Dinghy Sailing vs Upwind
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Dinghy Sailing
This app provides sailing navigation instruments, replacing expensive digital equipment. Mount your device to your vessel to display up to eight instruments, including race timers and flags. Customize your display by enabling, disabling, and rearranging instruments.
- Replaces expensive digital instruments
- Displays up to eight instruments
- Race timer functionality
- Flag display
- Customizable instrument layout
- Vertical device mounting
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Dinghy Sailing is a useful tool for sailors. It can replace expensive digital instruments. Mount your iPad or iPhone to your vessel in a vertical position (either landscape or portrait). Dinghy Sailing displays up to eight instruments. Use the tabs to select the race timer, flags and instrument editor. You can enable/disable each instrument and drag to rearrange the order of the instruments on display.
Upwind
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Upwind is a sailing tracker for Apple Watch, iPhone and iPad: live speed, course and manoeuvres, and every outing recorded with a speed-colored track. Free, with no accounts and no ads. INSTRUMENTS - SOG (speed over ground) in knots, big and readable at a glance - COG (course over ground) written on a compass ribbon - Six live values: COG, distance, average, MAX 10s, manoeuvres and peak - MAX 10s: the best 10-second average, so a wave or a GPS glitch can't inflate it - Tacks and gybes counted while you sail - Speed chart of the whole outing, with time and speed axes - Instruments or Map view on iPhone, portrait and landscape; iPad shows everything on one screen - iPhone Duo support - Automatic night mode: red instruments after sunset to preserve night vision LOCK SCREEN AND DYNAMIC ISLAND While recording on iPhone, speed and course stay on the Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island, with time, distance and the last 10 minutes of speed. Keep the phone locked: the track keeps recording. RECORDING - Explicit Rec button: recording never starts on its own - Speed-colored track, from cyan (slow) to coral (fast), scaled to your session - Recording keeps going in light air and at anchor with the screen off - Sessions saved to Health as Sailing workouts with their route (with your permission) WATCH, IPHONE OR BOTH - Apple Watch records standalone with its own GPS: big speed, compass with your course, live manoeuvres - iPhone and iPad are full trackers too, with live map and instruments - Sessions sync automatically between your devices through iCloud AFTER THE SAIL - Each session shows distance, duration, average, MAX 10s, manoeuvres and peak - Tacks and gybes marked on the map: tap one and the chart jumps to that moment - Scrub through the speed chart: speed, time and position at any moment - Standard or satellite map - Share sessions via AirDrop, export GPX, import GPX from other apps - Nautical coordinates (degrees and decimal minutes) - A Glossary explains every abbreviation and how values are worked out PRIVATE BY DESIGN No accounts, no developer servers, no ads, no analytics. Your data stays on your devices and in your private iCloud. TIPS - For sessions longer than a couple of hours, record with an iPhone or iPad connected to onboard power - On iPad, GPS requires a Wi-Fi + Cellular model Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Dinghy Sailing at every 9 days against Upwind's every 3 months. 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Dinghy Sailing ships an update every 9 days, Upwind every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Dinghy Sailing | Upwind |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 9 days — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 18.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 2 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gordon Aspin | Vincenzo Risi |
In-app purchases
Dinghy Sailing
No in-app purchases
Upwind
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Dinghy Sailing free?
Is Upwind free?
Do Dinghy Sailing or Upwind have ads?
Which is updated more often, Dinghy Sailing or Upwind?
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