Nitrox Buddy vs Diveplanner Tec & Rec
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Nitrox Buddy
This application serves as a straightforward calculator for nitrox and enriched air divers. It quickly computes essential dive data such as Maximum Operating Depth (MOD), Equivalent Air Depth (EAD), Best Mix, and Partial Pressure of Oxygen (PPO2). It supports both imperial and metric units and offers a companion watch app for on-the-go calculations.
- Calculate MOD, EAD, Best Mix, PPO2
- Imperial and metric unit support
- Sea and fresh water options
- Selectable max oxygen content
- Selectable max partial pressure
- Companion watch app
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Nitrox Buddy is a no-frills calculator app for nitrox/enriched air divers - use it to quickly calculate the most important data for your dive: Maximum Operating Depth/MOD, Equivalent Air Depth/EAD, Best Mix and PPO2. The app works with imperial or metric measurements, sea or fresh water, and allows you to select the maximum oxygen content and partial pressure. A companion watch app puts lets you perform all these calculations on your wrist.
Diveplanner Tec & Rec
Plan technical and recreational scuba dives with detailed gas management, decompression schedules, and contingency planning. This tool helps divers quickly create and share dive plans for various depths and conditions.
- Technical and recreational dive planning
- Multi-gas and CCR dive schedules
- Bühlmann decompression model (ZH16L-C)
- Automatic contingency plans
- Gas requirement and weight calculation
- Dive table generation
- Metric and Imperial units
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Diveplanner Tec & Rec plans recreational and technical dives, on open circuit or closed circuit rebreather (CCR), in a few taps, and keeps your logbook. PLAN • Bühlmann ZH-L16C decompression model with your gradient factors • Open circuit and CCR, down to 300 m / 985 ft, in salt, fresh or EN 13319 water, at sea level or at altitude • Multi-level dives, multi-gas decompression with automatic or chosen switch depths • Contingency plans computed for you: deeper, longer, lost deco gas, GF 100 and the CCR bailout • Warnings for ppO2, END, gas density, isobaric counter diffusion, CNS and OTU • The decompression chart of each plan: the profile, the tissues' ceilings at GF 100 and at your gradient factors, the leading tissue • A dive day of as many repetitive dives as you need, with their surface intervals • Saved plans in folders, shared as files GAS • Describe your cylinders: the plan gives the pressure at the end of the dive, the turn pressure, the rock bottom and the maximum bottom time your gas allows • Gas needed by volume and weight, per gas TABLES • Dive tables by depth and bottom time for your own gases, gradient factors and conditions, with the previous dives of the day • Share or print the table as a PDF TOOLS • Gas blender: partial pressure blending of nitrox, trimix and heliox from what is left in the cylinder, ideal or real gas; the best mix for a depth from your ppO2, END and gas density limits, and the cylinder label • Tides: the tide of a day anywhere at sea, from the nearest NOAA tide station or the EOT20 global tide model, its high and low waters, and the tidal currents and slack waters of a nearby current station, read to the minute on the chart LOGBOOK • Log your dives by hand, from a plan, or download them over Bluetooth from a Shearwater dive computer (Petrel 2, Perdix, Perdix AI, Nerd 2, Teric, Peregrine), with the profile, stops, gases and sensor values • Photos, dive sites on a map, statistics, tags, search and filters • Synchronised between your iPhone, iPad and Mac with iCloud • Export to UDDF, Subsurface, CSV, a PDF logbook and .divelog archives; import UDDF and Subsurface SHARE • Ready-to-cut dive schedules as a PDF, for your buddy or your slate: every plan, the gas and cylinders, CNS, OTU and warnings EVERYWHERE • iPhone, iPad and Mac • Metric or imperial units • In 12 languages, each with its user guide LICENCES • Rec, free: one gas, air or nitrox up to 40 %, down to 66 m / 210 ft • Tec Basic: up to 3 gases, nitrox up to 100 %, normoxic trimix and triox • Tec Advanced: unlimited gases and depth, hypoxic trimix • Try every feature free for 2 weeks Diveplanner is a planning aid. It does not replace training, experience, a dive computer or your own judgement: always dive within the limits of your certification.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Nitrox Buddy at 96% against Diveplanner Tec & Rec's 33%. Nitrox Buddy also leads on rating (4.9 vs 3.1) and ratings volume (468 vs 7). Diveplanner Tec & Rec's advantage is monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 7 months). On price, ads, in-app purchases 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. Nitrox Buddy sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Diveplanner Tec & Rec sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Nitrox Buddy holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 3.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Nitrox Buddy has 468 ratings behind it against 7, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 96% of Nitrox Buddy's written reviews are positive against 33% of Diveplanner Tec & Rec's.
Nitrox Buddy ships an update every 7 months, Diveplanner Tec & Rec every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Nitrox Buddy | Diveplanner Tec & Rec |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.9 (468 ratings) — better | 3.1 (7 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 95.7% of reviews — better | 33.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 468 — better | 7 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, Mac |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 17.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 83 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gereon Steffens | Sensetrails LLC |
Customer experience
Nitrox Buddy
Diveplanner Tec & Rec
Bugs and requests
Nitrox Buddy
Reported bugs
4 issues- iPad icon is ugly
- MOD limit of 50% O2 despite 100% O2 setting (resolved)
- MOD limit of 40% O2 (older version)
- Does not work with older iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- Add MOD 1.5 option
- Allow MOD calculation up to 100% O2 and indicate max exposure duration
- Change color for inappropriate mixes (e.g., 50% at 40m)
- Support older iOS versions (5 & 6)
Diveplanner Tec & Rec
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Nitrox Buddy
- Tip$0.99
Diveplanner Tec & Rec
- Two weeks free trialFree
- Tec Basic$7.99
- Tec Advanced$19.99
Questions
Is Nitrox Buddy free?
Is Diveplanner Tec & Rec free?
Which has better reviews, Nitrox Buddy or Diveplanner Tec & Rec?
Do Nitrox Buddy or Diveplanner Tec & Rec have ads?
Which is updated more often, Nitrox Buddy or Diveplanner Tec & Rec?
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