponder. - Remote control of your AIS Transponder settings. - Switch easily between Silent Mode and Normal Transmitting mode. - Configure your Vessel's AIS Static data. (MMSI, Call Sign, Vessel Type, Vessel Size) - Perform firmware upgrades. Connects to your WatchMate device's WIFI access point or by being on the same wifi network. - Supports Vesper Marine XB-8000 AIS Transponder. - Supports Vesper Marine WatchMate Vision®. The complex nature of our innovative WatchMate App makes coding mishaps difficult to eliminate despite the superhuman efforts of our developers so please remember Vesper Marine does not warrant that this product is error-free. As the adventurous user it's your job to exercise common sense and the best navigational judgement you can muster. Although we think the WatchMate App is awesome nothing beats using all your human senses, so best you still rely on these at least as much as you rely on the WatchMate App for making navigational safety decisions. Our advice is; even with the WatchMate App it’s still a clever idea to maintain a permanent watch and use more than one aid for navigation.

About

AIS Live

Monitor the real-time location of your assets with this GPS tracking application. Access historical playback and modify asset information directly from your account.

Highlights
  • Real-time asset tracking
  • Historical playback
  • Asset information modification
  • GPS tracking account login
  • View asset location
Features
Read full description

‎AIS GPS tracker allows clients to log into their gps tracking account, modify their asset information and view the real time location of their asset, including historical playback.

Screenshots

WatchMate4 screens
AIS Live4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: AIS Live at 5.0 against WatchMate's 3.5. AIS Live also leads on review sentiment (86% vs 44%). WatchMate's advantage is ratings volume (11 vs 1). On price, update cadence, 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

AIS Live holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: WatchMate has 11 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 44% of WatchMate's written reviews are positive against 86% of AIS Live's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

WatchMate ships an update every 2 months, AIS Live monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
WatchMate versus AIS Live: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWatchMateAIS Live
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.5 (11 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews44.4% of reviews85.7% of reviews — better
Number of ratings11 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS13.013
Further details — not scored
Size14 MB26 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGarmin New Zealand LtdAutomotive Integration

Customer experience

WatchMate

All ratings11 ratings
Positive45.5%
Neutral27.3%
Negative27.3%
Written reviews9 reviews
Positive44.4%
Neutral22.2%
Negative33.3%

AIS Live

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews14 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%

In-app purchases

None

WatchMate

No in-app purchases

None

AIS Live

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is WatchMate free?
WatchMate is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is AIS Live free?
AIS Live is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, WatchMate or AIS Live?
AIS Live is rated higher. WatchMate averages 3.5 out of 5 from 11 ratings, while AIS Live averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do WatchMate or AIS Live have ads?
Neither WatchMate nor AIS Live shows ads.
Which is updated more often, WatchMate or AIS Live?
WatchMate ships an update every 2 months, and AIS Live monthly. Most recently, WatchMate was updated on October 8, 2026 and AIS Live on October 21, 2026.

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