Comparison

BlueHelm Boating vs OceanPulse

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

Head to head
About

BlueHelm Boating

This navigation app provides an anchor alarm, trip planning, and marine weather forecasts. It acts as your boat's AI guide, offering offline access to vessel procedures and safety tools.

Highlights
  • Anchor-drift alarm
  • Live float plans
  • Marine weather forecasts
  • Offline vessel guide
  • Smart water routing
  • Find nearest marinas
Features
Read full description

Navigation, Anchor-drift alarm. Live float plans. Marine weather. And your boat's own guide — with you at the helm, even offline. BlueHelm is built around YOUR boat: its systems, procedures, and checklists become a guide you can actually use underway, with the safety tools running alongside. YOUR BOAT (AI) Ask questions and get answers drawn from your boat's guide plus current conditions. "Where's the A/C seacock?" "What do I shut off on the inverter?" Boating questions only — and it never replaces your own judgment or official sources. ANCHOR WATCH Drop anchor, set your rode, and BlueHelm watches your swing. If your boat drifts past your ring, the alarm sounds — even with the screen off. Adaptive monitoring is designed to be easy on your battery overnight. TRIPS & FLOAT PLANS Plan a trip with a suggested water route, or just tap Track Now and go. Share a live float plan so the people who worry can watch your track. Every trip is saved with distance and time. SMART WATER ROUTING Plan a trip and BlueHelm suggests a route over real water — out the harbor channel, around the headland, never a straight line across land. In US waters, routing is informed by NOAA chart data. A planning suggestion to refine, not navigation — always verify against official charts. FIND NEAREST The closest marinas, fuel docks, launch ramps, harbors, anchorages, and bays — sorted by distance from your position, with over 17,000 US coastal places built in. Works with zero signal, exactly when you need it. Tap any place to plan a route there, or just ask Your Boat. TRAVEL WINDOW A same-day read on wind and swell, scored hour by hour, so you can pick the calm window instead of guessing. Transparent about its sources and thresholds — a planning aid, not a go/no-go verdict. MARINE CONDITIONS Wind, tide, waves, and water temperature with hourly and 7-day forecasts, tide charts, and NOAA coastal alerts in US waters. VESSEL GUIDE Your boat's procedures — getting on, heading out, heading back, closing up — as living checklists that work fully offline. Multi-boat ready: every vessel keeps its own guide, log, and documents. MOB & EMERGENCY One-tap man-overboard marking and an emergency console with your position ready to read over the radio. MEMBERSHIP — STRAIGHT PRICES Free to download, and free forever for anchor watch, the map with your position, nearby places, today's conditions, float plans, SOS and your boat's guide. Premium adds the Premium chart (charted depths and hazards, water routing, tracked trips), Ask your boat and the week ahead, for up to three boats: $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year. Try each Premium feature free first: five 24-hour passes each, started with a tap, no card, nothing automatic. No ads. We never sell your data, and your guide content is never used to train AI. BlueHelm is an aid to seamanship — not a substitute for it. Always maintain a proper lookout, monitor official forecasts and notices, and carry required safety equipment. AI answers can be wrong; verify anything safety-critical against your boat's documentation. Questions? services@getbluehelm.com Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://getbluehelm.com/legal

About

OceanPulse

This marine navigation app transforms your device into a chartplotter. Access NOAA nautical charts, plan routes, track voyages, and view tides, currents, and weather, even offline.

Highlights
  • NOAA nautical charts
  • Offline chart downloads
  • Route planning and navigation
  • Tide and current predictions
  • Marine weather forecasts
  • Voyage track recording
  • Marina and anchorage details
Features
Read full description

