Comparison

Watch Chartplotter vs FreeDive Ultra

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

Head to head
About

Watch Chartplotter

This performance marine GPS transforms your Apple Watch into a tactical racing computer. It provides real-time speed, VMG, distance to mark, and offline marine charts for competitive sailors and windsurfers. Plan courses on your iPhone and sync them directly to your watch for seamless navigation.

Highlights
  • Real-time VMG and speed metrics
  • Waypoint navigation with haptic feedback
  • Offline marine charts (NOAA, AHO, OpenSeaMap)
  • Water Lock mode
  • HealthKit integration for workout logging
  • Custom WMS and XYZ map server support
Features
Read full description

The Performance Marine GPS for Racing & Sailing Transform your Apple Watch into a powerful, tactical racing computer. Watch Chartplotter is designed for competitive sailors, windsurfers, and kite racers who demand real-time performance data right on their wrist. Leave the bulky electronics behind and get the critical metrics you need to sail faster and smarter. Optimize Your Performance with VMG Make better tactical decisions with live Velocity Made Good (VMG). See exactly how fast you are closing in on your next waypoint and adjust your heading to maximize your efficiency toward the mark. Essential Racing Metrics on Your Wrist Stay informed without losing focus. Get instant, glanceable access to your most vital data: Real-Time Speed: Track your current boatspeed in knots, mph, or km/h. Average & Max Speed: Monitor your session's performance and push for a new personal best. Precise Heading: See your current course and the bearing to your next waypoint. Distance to the mark: Know exactly how far you have to go. Compass bearing to the mark: Know which direction on a compass the next waypoint is. Seamless Waypoint Navigation Plan your course on your iPhone and sync it directly to your watch. The app automatically transitions to the next waypoint as you round a mark, with haptic feedback to keep you alerted without needing to look at the screen. Disable and optionally hide waypoints. Disabled waypoints will be skipped when automatically going to the next waypoint. Offline Marine Charts Navigate with confidence using NOAA MACHC (U.S, Parts of South and Central America, Caribbean, Netherlands and some Pacific Islands), Australian Hydrographic Office (Australia) and OpenSeaMap (Worldwide) charts. Download offline. Power users can also add custom WMS and XYZ map servers for specialized layers. Built for the Elements Water Lock: Prevents accidental screen touches from spray and waves. HealthKit Integration: Logs your racing sessions as workouts, tracking your route, heart rate, and calories burned. Pay Once, Race Forever. Enjoy all professional features with a single purchase. No subscriptions, no hidden fees. Perfect for dinghy racing, catamaran sailing, kite foiling, and any on-water activity where performance matters. Get the winning edge with Watch Chartplotter. Note: This app is not certified for navigation. It is not an official navigational chart and must not be used for navigation or any related operational decision-making. It is designed to support shore-based maritime awareness and analysis. Map and chart data copyright: NOAA, MACHC, Australian Hydrographic Office, OpenStreetMap, Thunderforest and Mapbox.

About

FreeDive Ultra

This app automatically tracks freedives on Apple Watch Ultra, recording depth, time, and temperature. It offers GPS mapping of your route, recovery timers with heart rate, and detailed session analysis on your iPhone. Log conditions, add notes, and review dive profiles.

Highlights
  • Automatic dive tracking
  • GPS route mapping
  • Real-time depth, time, temperature
  • Recovery timer with heart rate
  • Dive spot saving and navigation
  • Detailed dive profile charts
  • Session logging and notes
Features
Read full description

