Comparison

Tide Charts vs Windy.com

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

Head to head
About

Tide Charts

Access worldwide tidal estimates, lunar data, and weather forecasts. Plan outdoor adventures with ease using current radar and offline predictions. Supports Apple Watch and includes a Today Extension for quick access.

Highlights
  • Worldwide tidal estimates
  • Lunar data
  • Weather forecast
  • Current radar
  • Offline predictions
  • Favorite station management
  • Apple Watch support
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Finally a beautiful and simple way to view tides on your mobile device! In addition to worldwide tidal estimates at tide stations, you can see the lunar data, weather forecast, and current radar making your next outdoor adventure as easy to plan as possible. By default, the application will pick the closest tide station to you, but picking a different tide or weather station is as easy as viewing a map of your current location. You can also setup and quickly switch between many stored favorite stations if you need to. No internet access while outdoors? No problem. This app has been designed to give you tidal and lunar predictions without internet access! Tides at a glance • A clear chart of the whole day, with the current height marked and daylight hours shaded (lunar rise and set is the small gray bar on the bottom) • The times and heights of every high and low tide • Swipe left or right to move through the days, or pick a date on the calendar • Swipe down to see sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and the phase of the moon • Subscribe for tide alerts that notify you before a chosen high or low tide • Home Screen widgets with today's tides and the next tide Worldwide Tidal Stations • Nearly 8,000 stations, from the coasts of the United States and Canada to Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America and the Pacific islands • Find the nearest station with one tap, search by name, or browse the map, with satellite imagery when you want it • Keep your favorites one tap away Adjustable Height to Match Your Local Tide Table • Heights use the datum your local charts and tables use: MLLW in the United States, chart datum in Canada, Japan and Korea, LAT in Europe and Australia, MLWS in Peru and Ecuador (or you can choose your own from Mean Sea Level, MLLW, MLW, MLWS or LAT) Weather and Radar • Weather forecast is included for the station's location, with wind, temp, precipitation, and the day's high and low • Animated rain radar with a scrubber, so you can see what is coming Apple Watch • A full-screen tide chart on Apple Watch: turn the Digital Crown to step through highs, lows, sunrise, sunset and moon times, or drag to scrub through the next 30 days • Complications for every watch face, from a tide gauge to a chart of the next 24 hours, in the color you choose • Your favorite and nearby stations, with the current height and the next tide Tides is free with ads, however we do offer a one-time purchase to remove them if you would rather a clean distraction free experience.

About

Windy.com

This app offers advanced weather forecasting with over 50 detailed maps and 15 weather models, including live radar, satellite imagery, and hurricane tracking. It provides customizable alerts for storms, wind, and snow, making it ideal for outdoor activities and aviation.

Highlights
  • Live weather radar & satellite
  • Over 50 weather maps
  • 15+ weather models
  • Hurricane tracker
  • Customizable weather alerts
  • Aviation-specific forecasts
  • Air quality index
Features
Read full description

A UNIQUE WEATHER FORECAST VISUALISATION While most weather forecasting apps rely solely on free global models, Windy has gone a step further by investing heavily in the most accurate weather models available, always at the highest possible resolution, to deliver you the most accurate forecasts in the world. LIVE WEATHER APP - WEATHER RADAR & SATELLITE (Now with Precipitation Type & Lightning tracker) Radar is a highly valued tool for weather forecasting. To provide you with the most accurate radar imagery, we constantly expand our resources so that rain, snow, and storms don't catch you by surprise. Trusted radar sources include NOAA, Met Office, Météo France, DWD, JMA, IMD, BoM & more. The global satellite composite is created from NOAA, EUMETSAT & Himawari data. MORE THAN 50 WEATHER MAPS - Rain radar, Satellite and a unique combined layer of Radar & Satellite images (blue, infrared, visible) - Hurricane tracker, Weather warnings & Extreme forecast - Wind forecast: Wind speed, Wind gusts & Accumulation, models comparison, data from live Weather stations - Temperature: Humidity, Pressure, Dew point, live data from Weather stations - Rain: Thunder & storms, Rain accumulation, Thunderstorms, Precipitation type, CAPE-index - Aviation: Clouds, Cloud tops, Cloud base, Visibility (LIFR, IFR, MVFR, VFR), Fog, Icing, Clear air turbulence, Thermals, Freezing altitude - Marine Forecast: Waves, Swell, Wave power, Tide forecast, Currents, Sea temperature - Solar activity: Solar power, UV index, Wet-bulb temperature - Snow: Snow depth, New snow, Snow density - Air Quality: Air Quality Index (AQI) with Pollen (CAMS), NO2, PM 2.5, Aerosol, SO2, Ozone layer, Surface ozone, CO concentration, Dust mass - Soil moisture, Moisture anomaly, Drought intensity, Fire Danger, Fuel moisture MORE THAN 15 WEATHER MODELS Global weather models: - meteoblue - AI forecast - ECMWF - GFS by NOAA - ICON by DWD Local weather models: - HRRR by NOAA - NAM by NOAA - HRDPS by MSC - ICON-EU by DWD - ICON-D2 by DWD - UKV by Met Office - AROME-HD by Météo France - ALADIN by CHMI - NEMS by meteoblue - MSM by JMA - ACCESS-C by BoM LIVE RAIN, STORM ALERTS & CUSTOM WEATHER ALERTS Want to know before the storm hits near you while you hike, bike or spend time outdoors? You can now access live weather alerts or set up your custom weather alert for wind, sunshine, or new snow. HURRICANE TRACKER FOR STORM TRACKING With Windy's hurricane tracker, you can track the past and projected path of a hurricane or a storm. Windy doesn't rely on just one hurricane model, but will give you all the forecasts available for a storm or hurricane. WINDY MADE FOR PILOTS - 16 altitude levels from the surface to 13.5km/FL450 - 50k+ Airports searchable by ICAO and IATA, including runway info, decoded & raw METAR, TAF & NOTAMs - Detailed Airgram and Meteogram: temperature and dew point, wind speed and wind gusts, pressure, precipitation, altitude cloud cover, freezing altitude - Thermals forecast - Route planner WINDY MADE FOR OUTDOOR SPORTS, SURF & BOATING - 67K+ global webcams - Summer & winter outdoor topographic maps by Mapy.com - 4.5K+ Surfing spots - 12.1K+ Paragliding spots - 4.3K+ Kiting spots - Boating tide forecast - Sun & Moon tracker - Plugins with buoy data WINDY AS A WEATHER WIDGET ON YOUR DEVICE Get the weather now on your iPhone, MacOS, iPad, CarPlay & Apple Watch, from forecast, Radar, METAR, Weather stations & Wind, ready for your travels and outdoor sports. WINDY PREMIUM — FORECAST LIKE A PRO - 1-hour & 15-day outlook with 4–6× daily updates - Radar/Satellite 24h loops & 1-year archives - More maps (Tide Forecast) - Model comparison to find the best model Terms of Use: https://account.windy.com/agreements/windy-terms-of-use Privacy Policy: https://account.windy.com/agreements/windy-privacy-policy GET IN TOUCH Join us on social media or at community.windy.com to discuss weather-related topics, report bugs, or suggest a new feature. Contact us directly at info@windy.com.

