Comparison

18Birdies vs SurfCheck

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

Head to head
About

18Birdies

This app provides advanced GPS technology and game improvement tools for golfers. It offers personalized training, AI swing analysis, and a community to connect with friends and compete. Improve your game with detailed stats and course insights.

Highlights
  • GPS Rangefinder
  • Digital Scorecard
  • Handicap Tracking
  • AI Swing Analyzer
  • Golf Community
  • Shot Tracking
  • 3D Green Maps
Features
Read full description

Play better golf from the first tee to the final putt. Featured by Apple as “The Best App for Golfers” and trusted by more than 10 million golfers, 18Birdies gives every player a smarter way to play, practice, compete, and improve. 18Birdies helps you know the distance, choose smarter shots, track every round, and understand where your game can improve. Get free GPS yardages on 45,000+ courses, keep score, follow your handicap, review your stats, and use Apple Watch tools to stay focused. Improve your swing with AI feedback, Instant Swing Playback, Golf School training, and expert coach reviews. FREE GOLF GPS, SCORECARD & STATS Know the distance before every shot. Get yardages to greens, hazards, layups, and carries on 45,000+ courses worldwide. Keep score, save round history, monitor your handicap, and use shot tracking and stats to improve your game. APPLE WATCH GOLF TOOLS Keep your phone in your bag. Use 18Birdies on Apple Watch for distances, scoring, shot tracking, and automatic swing detection. IMPROVE FASTER Improve your game faster with advanced swing tools built for real results. Upload swing videos to the AI Swing Analyzer for personalized feedback, fault detection, and drills to help you improve. Use Instant Swing Playback to review swings and understand what changed from swing to swing. Build better habits with Golf School drills and lessons designed to help you practice with purpose. For expert feedback, submit your swing to Pro Swing Analysis for a personalized review from a certified golf coach. PLAY WITH FRIENDS Golf is better with friends. Connect, share rounds, compare progress, and create competition with side games, team formats, leagues, tournaments, and live leaderboards. FREE FEATURES - GOLF GPS RANGEFINDER: Distances to greens, hazards, layups, carries, and more - DIGITAL SCORECARD: Track scores for every round - HANDICAP TRACKER: Follow your handicap trend - STATS & ROUND HISTORY: Track performance over time - SHOT TRACKING: Capture shots and learn more about your game - APPLE WATCH: Distances, scoring, and shot tracking - INSTANT SWING PLAYBACK: Review your swing during practice - GOLF COMMUNITY: Connect with friends, share rounds, and celebrate your best golf moments - TEAM MODE & SIDE GAMES: Play Scramble, Best Ball, Skins, Wolf, and more - TOURNAMENTS & LEAGUES: Create live leaderboards for group competition - COACH CONNECT: Share your game with your coach for feedback PREMIUM TOOLS Upgrade to 18Birdies Premium for advanced tools and deeper insights. Free trial available for eligible users after download. - PLAYS-LIKE DISTANCES: Account for conditions that affect true yardage - CLUB RECOMMENDATIONS: Get personalized club guidance - ADVANCED GPS TOOLS: Plan shots with more confidence - 3D GREEN & HEATMAPS: Read slopes, breaks, and green contours - ADVANCED STATS: Analyze your game with charts, filters, and comparisons - STROKES GAINED: See where you gain or lose strokes - SMART TRACKING & AUTO SWING DETECTION: Capture your round automatically with less manual input, with or without Apple Watch - AI SWING ANALYZER: Get personalized swing feedback from video - HD INSTANT SWING PLAYBACK: Review your swing with annotations and deeper analysis - GOLF SCHOOL: Unlimited training, drills, and lessons - SHOT TRACKING INSIGHTS: Understand distance, shape, and performance - PRO SWING ANALYSIS DISCOUNT: 25% off personalized swing reviews from certified coaches LEGAL 18Birdies Premium is an optional auto-renewable subscription. Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Subscription renews unless canceled at least 24 hours before the current period ends. Manage or cancel in App Store account settings. By using 18Birdies, you agree to Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ and our Terms of Service https://18birdies.com/legal/terms/ and Privacy Policy https://18birdies.com/legal/privacy-policy/.

