Comparison

River Thames Guide vs Home Tide

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

Head to head
About

River Thames Guide

This comprehensive guide and planner helps you navigate and explore the River Thames and Wey Navigation. It offers an offline interactive map, a journey planner with distance and lock information, and details on bridges, weather, and river conditions.

Highlights
  • Interactive offline river map
  • Journey planner with distance and lock counts
  • Detailed lock and bridge information
  • Current river conditions and weather forecasts
  • Boating advice and emergency guidance
Features
Read full description

The complete planner and guide for travel and leisure on the River Thames (from its source to the Thames Barrier) and the Wey Navigation including where you can go, how you get there and what’s on the way - includes these key features: Thames Map and Guide: •Interactive River Map: self-contained - no internet connection needed •Journey Planner: time (at 5, 3 , 1 mph), distance and number of locks between any two of 102 River Thames points (45 on Wey) •Locks: need to know detail on every lock •Bridges: headway in metres and feet •River draught (depth of water) •Weather for selected locations •Current river conditions (non-tidal and tidal) Boating Advice: •Rules for the River •Preventing Problems •Emergency Help and Guidance (RNLI approved) INTERACTIVE RIVER MAP: pinch or squeeze to zoom to the required level of detail. Add any combination of locks, moorings, boatyards, fuel, marinas, pubs, restaurants, lodgings, sanitation, fishing, emergency RVP and/or bridges; tapping any icon pops up further details including phone number, post code, maximum stay etc (where available). The interactive map is built-in to the App so you do not need an Internet connection to see where you are and facilities near you (PLEASE NOTE: this means a large download - please be patient, it’s worth it!). JOURNEY PLANNER: select a starting point and destination from the supplied list of 102 landmarks (including locks, marinas, moorings, bridges and places of interest (from Lechlade to the Thames Barrier) and immediately see the sailing distance, direction (up or downstream), sailing time (at 5 mph, 3 mph and 1 mph) and the number of locks to transit to complete your journey; Wey navigation planner features 45 locations. LOCK FEATURES: every Thames lock is listed in order from Cricklade Bridge to Teddington with distance to next lock both up and downstream. Touch any lock to see much more information including: telephone number; post code; lock type; width, drop and length; lock keeper’s hours; facilities available (such as WC, water, pump out etc). From the lock detail just tap to highlight this lock in the middle of the interactive map. Portage Maps for Sonning to Teddington locks. BRIDGE HEADWAY: every bridge listed in order with headway in feet and metres; bridge headways are colour coded for ease of use and instant check to see if you need to lower any masts. All the above features are built-in so are available even without an Internet connection. WEATHER: select one of 20 location on the river for an up-to-date weather forecast for today and tomorrow (includes temperature, winds, humidity, visibility, sunrise and sunset). Requires an Internet connection. The weather page includes the current nautical twilight (the correct time to strike your ensign). CURRENT RIVER CONDITIONS: for safer river use always verify the current official conditions before setting off; non-tidal conditions are provided by the Environment Agency (the River Thames authority) and categorised as Red, Yellow or Green – tap to view an explanation of the colours. Tidal conditions are provided by the Port of London Authority. Requires an Internet connection. Includes current and planned river closures and river restrictions. IN CASE OF EMERGENCY: River Thames Guide includes an SOS section with information, endorsed by the RNLI, on how to deal with various problems including: Man Overboard; Boat Sinking; Boat on Fire; Boat Drifting. NOTE: these sections should be studied before embarking so that you can react properly to any emergency. Better still: take an appropriate course before using the river. HELP: every page contains tips on using River Thames Guide to help plan your journey, find somewhere to eat or stay, using the map, and more.

About

Home Tide

This app provides an easy-to-understand tide graph for your home and lock screens. Visualize the current tide cycle, predict high and low tides, and see how they align with daylight hours. Access detailed tide heights and global locations within the app.

Highlights
  • Lock screen tide widget
  • Home screen tide widget
  • Tide cycle graph
  • Daylight/nighttime alignment
  • Global tide station selection
  • Tide height prediction
  • Feet or meters support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Home Tide shows the day's tides on the home screen - and now lock screen - in a way that makes them easy to understand at a glance. The lock screen widget shows the day's tides as a graph, with a karaoke ball highlighting the current part of the cycle, so you can see how high the tide is, when high and low tide are, and whether the tide is going in or out with a quick glance. The home screen widget shows the same graph and karaoke ball, but with the background coloured according to the daylight, so you can see at a glance which stages of the tide fall in daylight hours, which are at night, and which are in twilight. Tapping on either widget opens the app, where you can see the same graph, karaoke ball and daylight hours as the home screen widget, but with heights added to the graphs. Choose any day in the next week and drag a finger along the graph to see the height change through the day. Use the map to choose from thousands of tide stations around the world. - See the current state of the tide at a glance, without opening an app or even unlocking your phone - Choose from thousands of tide locations worldwide (see here for the list: https://www.worldtides.info/tidestations) - Check the tide height for any time in the next week - Support for tide heights in feet or metres - See which parts of the tide fall in daylight, twilight and nighttime - No sign-up - No ads - No tracking - No in-app purchases - No prompts to review - No notifications - No nonsense

Screenshots

River Thames Guide4 screens
Home Tide4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: River Thames Guide at Free against Home Tide's $1.99. Home Tide's advantage is review sentiment (70% vs 50%) and chart position (#116 vs unranked). On update cadence, 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

River Thames Guide is free to download; Home Tide costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

River Thames Guide ships an update every 6 weeks, Home Tide every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
River Thames Guide versus Home Tide: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRiver Thames GuideHome Tide
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews70.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 6 weeksEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#116 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS17.617.6
Further details — not scored
Size290 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJeff MaynardPaul Keith

Customer experience

River Thames Guide

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative40.0%

Home Tide

Written reviews10 reviews
Positive70.0%
Neutral10.0%
Negative20.0%

In-app purchases

None

River Thames Guide

No in-app purchases

None

Home Tide

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is River Thames Guide free?
River Thames Guide is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Home Tide free?
Home Tide costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do River Thames Guide or Home Tide have ads?
Neither River Thames Guide nor Home Tide shows ads.
Which is updated more often, River Thames Guide or Home Tide?
River Thames Guide ships an update every 6 weeks, and Home Tide every 3 weeks. Most recently, River Thames Guide was updated on October 6, 2026 and Home Tide on October 12, 2026.

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