OceanPulse turns your iPhone and iPad into a full marine chartplotter. Navigate with real NOAA nautical charts, plan routes, record your voyages, and check tides, currents, and marine weather — even miles offshore with no cell signal. Whether you sail, fish, cruise, or paddle, OceanPulse puts everything you need on the water in one beautifully simple app. REAL NAUTICAL CHARTS • Detailed NOAA vector charts with buoys, beacons, lights, wrecks, landmarks, and depth soundings • Tap anything on the chart for a plain-English description of every nautical object under your finger • Depth shading plus a safety-depth layer that hatches water shallower than your chosen depth in red • Bridge clearance labels, light sectors, and depths in feet, meters, or fathoms • Light, dark, and auto themes with road or satellite land overlays OFFLINE CHARTS • Download any region — frame it on the chart and see the exact size before you commit • Downloads continue in the background and resume automatically if interrupted • Update badges tell you when newer charts are available • Only-offline mode shows exactly where you have coverage — no surprises offshore ROUTE PLANNING & NAVIGATION • Tap to drop waypoints, drag to fine-tune — legs redraw live and everything autosaves • Total distance, per-leg distance and bearing, ETA, and estimated fuel burn from your boat's cruise speed • Navigate a route with live distance, bearing, and ETA to the next waypoint — reverse direction anytime TIDES & CURRENTS • Worldwide tide and current predictions computed on your device — no internet required • Interactive tide graphs with highs, lows, slack water, and sun and moon times • Station icons on the chart show rising or falling conditions at a glance, up to 100 years ahead MARINE WEATHER • Wind speed, direction, and gusts, swell height, period, and direction, temperature, clouds, and precipitation • Detailed 3-hourly forecast grid plus a week-ahead outlook for any point you tap on the chart TRACK RECORDING • Record your voyage with live speed, distance, and time — pause and resume anytime • Live Activity keeps your stats on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island • Review speed graphs and stats for every saved track, then share as a photo or GPX file MARINAS & ANCHORAGES • Marina and anchorage details powered by Waterway Guides: fuel, dockside depth, VHF channel, holding, and wind protection • The Nearby view surfaces marinas, anchorages, and tide stations within 10 nautical miles of your boat WAYPOINTS, GPX & SYNC • Drop custom markers with names, notes, colors, and icons — or enter exact coordinates in DD, DDM, or DMS • Import and export GPX waypoints, routes, and tracks to and from any other app or chartplotter • iCloud sync keeps your waypoints, routes, tracks, and boat profile up to date on all your devices BUILT FOR THE HELM • GPS follow and course-up modes with a projected course line, plus live speed and heading readouts • Caliper tool measures distance and bearing between any two points on the chart • One search for places, marinas, anchorages, tide stations, and your own waypoints, routes, and tracks • Snap a photo of your boat and OceanPulse estimates its specs to set up your vessel profile in seconds Perfect for sailing, fishing, powerboating, coastal cruising, kayaking, and offshore passages — from your home harbor to waters you've never explored. Read the EULA at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

BlueHelm Boating4 screens
OceanPulse4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: BlueHelm Boating at every 4 days against OceanPulse's every 3 weeks. BlueHelm Boating also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). OceanPulse's advantage is ratings volume (4 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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. BlueHelm Boating sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month and OceanPulse sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $49.99 per year. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for BlueHelm Boating against 5.0 for OceanPulse. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1 and 4 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

BlueHelm Boating ships an update every 4 days, OceanPulse every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and November 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
BlueHelm Boating versus OceanPulse: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBlueHelm BoatingOceanPulse
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings)5.0 (4 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings14 — better
Update frequencyEvery 4 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.1 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size49 MB109 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBlue Helm LLCOceanPulse LLC

Customer experience

BlueHelm Boating

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

OceanPulse

All ratings4 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

9 purchases

BlueHelm Boating

Subscriptions9
  • BlueHelm Premium$9.991 Month
  • Crew Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Captain Monthly$17.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • Add a Boat$49.001 Year
  • Add a Boat (2nd)$49.001 Year
  • Add a Boat (3rd)$49.001 Year
  • BlueHelm Premium$59.991 Year
  • Crew Annual$99.001 Year
  • Captain Annual$199.001 Year
1 purchases

OceanPulse

Subscriptions1
  • OceanPulse Pro7 Days trial$49.991 Year

Questions

Is BlueHelm Boating free?
BlueHelm Boating is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is OceanPulse free?
OceanPulse is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, BlueHelm Boating or OceanPulse?
BlueHelm Boating and OceanPulse are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 1 and 4 ratings respectively.
Do BlueHelm Boating or OceanPulse have ads?
Neither BlueHelm Boating nor OceanPulse shows ads.
Which is updated more often, BlueHelm Boating or OceanPulse?
BlueHelm Boating ships an update every 4 days, and OceanPulse every 3 weeks. Most recently, BlueHelm Boating was updated on October 31, 2026 and OceanPulse on November 5, 2026.

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