Comparison

Surf Sessions vs Surf Tracking

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

Head to head
About

Surf Sessions

Effortlessly track your surfing sessions by automatically downloading buoy data for waves, wind, and tide. Integrate your workouts with the Health App to estimate calories burned and maintain a comprehensive fitness plan. Your data remains private and securely stored on your device.

Highlights
  • Automatic buoy data download
  • Session recording and rating
  • Calorie burn estimation
  • Health App integration
  • Private iCloud backup
  • Secret spot protection
Features
Read full description

Surf Session makes it really easy to track your surfing. Just setup surf spots with a parking location, enable auto-record, and every time you finish surfing your phone will automatically download some buoy data (waves, wind, and tide) and notify you to record it. You can even rate your session right from the notification. You can also integrate your surfing into an overall fitness plan. This app will estimate the calories you burned while surfing and then share your surfing workouts with the Health App. All of your data is stored on your phone and backed up in your private iCloud space. The developer cannot see your location or data. You secret spots will remain secret. Please provide feedback. I will do my best to fix bugs and improve this app.

About

Surf Tracking

This app transforms your Apple Watch into a dedicated surf tracker. It provides real-time guidance to your take-off zone, tracks paddling endurance, and offers detailed session recaps with wave analysis to help you improve your surfing.

Highlights
  • Real-time take-off zone guidance
  • Paddling distance and endurance tracking
  • Live session stats (wave count, heart rate)
  • Detailed session recaps with map analysis
  • Fitness trends across sessions
Features
Read full description

Most surf trackers tell you what happened after you get out. Gone Surfing helps you while you are still in the water. The ocean is a constantly changing playing field. So we give you one more reference in the lineup, based on your own take-offs. Catch a wave and the arrow points you back to where you caught it. Paddle back to the right spot, and you catch more waves. What you can do with Gone Surfing: 1. Waves you can trust A wave has to clear a speed, distance, duration, and GPS quality check before it counts, so paddling and drifting never show up as rides. Every wave is saved with its own route, so you can check the count against the map yourself. 2. See your surf as it happens Wave count, speed, heart rate, paddle distance, and calories, live on your Apple Watch. 3. Relive every wave Open the session on your iPhone. Every wave sits on the map with its route, distance, and speed. See the lines you took and the paddling between them. 4. Know if you are improving Waves per session. Waiting time between waves. Top speed, paddle distance, and surf fitness. Trends across every surf, not just the last one. 5. Get coached after every session Your AI Surf Coach reads your real sessions and tells you what to work on next. It runs on device on supported iPhones. Other iPhones get session insights instead. 6. Check your surf at a glance The Surf Dashboard widget keeps your last 30 days on your Home Screen. 7. Share the good ones Turn any session into a card worth posting. Sessions save to Apple Health as workouts and close your rings. 10 million waves tracked since 2024. Free and Pro Free records your surf: sessions, wave count, maps, and session cards. Pro adds the take-off arrow in the water, full trends and comparisons, paddle and surf fitness insight, and the AI Surf Coach. Whether you chase better dawn patrols or want to know what drives your best sessions, Gone Surfing gives you the data to progress with confidence. Your next breakthrough session starts here. Manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Privacy Policy: https://gonesurfing.app/privacy.html Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula

Screenshots

Surf Sessions4 screens
Surf Tracking4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Surf Tracking at 92% against Surf Sessions's 0%. Surf Tracking also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). Surf Sessions's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 4). On price, ratings volume, 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. Surf Tracking sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Surf Sessions asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Surf Tracking holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 8 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Surf Sessions's written reviews are positive against 92% of Surf Tracking's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Surf Sessions ships an update every 2 months, Surf Tracking every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 4, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Surf Sessions versus Surf Tracking: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterSurf SessionsSurf Tracking
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (5 ratings)5.0 (8 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews92.3% of reviews — better
Number of ratings58 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, Apple Watch
Requires iOS27.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size15 MB78 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperChristopher SladeDarian Macharowski

Customer experience

Surf Sessions

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral20.0%
Negative20.0%
Written reviews3 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral66.7%
Negative33.3%

Surf Tracking

All ratings7 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%

In-app purchases

None

Surf Sessions

No in-app purchases

4 purchases

Surf Tracking

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Pro (Annual)1 Year trial$19.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Yearly1 Month trial$29.991 Year

Questions

Is Surf Sessions free?
Surf Sessions is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Surf Tracking free?
Surf Tracking is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Surf Sessions or Surf Tracking?
Surf Tracking is rated higher. Surf Sessions averages 3.6 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Surf Tracking averages 5.0 from 8 ratings.
Do Surf Sessions or Surf Tracking have ads?
Neither Surf Sessions nor Surf Tracking shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Surf Sessions or Surf Tracking?
Surf Sessions ships an update every 2 months, and Surf Tracking every 2 weeks. Most recently, Surf Sessions was updated on November 1, 2026 and Surf Tracking on November 4, 2026.

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