VesselFinder vs SEAiq Watch
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VesselFinder
Track ships and monitor maritime traffic globally in real-time. Access detailed vessel information, movement history, and predicted routes. Ideal for maritime professionals and enthusiasts alike.
- Real-time vessel tracking
- Vessel movement history
- Predicted routes and ETAs
- Comprehensive vessel particulars
- Port call details
- My Fleet for favorite vessels
- Weather overlays
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VesselFinder is the world’s most popular and trusted vessel tracking and marine traffic app, delivering real-time information on ship positions and movements worldwide. Using a powerful network of satellites, roaming and terrestrial AIS receivers, VesselFinder provides accurate and up-to-date insight into global maritime activity. Designed for maritime professionals, shipping enthusiasts, and anyone interested in live ship tracking, VesselFinder offers a fast, intuitive, and reliable way to explore vessel traffic across the globe. VesselFinder key features: • Real-time tracking of over 300,000 vessels daily using global AIS data • Vessel movement history with track visualization • Predicted routes and ETAs to next port • Comprehensive vessel particulars, including technical specifications, and cargo capacity information • Contact details for the owning company, manager, ISM manager, and more • Port Calls per vessel, showing arrival times and duration of stay • Port Calls per port, with detailed lists of expected vessels, arrivals, departures, and ships currently in port • My Fleet – save and monitor favorite vessels, synchronized with your VesselFinder account • My Views – save preferred map views for fast and easy navigation • Ship Photos contributed by the VesselFinder user community • Multiple map styles: Simple, Detailed, Dark, Satellite, and Nautical • Weather overlays, including wind, waves, and temperature • See your location feature for instant orientation • Distance measurement tool for route and range estimation Vessel visibility depends on AIS signal availability, with near-shore coverage consistent with the data provided on VesselFinder.com. If a vessel is outside our terrestrial AIS coverage area, its last reported position will be displayed and updated as soon as new data is received. Extended real-time coverage via satellite and roaming AIS sources is available through a subscription. While we make every effort to ensure accuracy, the completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. Connect with VesselFinder • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/vesselfinder • Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/vesselfinder
SEAiq Watch
This companion app displays critical navigation data from SEAiq Pilot on your Apple Watch. It requires an Apple Watch, iPad, and iPhone, along with SEAiq Pilot installed on your iPad. Setup is detailed within the app itself.
- View navigation data on Apple Watch
- Requires SEAiq Pilot on iPad
- Relays data from iPad to Apple Watch
- Detailed setup and troubleshooting
- Companion app functionality
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You can see important information from SEAiq while away from your iPad. Use of this app requires the following: * An Apple Watch, Apple iPad, and Apple iPhone * SEAiq Pilot or SEAiq Pilot VPP on your Apple iPad * SEAiq Watch on your Apple iPhone Turn on Settings / Status Bar / Apple Watch in SEAiq Pilot on your iPad to enable sharing of your status information. See detailed setup, help, and troubleshooting information in SEAiq Watch. IMPORTANT: This app is ONLY useful if you already have SEAiq Pilot or SEAiq Pilot VPP (with an Enterprise Subscription) and wish to use it with your watch. This app runs on your iPhone and relays data from your iPad to your Apple Watch. This app has no function when used independently of other apps.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: SEAiq Watch at 5.0 against VesselFinder's 4.2. SEAiq Watch also leads on ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs free with in-app purchases). VesselFinder's advantage is ratings volume (280 vs 1) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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.
SEAiq Watch holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: VesselFinder has 280 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.
VesselFinder ships an update fortnightly, SEAiq Watch every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | VesselFinder | SEAiq Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (280 ratings) | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 28.2% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 280 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 47 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | AstraPaging Ltd. | Sakhalin |
Customer experience
VesselFinder
SEAiq Watch
Bugs and requests
VesselFinder
Reported bugs
15 issues- App freezes on splash screen and won't load
- Crashes when attempting to zoom on map
- Black screen display on certain devices
- App won't open or opens after long delays
- Crashes on iOS 11 and newer versions
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- Incompatible with iPhone X and newer models
- Data not updating for days or weeks
- Crashes when searching for vessels
- Freezing issues after recent updates
- Map not displaying on iPad
- App crashes in low power mode
- Vessel information not loading correctly
- Inconsistent performance across iOS versions
- App becomes unstable after working briefly
- Zoom functionality broken in multiple versions
Requested features
13 requests- Real-time GPS tracking instead of delayed AIS data
- Distance measurement tool restoration
- German language support
- Destination and departure information display
- Ability to remove ads without expensive pro version
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- Better search functionality in free version
- Vessel departure time information
- Improved map zoom functionality
- Live results in search function
- Picture display before clicking on vessel
- Better map background/quality
- Local time display instead of UTC only
- Ability to delete incorrect vessel photos from profile
SEAiq Watch
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
VesselFinder
No in-app purchases
SEAiq Watch
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is VesselFinder free?
Is SEAiq Watch free?
Which has better reviews, VesselFinder or SEAiq Watch?
Do VesselFinder or SEAiq Watch have ads?
Which is updated more often, VesselFinder or SEAiq Watch?
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