Comparison

SpotBuoy vs Santana Sailing

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

Head to head
About

SpotBuoy

Features
Read full description

Manage your SpotBuoys and visualize the course setup with this app. Wind tracker will help you to keep track of the wind shifts through out the day.

About

Santana Sailing

Features
Read full description

Santana is a sailing tracker for iPhone and Apple Watch. Record your time on the water with one tap, then review every session on a map with the wind data layered on top — no account, no subscription, and nothing leaves your phone unless you ask. RECORD ANYWHERE Start a recording from the wrist on Apple Watch or from your iPhone. The watch keeps logging even when your wrist is down, and the session transfers to your phone when you're back in range. REVIEW WITH DEPTH Every session opens to an interactive map with your track coloured by speed. Pull up the bottom sheet for max speed, average, distance, and duration. GPS outliers can be excluded with a per-session speed cap that keeps them visible on the chart but leaves them out of the averages. WIND, ADDED AUTOMATICALLY After a session ends, Santana fetches the historical wind speed, direction, and gusts from Open-Meteo for the area you sailed. The wind graph lines up with your speed graph so you can see how your boat reacted to each shift. Optional — toggle off in Settings if you'd rather your data stay fully offline. COMBINE SESSIONS Select multiple sessions on the list to view them all on one map, colour-coded per session. Useful for "show me my whole season" or "compare these three races side by side." PRIVACY BY DEFAULT - No account, no signup, no subscription. - All your sailing data is stored on your iPhone. There is no Santana server. - Location is used only while you're actively recording. - Open-Meteo receives a coordinate and a time range only when wind enrichment is enabled. No identifier follows the request. REQUIREMENTS - iPhone running iOS 17 or later. - Apple Watch running watchOS 10.2 or later (optional, but where Santana shines for hands-free sailing). A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR Built by a single sailor for sailors. If something's not right, email felixbeuving.fb@gmail.com and you'll usually hear back within a day or two.

Screenshots

SpotBuoy4 screens
Santana Sailing4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: SpotBuoy at 15.1 against Santana Sailing's 17.0. 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

Scorecard1 real difference · 5 level
SpotBuoy versus Santana Sailing: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSpotBuoySantana Sailing
PriceFreeFree
Update frequency—Every 2 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMurat AlmatFelix Beuving

In-app purchases

None

SpotBuoy

No in-app purchases

None

Santana Sailing

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is SpotBuoy free?
SpotBuoy is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Santana Sailing free?
Santana Sailing is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do SpotBuoy or Santana Sailing have ads?
Neither SpotBuoy nor Santana Sailing shows ads.

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