Anchor alarm app for iPhone

[greggron]

Has anyone got any recommendations for this? I have a Garmin 152 on board but it's not intuitive for me to set and the alarm is pitifully quiet. I'm looking to supplement it with a back up in the iPhone.

 

[NUTMEG]

There are a few anchor watch apps on the App Store. They all rely on the GPS so when active they reduce battery life alarmingly, at least on my 4s. Make sure your phone is plugged into a charger otherwise the battery will not last the night.

 

[duncan99210]

I use Boat Monitor on my iPad. No idea if it's available for iphone but it does what it says on the tin. It averages over about ten fixes before the alarm sets off, thus avoiding false alarms. Point raised above about battery life is valid though; you need to keep the thing plugged in to a charger.
I also have Anchor Alert on an android phone. Bit over sensitive but it does send a SMS to another phone, which can be a useful add on if you're ashore.

 

[Skipper_Christoph]

I'm using Drag Queen.
Very easy to use.
As Sophie already stated only if connected to a charger.

 

[CaptainBob]

We use My Anchor Watch Pro. It's absolutely fantastic. You can configure it to only check every 30 seconds. Because GPS accuracy is initially low on warm up, if it finds an alarm condition it then operates as per your filter settings for false alarms. I set ours to do rapid re-tests 5 times over a few seconds. Result is nearly zero false alarms and low battery drain. My phone lasts easily all night not plugged in.

I reviewed it when we first got it:

http://www.yacht-forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=687

It also texts you when there's an issue, or you can text it and it will reply with your vessel's current location.

Takes a little getting used to as it's very configurable, but well worth the effort.

 

[Nigel-in-Oxford]

We use My Anchor Watch Pro. It's absolutely fantastic. You can configure it to only check every 30 seconds. Because GPS accuracy is initially low on warm up, if it finds an alarm condition it then operates as per your filter settings for false alarms. I set ours to do rapid re-tests 5 times over a few seconds. Result is nearly zero false alarms and low battery drain. My phone lasts easily all night not plugged in.

I reviewed it when we first got it:

http://www.yacht-forum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=687
.

But its Blackberry only :-(

 

[CaptainBob]

I have it on SGS3 (Android). Definitely not Blackberry only. Unsure if it works on iPhone.

 

[CaptainBob]

Oh no. Looks like it's been withdrawn! What a shame

http://my-anchor-watch-pro.android.informer.com/

"This app was removed from Google Play"

 

[Nigel-in-Oxford]

There is one on the iPhone that looks similar "Anchor Watch" at £0.69 I may give it a try

 

[oldsaltoz]

I recall reading an article that warned people to avoid using phones with GPS for this type of thing. Something to with with using phone towers and if no change in 10 minutes it turned off for short periods.

You can be in lot of trouble in well under 10 minutes.

Good luck and fair winds.

 

[greggron]

Thanks so much for all the responses. Some careful research on risk/benefit needs to be done.

 

[Bertramdriver]

I'm using Drag Queen.
Very easy to use.
As Sophie already stated only if connected to a charger.

+1

 

[CaptainBob]

I recall reading an article that warned people to avoid using phones with GPS for this type of thing. Something to with with using phone towers and if no change in 10 minutes it turned off for short periods.

You can be in lot of trouble in well under 10 minutes.

Good luck and fair winds.

Moot point now but 'my anchor watch' definitely fired up the gps as often as you set it to even if not plugged in to a charger. I will be very careful with this phone henceforth so I can keep using it.