FreeDive Ultra is the only app built exclusively for freediving and spearfishing on Apple Watch Ultra. Open water, pool and dry apnea modes. Tap once before you enter the water. Every dive is tracked automatically, and you never touch the screen again. THE DIVE The moment you descend, it starts tracking: depth, dive time and water temperature, second by second. The watch switches to Live Dive on its own, then back to Recovery when you surface. A timer counts your surface interval alongside your live heart rate. ZERO TOUCH, BY DESIGN The Digital Crown moves between screens. The Action Button acts on whichever screen you are looking at: set your heading on the compass, cycle to the next dive spot, drop a marker on your route, or save a length in the pool. NAVIGATE THE WATER Save a GPS pin with a turn of the Crown, no tap required. The Route screen tracks your path as you go and shows how far you have travelled, with every marker you dropped on the Action Button laid along it. Curate up to 10 dive sites on iPhone and all of them reach your watch. Cycle through them with the Action Button, and navigate to any one with live direction and distance on the dial. For spearos and freedivers alike, that is the difference between finding the mark again and searching for it, and a map of everywhere you went. LIVE SHARE Send a web link and anyone can follow your session live: where you are, how deep you went, how long you held. Your iPhone sends it, so keep it nearby and online, on your buoy or in the boat. Updates go out each time you surface. POOL AND DRY TRAINING Pool mode counts every length and totals your distance automatically. The Train tab: take a breath hold test, then follow CO2 and O2 tables built from your max, or make your own, with a voice talking you through each round. Run them on iPhone with your watch heart rate, or on the watch. BACK ON LAND Sessions sync to iPhone on their own. At a glance: dive count, max depth, longest dive, session time, plus calories, heart rate and duration written to Apple Fitness via HealthKit. See your route on a map with total distance, entry and exit points, and every location you saved. Add photos and video, log visibility, current and surface conditions, write notes, and rate the session. Session Charts show heart rate, depth and water temperature across the whole session. Every dive gets its own profile, descent and ascent rates, and surface heart rate. YOUR LOGBOOK ON THE WEB Every dive, map and note on a big screen, and you can edit them there too. Sign in at app.freediveultra.com DEPTH Depth reading is capped at 6 metres while we work with Apple on the full 40m entitlement. Every other feature works identically at any depth. FREE VS PRO The free tier is a real dive watch: automatic tracking, real-time depth and dive time, surface recovery with live heart rate, pool training, dry apnea training with CO2 and O2 tables, your dive list on iPhone, iCloud backup, demo dives and UDDF import. No subscription, no time limit, no catch. Pro adds the rest. On the watch: session overview, descent and ascent speed, compass, Route, dive spot navigation, saved locations, 8 haptic alarms, Live Share, and automatic stealth mode that dims the display and silences haptics the moment you go under. Tune it with configurable session timeout, custom surface screens and Crown sensitivity. Plus pool length, rest and target times. On iPhone, Pro opens every open water and pool session in full, and every dive inside it. Share a whole session or a single dive as a card or a video, sized for Instagram and TikTok, or replay a dive as a 3D Flyover. Export in UDDF, the standard dive log software reads worldwide. 7-day free trial. Built by a freediver, for freedivers and spearos. Tap once, and dive. freediveultra.com Discord: discord.gg/uFrdEeypRr Support: support@freediveultra.com Privacy: freediveultra.com/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Watch Chartplotter4 screens
FreeDive Ultra4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: FreeDive Ultra at Free against Watch Chartplotter's $9.99. FreeDive Ultra also leads on ratings volume (5 vs 1) and iOS requirement (17.6 vs 26.0). Watch Chartplotter's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ads (none vs shown). On rating, update cadence 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

FreeDive Ultra is free to download; Watch Chartplotter costs $9.99 up front. FreeDive Ultra sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Watch Chartplotter asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Watch Chartplotter against 5.0 for FreeDive Ultra. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FreeDive Ultra has 5 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 100% of Watch Chartplotter's written reviews are positive against 82% of FreeDive Ultra's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Watch Chartplotter ships an update weekly, FreeDive Ultra every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
Watch Chartplotter versus FreeDive Ultra: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWatch ChartplotterFreeDive Ultra
Price$9.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews — better81.8% of reviews
Number of ratings15 — better
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS26.017.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB52 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperEvan HalleinALEXIS EDWARD ARGENT

Customer experience

Watch Chartplotter

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

FreeDive Ultra

All ratings5 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive81.8%
Neutral18.2%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Watch Chartplotter

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

FreeDive Ultra

Subscriptions2
  • FreeDive Ultra Pro7 Days trial$3.991 Month
  • FreeDive Ultra Pro7 Days trial$25.991 Year

Questions

Is Watch Chartplotter free?
Watch Chartplotter costs $9.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is FreeDive Ultra free?
FreeDive Ultra is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Watch Chartplotter or FreeDive Ultra?
Watch Chartplotter and FreeDive Ultra are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 5 ratings respectively.
Do Watch Chartplotter or FreeDive Ultra have ads?
FreeDive Ultra shows ads; Watch Chartplotter does not.
Which is updated more often, Watch Chartplotter or FreeDive Ultra?
Watch Chartplotter ships an update weekly, and FreeDive Ultra every 2 weeks. Most recently, Watch Chartplotter was updated on October 14, 2026 and FreeDive Ultra on October 11, 2026.

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