Ocean Watch vs XTide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ocean Watch
Access tide predictions for over 3,300 stations across the US and Caribbean. Visualize tide data with stunning graphics and an interactive almanac. Plan your activities with offline access to predictions and custom notes.
- 3,300+ tide stations
- Stunning graphics and visualizations
- Offline tide predictions
- Interactive almanac
- Integrated station map
- Custom notes and images
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• Over 3,300 stations on every coast of the US and beyond. (Note: limited support for stations beyond the US and Caribbean) • Stunning images, graphics and innovative visualizations to make sense of the information you care most about. • Tide predictions anywhere anytime. Sophisticated prediction algorithms and decades of data, all included so you don’t need a data connection. • Interactive Almanac so you can see the future and make your plans. • Integrated Station Map to get the big picture. • Updated design across Watch / iPhone / iPad and Mac • Best-in-class widgets and complications • Make it personal with custom notes and images.
XTide
Get tide and current predictions with this app. It offers information for your favorite tide stations and is based on the open-source XTide for Unix. Note: not for navigation and accuracy depends on harmonic data.
- Tide and current predictions
- Apple Watch app and widget
- Favorite tide station information
- Based on open-source XTide
- Supports custom harmonics files
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XTide provides tide and current predictions. The Apple Watch app and Widget show information for the closest of your favorite tide stations. It is based on the popular open source XTide for Unix from http://www.flaterco.com/xtide/introduction.html XTide includes a harmonics file (tide data) for the United States only due to legal issues with the data from other countries, but supports custom harmonics files. See https://flaterco.com/xtide/faq.html#60 for more information. NOT FOR NAVIGATION This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The author assumes no liability for damages arising from use of this program OR of any 'harmonics data' that might be distributed with it. For details, see the appended GNU General Public License. (Accurate tide predictions can only be made if the 'harmonics data' for the relevant location are good. Unfortunately, the only way the maintainer of those data has of knowing when they are bad is when someone with access to authoritative tide predictions or observations reports a problem. You should not use this program or any data files that might be distributed with it if anyone or anything could come to harm as a result of an incorrect tide prediction. NOAA and similar agencies in other countries can provide you with certified tide predictions if that is what you need.) XTide's predictions do not incorporate the effects of tropical storms, El Niño, seismic events, subsidence, uplift, or changes in global sea level.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: XTide at free against Ocean Watch's paid. XTide also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 73%) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 8 months). Ocean Watch's advantage is ratings volume (2.5K vs 3). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases 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.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Ocean Watch against 4.7 for XTide. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ocean Watch has 2.5K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Ocean Watch's written reviews are positive against 100% of XTide's.
Ocean Watch ships an update every 8 months, XTide every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ocean Watch | XTide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (2.5K ratings) — better | 4.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2.5K — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months | Every 3 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 281 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Blue Bright Labs LLC | Lee Ann Rucker |
Customer experience
Ocean Watch
XTide
Bugs and requests
Ocean Watch
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashes when trying to open tide station details
- Tide data sometimes stuck on wrong location
- Apple Watch app not syncing or updating correctly
- Issues with the app's widget not displaying accurate information
Requested features
5 requests- Add water temperature and wind speed data
- Improve Apple Watch complication to show more detailed tide information
- Expand coverage to more locations, especially in Canada and other countries
- Add ability to set tide alerts or notifications
- Improve stability and reliability to reduce crashes
XTide
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Ocean Watch
No in-app purchases
XTide
No in-app purchases
