Surf Sessions vs Surf Blackball
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Automatic buoy data download
- Session recording and rating
- Calorie burn estimation
- Health App integration
- Private iCloud backup
- Secret spot protection
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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.
Surf Blackball
This app offers a land-based training system designed to improve surfing performance by focusing on strength, mobility, and endurance. It targets the specific mechanics of paddling, pop-ups, and breath control, making elite training accessible to all levels.
- Land-based surf training system
- Improves strength, mobility, endurance
- Targets paddling, pop-up, breath control
- Bodyweight movements
- Fusion of conditioning and recovery
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Welcome to Blackball, a surf wellness community founded by professional surf coach and ex-WSL competitor, Luke Stedman, where passion meets purpose. We’re not just about riding waves; we’re about living better, stronger, and more connected lives. Our land-based training system is built on the same regimen that powered Luke’s elite career and continues to help today’s top surfers reach peak performance. But Blackball isn’t just for pros; it’s for everyone striving to break through personal barriers and hit their next level. Our training is designed to help you push your limits, increasing your functional strength, mobility, and endurance—all with a sharp focus on improving your surfing. Blackball training programs are a powerful fusion of strength training, aerobic conditioning, agility, mobility, and active recovery, but what sets us apart is that every workout trains the exact mechanics required to fuel your surfing performance. Each workout is crafted with bodyweight movements targeting the six core elements essential for surfing: paddling, pop-up, compression/extension, weight shifting, rotation, and breath control. We’re not just building fitness; we’re tuning your body to maximize the potential in every wave. Read our full Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy: https://passion.io/terms-of-service https://passion.io/privacy-policy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Surf Blackball at 100% against Surf Sessions's 0%. Surf Blackball also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 27.0). Surf Sessions's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, ratings volume, update cadence 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.
Surf Blackball holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 7 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Surf Sessions's written reviews are positive against 100% of Surf Blackball's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Surf Sessions | Surf Blackball |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.6 (5 ratings) | 5.0 (7 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 7 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Ad-supported |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 27.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 90 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Christopher Slade | The Progression Lab LLC |
Customer experience
Surf Sessions
Surf Blackball
In-app purchases
Surf Sessions
No in-app purchases
Surf Blackball
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Surf Sessions free?
Is Surf Blackball free?
Which has better reviews, Surf Sessions or Surf Blackball?
Do Surf Sessions or Surf Blackball have ads?
Which is updated more often, Surf Sessions or Surf Blackball?
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