Tide Chart USA vs XTide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Tide Chart USA
Access detailed tidal information for various locations. This app is designed for recreational fishing enthusiasts, providing essential data for planning your next outing. It is intended for personal use and not for commercial navigation.
- Tidal information display
- Designed for fishing
- Recreational use
- No warranty provided
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"Tide Chart USA" is an application to display tidal information. I made for fun fishing. This program is not available for commercial purposes, and navigation. THERE IS NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
XTide
Get tide and current predictions with this app. It offers information for your favorite tide stations and is based on the open-source XTide for Unix. Note: not for navigation and accuracy depends on harmonic data.
- Tide and current predictions
- Apple Watch app and widget
- Favorite tide station information
- Based on open-source XTide
- Supports custom harmonics files
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XTide provides tide and current predictions. The Apple Watch app and Widget show information for the closest of your favorite tide stations. It is based on the popular open source XTide for Unix from http://www.flaterco.com/xtide/introduction.html XTide includes a harmonics file (tide data) for the United States only due to legal issues with the data from other countries, but supports custom harmonics files. See https://flaterco.com/xtide/faq.html#60 for more information. NOT FOR NAVIGATION This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The author assumes no liability for damages arising from use of this program OR of any 'harmonics data' that might be distributed with it. For details, see the appended GNU General Public License. (Accurate tide predictions can only be made if the 'harmonics data' for the relevant location are good. Unfortunately, the only way the maintainer of those data has of knowing when they are bad is when someone with access to authoritative tide predictions or observations reports a problem. You should not use this program or any data files that might be distributed with it if anyone or anything could come to harm as a result of an incorrect tide prediction. NOAA and similar agencies in other countries can provide you with certified tide predictions if that is what you need.) XTide's predictions do not incorporate the effects of tropical storms, El Niño, seismic events, subsidence, uplift, or changes in global sea level.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: XTide at none against Tide Chart USA's shown. XTide also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 68%) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). Tide Chart USA's advantage is ratings volume (7.7K vs 3). On price, rating, update cadence 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Tide Chart USA against 4.7 for XTide. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Tide Chart USA has 7.7K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 68% of Tide Chart USA's written reviews are positive against 100% of XTide's.
Tide Chart USA ships an update every 5 months, XTide every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Tide Chart USA | XTide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (7.7K ratings) — better | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 68.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 7.7K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | hanitaro | Lee Ann Rucker |
Customer experience
Tide Chart USA
XTide
Bugs and requests
Tide Chart USA
Reported bugs
4 issues- Tide information off by an hour
- App gets stuck in wrong location
- Spelling errors in the app
- Incompatible with some devices
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to scroll backwards in time
- Extend timeline further into the future
- Add more location options
- Include current weather and conditions
- Provide a widget for the lock screen
XTide
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Tide Chart USA
No in-app purchases
XTide
No in-app purchases








