StartStar vs Sailing timer tactical
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
StartStar
This app helps sailors track their performance, measure efficiency, and count down to the start line. It offers hands-free voice feedback for speed, time, and distance, and allows users to save and share routes.
- Track shifts and count down to start
- Measure tack and gybe efficiency
- Check speed and distance to start line
- Save and share routes
- Hands-free voice feedback
- Animate boats on Google Earth
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StartStar is designed to help you: • Tack on the shifts • Count down to the start • Know your distance to the start line • Check your speed • Measure you tack and gybe efficiency • Save your routes on your phone • Post routes to Facebook and Twitter • Animate many boats on Google Earth AND • StartStar is hands free. It can speak to you so you don’t need to take you eye off the sails and other boats to know your speed, time or distance to the start line As StartStar uses the GPS in your phone, it is cheaper than dedicated electronic compasses or starting aids for sale in the chandlers, in fact not only is it FREE, it does more too. Please note: Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.
Sailing timer tactical
This app provides a spoken countdown timer for sailing races, displaying distance to the starting line and a track view of covered paths with speed indicators. It utilizes GPS for navigation and can be used with Bluetooth earphones for audio alerts.
- Spoken countdown timer
- Distance to starting line
- Track view of covered paths
- Speed indication
- GPS tracking
- Bluetooth earphone support
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Spoken countdown timer. Distance to starting line Track view of covered paths. Colors indicate the speed. Tips: I advise to extend your screen idle timer. Also set Return to Clock to after 1 hour. Settings->General-> Return to clock You can use bluetooth earphones if the volume is not loud enough. Enable background refresh Settings > General > Background App Refresh This app uses GPS and may impact the battery life. A 10-15% battery drain per hour is normal. Future features: Spoken wind shift messages OCS alarm Manually set Windward and leeward mark Battery optimization (turn off GPS automatically) The following permissions are needed Healthkit: To start a sailing workout. This is also needs to get timer updates and location updates when the screen is off. Location: To plot your route on the map and to calculate the distance to the line
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Sailing timer tactical at 3.8 against StartStar's 3.0. Sailing timer tactical also leads on ratings volume (6 vs 1). StartStar's advantage is update cadence (every 2 months vs every 15 months) and review sentiment (67% vs 57%). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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.
Sailing timer tactical holds the better App Store score, 3.8 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sailing timer tactical has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 67% of StartStar's written reviews are positive against 57% of Sailing timer tactical's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
StartStar ships an update every 2 months, Sailing timer tactical every 15 months. The most recent releases landed on October 6, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | StartStar | Sailing timer tactical |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (1 ratings) | 3.8 (6 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better | 57.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1 | 6 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 15 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, Apple Watch |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 23 MB | 1 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | hugh kingdon | Pieter Oskam |
Customer experience
StartStar
Sailing timer tactical
In-app purchases
StartStar
No in-app purchases
Sailing timer tactical
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is StartStar free?
Is Sailing timer tactical free?
Which has better reviews, StartStar or Sailing timer tactical?
Do StartStar or Sailing timer tactical have ads?
Which is updated more often, StartStar or Sailing timer tactical?
Other comparisons