About

SurfCheck

Features
Read full description

SurfCheck is a mobile surf application that helps solve the problem of inaccurate surf report data in Bali Indonesia. SurfCheck puts the power in the hands of the surf community, by giving them the ability to upload videos of the surf. This gives surfers in Bali Indonesia the opportunity to have the most accurate representation of the actual surf. With this interactive live surf forecast app the Bali surf community can check the surf any single minute during the day. Surfing in Bali will get easier from now on! Bali surf forecast websites do not match the real Bali surfing conditions and surf webcams mostly don’t work or have bad quality footage. Also, many surfing spots in Bali don’t even have any webcams. SurfCheck will let the Bali surf community to constantly check live surf reports from all of the common Bali surf spots and beaches. Posting a Surf Report: Bali Surfing users can post reports at the surf spots live in this App, simply pressing the record button for a few seconds. This collaboration provides other users to check and see these surf reports and get the live surf forecast about Bali Surf conditions anytime and from anywhere almost live. SurfCheck will provide the users with credits for their collaboration. Posting a surf report provides the user with credits. With these credits Bali surfers will be able to watch surf reports from the other users. No more wasting time driving to the surf spots without precise information about the surf conditions. Bali surfing spots favourite filter menu: SurfCheck will let you post a surf report of the spot you are at right now. Opening the Bali surfing spot menu, Bali surfers are able to choose their favourite spots they usually surf at. The “favourite surf spots” filters the surf reports and will show you the surf reports of your favourite surf spots automatically. Other surf reports from other surfing spots will not be shown and will be filtered out. This way you can check the surf of only the spots you love. SurfCheck ratings: Bali Surfers can evaluate the surf conditions of the surf spots by adding audio to their recording and can add text to describe the surf. This will result in accurate Bali surf conditions that are clear and easy to understand. Rating the surf conditions live will help the users to get essential information right at the moment. SurfCheck vision: Because SurfCheck is still a young surf start-up there will be room for lots of improvements in the near future. Think of community video rating, offline recording, community surf spot suggestions, location awareness to automatically detect the spot where the user is, maps integration, online surf date to cross reference with the reports, AI machine learning to recognize surf spots based on video footage, report quality and much more. Stay tuned and let’s get surfing!

Screenshots

18Birdies4 screens
SurfCheck4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: SurfCheck at none against 18Birdies's 10. SurfCheck also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 16.0). 18Birdies's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 weeks) and chart position (#5 vs unranked). On price, ads 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. 18Birdies sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days. SurfCheck asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

18Birdies ships an update weekly, SurfCheck every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 7 level
18Birdies versus SurfCheck: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter18BirdiesSurfCheck
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (307K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews73.7% of reviews—
Number of ratings307K — better—
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
Best chart rank#5 — better—
DevicesiPhone, Apple WatchiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS16.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size297 MB38 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer18Birdies LLCCode-Remote B.V.

Bugs and requests

18Birdies

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Yardages not syncing correctly between watch and phone
  • Inability to save rounds or enter scores
  • Incorrect course information and tee box layouts
  • Frequent crashes and performance issues

Requested features

7 requests
  • Automatic handicap calculation
  • Customizable home course stats
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to record scores for non-app users
  • Layup yardages and hazard distances
Show 2 more
  • Improved Apple Watch integration
  • Better social features and leaderboards

SurfCheck

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

8 purchases

18Birdies

Subscriptions8
  • 18Birdies Premium7 Days trial$2.997 Days
  • Weekly Premium Subscription$7.997 Days
  • Weekly Premium Subscription WB$7.997 Days
Show 5 more
  • Monthly Premium Subscription7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • 18Birdies Premium7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Monthly Premium Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$19.991 Month
  • Yearly Premium Subscription WB7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Yearly Premium Subscription7 Days trial2 variants$99.991 Year
None

SurfCheck

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is 18Birdies free?
18Birdies is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SurfCheck free?
SurfCheck is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do 18Birdies or SurfCheck have ads?
Neither 18Birdies nor SurfCheck shows ads.
Which is updated more often, 18Birdies or SurfCheck?
18Birdies ships an update weekly, and SurfCheck every 5 weeks. Most recently, 18Birdies was updated on November 12, 2026 and SurfCheck on November 7, 2026.

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