Screenshots

Tide Charts4 screens
Windy.com4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Windy.com at none against Tide Charts's shown. Windy.com also leads on review sentiment (89% vs 69%) and chart position (#2 vs #29). On price, rating, ratings volume and update cadence 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. Tide Charts sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Windy.com sells 9 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Tide Charts against 4.8 for Windy.com. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 113K and 80K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 69% of Tide Charts's written reviews are positive against 89% of Windy.com's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. Both last shipped on October 17, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 8 level
Tide Charts versus Windy.com: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTide ChartsWindy.com
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (113K ratings)4.8 (80K ratings)
Positive reviews68.5% of reviews89.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings113K — better80K
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#29#2 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — betteriPhone, iPad, Apple Watch
Requires iOS15.1 — better16.0
Further details — not scored
Size104 MB173 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developer7th GearWindyty, SE

Customer experience

Tide Charts

All ratings113,466 ratings
Positive95.9%
Neutral2.3%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews508 reviews
Positive68.5%
Neutral6.9%
Negative24.6%

Windy.com

All ratings79,762 ratings
Positive96.7%
Neutral1.7%
Negative1.6%
Written reviews3,847 reviews
Positive89.0%
Neutral3.0%
Negative8.0%

User reviews

Tide Charts

From 113K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Clear tide information
  • 👍 Useful for planning activities
  • 💡 Comprehensive data including weather and moon phases
  • 🤖 Accurate and reliable
  • 🌟 Great app for Apple Watch

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Inaccurate tide data in some locations
  • 🙈 Intrusive and unskippable ads
  • 🤯 Ads crashing the app
  • 🤔 Confusing UI and navigation
  • 🤖 Unreliable Apple Watch complications

Windy.com

From 80K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌊 Accurate weather forecasts
  • 🌍 Comprehensive global coverage
  • 🔍 Detailed weather data and models
  • 🛥️ Useful for marine/sailing activities
  • 🛫 Valuable for aviation planning

Room to improve

  • 🤯 Overwhelming number of features and options
  • 🔍 Small text and cluttered interface on mobile
  • 🤖 Occasional app crashes or stability issues
  • 💰 Paywall for some advanced features
  • 🌐 Lack of offline functionality

Bugs and requests

Tide Charts

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Tide data off by several hours
  • Tide graph not displaying correctly
  • App crashing on ad dismissal
  • Apple Watch complications freezing

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to set custom locations
  • Improved accuracy and data sources
  • Option to purchase ad-free version
  • Landscape mode support
  • More detailed tide height information

Windy.com

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Map dragging issues on newer iPhone models
  • Inconsistent temperature display units
  • Premium features not always working as expected

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add weather front data on isobar charts
  • Improve font size and layout for better readability
  • Provide option to hide webcams or certain layers
  • Implement weather warning notifications
  • Add support for Apple Watch and other wearables

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Tide Charts

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$1.99
9 purchases

Windy.com

Subscriptions4
  • Donate 3 EUR/USD a month$2.991 Month
  • Windy Premium$2.991 Month
  • Donate 6 EUR/USD a month$5.491 Month
Show 1 more
  • Windy Premium2 variants$24.991 Year
One-time5
  • Donate approx 5 EUR/USD$4.99
  • Donate approx 10 EUR/USD$9.99
  • Donate approx 20 EUR/USD$19.99
Show 2 more
  • Windy Premium$29.99
  • Donate approx 50 EUR/USD$49.99

Questions

Is Tide Charts free?
Tide Charts is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Windy.com free?
Windy.com is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Tide Charts or Windy.com?
Tide Charts and Windy.com are both rated 4.8 out of 5 on the App Store, from 113K and 80K ratings respectively.
Do Tide Charts or Windy.com have ads?
Tide Charts shows ads; Windy.com does not.
Which is updated more often, Tide Charts or Windy.com?
Tide Charts ships an update every 3 weeks, and Windy.com every 3 weeks. Most recently, Tide Charts was updated on October 17, 2026 and Windy.com on October 17, 2026.
Which is more popular, Tide Charts or Windy.com?
Tide Charts currently peaks at #29 in the App Store charts, and Windy.com at #2. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

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