Comparison

BC Ferries vs Designated Drivers

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

Head to head
About

BC Ferries

Plan and book personal ferry travel with ease. Manage your trips, check schedules, and view current conditions instantly. Receive timely alerts for service notices and booking reminders.

Highlights
  • Personalized dashboard
  • Set travel preferences
  • Book and manage trips
  • Express booking
  • Seamless check-in
  • View schedules and conditions
  • Push notifications for alerts
Features
Read full description

Introducing a new travel resource for planning and booking personal ferry travel. Book sailings, manage your trips, and check schedules and current conditions in a flash with the BC Ferries app. HOMEPAGE DASHBOARD Your personalized home screen features an at-a-glance view of your upcoming bookings, travel preferences, deals and offers and more. TRAVEL PREFERENCES Get quick access to schedules, current conditions and a faster booking experience on your frequently travelled routes by setting up travel preferences. Give your travel preferences nicknames, set departure and arrival terminals and add passenger and vehicle details on bookable routes. BOOK AND MANAGE YOUR FERRY TRAVEL Make your booking experience easier with personalized travel preferences. Quickly jump to the next available sailing with the new Express book feature, and change or cancel existing bookings on-the-go. SEAMLESS CHECK-IN AT THE TERMINAL Get quick access to your upcoming trips right from your home screen for seamless check-in with the app at the terminal. SCHEDULES Plan your trip with confidence with enhanced features on daily and seasonal schedules for all BC Ferries routes. Easily check sailing times for your favourite routes with travel preferences, and book directly from the schedules pages for bookable routes. Daily schedules now show the next sailing being ticketed and estimated deck space available. CURRENT CONDITIONS Route sailing status and estimated deck space are now easier to check with the updated Current Conditions layout. Travel preferences make it easier to find your frequently traveled routes, check which sailing is being ticketed, and view status of upcoming sailings. ALERTS Never miss any updates on the routes that matter the most to you. Opt-in to receive timely push notifications for service notices and upcoming booking reminders on your device. ADDITIONAL FEATURES AVAILABLE • Foot passenger bookings • Request accessibility products: boarding assistance, wheelchair at the terminal Note: Tablet landscape view is currently not supported in the app. If you are using a tablet, use the app in portrait view only. VISIT BCFERRIES.COM TO ACCESS THE FOLLOWING FEATURES • Booking BC Ferries Vacations packages • Commercial vehicle bookings • Group bookings of 10 or more passengers • To create an account

About

Designated Drivers

Features
Read full description

• Ride Home in under 10 seconds and experience exclusive priority service from Designated Drivers. • You can place the booking directly on our map, and see how many available cars there are nearby. • Pay by credit, debit card, or cash to avoid any issues and save yourself a trip to the cash point. • No standing in the rain. Track your car as it arrives on a map, or call the driver when he/she is nearby. No more guessing where your Designated Driver might be. • Place bookings hours, days or weeks in advance. Whenever it's convenient for you. • If necessary, cancel your booking at any time. It takes seconds to place a new booking directly from the handy favorites list. • Designated Drivers to download and it costs you nothing to register. • It's so easy and quick to use. Download the App and register just once. Our intelligent software will suggest your favorite Pick Up locations, and you're ready to book your car. • When you make bookings, we'll notify you by Push Notification as your car is dispatched. • We value feedback and take all reviews very seriously. So please leave us feedback about your journey using the App. This helps us continually improve our service.

Screenshots

BC Ferries4 screens
Designated Drivers4 screens

Verdict

The call

BC Ferries and Designated Drivers are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
BC Ferries versus Designated Drivers: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBC FerriesDesignated Drivers
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.2 (18 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews7.5% of reviews—
Number of ratings18 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.1 — better15.6
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB57 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperBC Ferry Services Inc.13937763 Canada INC.

Bugs and requests

BC Ferries

Reported bugs

17 issues
  • Update loop requesting repeated updates despite being current
  • App crashes on launch, especially on iOS 26
  • Login screen freezes and authentication errors
  • Booking confirmation not displaying in 'My Bookings' section
  • Reverse direction button activates on accidental touch
Show 12 more
  • Payment page spinning indefinitely then failing
  • Session expiration and random logouts
  • Bookings showing as cancelled when they're active
  • App won't accept correct credentials despite website login working
  • Navigation buttons at bottom not functioning
  • Schedule direction inverted for certain routes
  • Current Conditions showing inaccurate space availability
  • Booking edit functionality not accepting changes
  • Account lockout with no recovery option
  • Foreign email addresses not receiving verification codes
  • Oversized vehicle selection cutting off edit buttons
  • Password authentication error during booking despite being logged in

Requested features

14 requests
  • Calendar integration for bookings
  • Dark mode option
  • iPad landscape mode support
  • Service notifications within app without email duplicates
  • Ability to view bookings beyond 45 days
Show 9 more
  • BC Experience Card reload functionality
  • Native iOS app design instead of web wrapper
  • Password manager support
  • Account creation option from app login screen
  • Booking reference number recognition for pre-made reservations
  • Ferry delay/lateness visibility
  • Grace period for accidental bookings without fees
  • Accessibility improvements for VoiceOver/screen readers
  • Better error messaging for failed transactions

Designated Drivers

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

BC Ferries

No in-app purchases

None

Designated Drivers

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is BC Ferries free?
BC Ferries is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Designated Drivers free?
Designated Drivers is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do BC Ferries or Designated Drivers have ads?
Neither BC Ferries nor Designated Drivers shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BC Ferries or Designated Drivers?
BC Ferries ships an update every 2 months, and Designated Drivers every 2 months. Most recently, BC Ferries was updated on October 24, 2026 and Designated Drivers on October 9, 2026.

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