Change to Navionics Subscription Model ?

[Ademist]

I see there is a new update for navionics software which appears to say that you will have to have a subscription to view charts. Previously you could continue to see previously downloaded charts when your subscription expired.

“From now on, when you purchase a subscription, it will automatically renew each year. This means you can continue to access charts and features without disruption.

You can manage your subscription anytime, and you can turn auto-renewal off. Charts, overlays, daily updates and advanced features are not accessible after the subscription expires”.

 

[Ademist]

This was for the iPhones /iPad version

 

[mjcoon]

This was for the iPhones /iPad version

I got the same message with an update to my Android version (that I have been using for years)...

 

[ChromeDome]

You can continue on the Boating app without a subscription. I'd make sure to download maps before.

Some features however will not work (e.g. autorouting)

 

[Quiddle]

I got the same message with an update to my Android version (that I have been using for years)...

I can't see how that is lawful. When I bought the app it was on the basis that (non updated) charts would be available to me permanently. Navionics cannot retrospectively change the purchase contract.

 

[Quiddle]

Some features however will not work (e.g. autorouting)

No more passages north of Portland Bill then. What a loss that will be.

 

[B27]

I can't see how that is lawful. When I bought the app it was on the basis that (non updated) charts would be available to me permanently. Navionics cannot retrospectively change the purchase contract.

You didn't buy the app. The app is(was?) free to download. The license was to subscribe to the chart service etc.

I always thought this would happen, was not expecting it just yet though.
There are some things I really dislike about Navionics, so I will probably try a different app next year.

I assume google will try to update copies of the existing app to the new version? I have it on a couple of devices which don't see the internet.

 

[ChromeDome]

Along the way, Garmin-Navionics has optimized its business case a couple of times.

Increased pricing, and decreased coverage.
They do admittedly have to pay for chart rights in some places but at the end of the day, customers look at the value. And the competition.

 

[Quiddle]

You didn't buy the app. The app is(was?) free to download. The license was to subscribe to the chart service etc.

I always thought this would happen, was not expecting it just yet though.
There are some things I really dislike about Navionics, so I will probably try a different app next year.

I assume google will try to update copies of the existing app to the new version? I have it on a couple of devices which don't see the internet.

I did buy the apps. Prior to Boating I bought UK and Holland and Western Europe for, IIRC £12 and £28 respectively. The only free option was a 1 week trial. They ran as seperate entities and the price included the app and the charts. I was forced to change to Boating but my original charts are still in use.

 

[B27]

I did buy the apps. Prior to Boating I bought UK and Holland and Western Europe for, IIRC £12 and £28 respectively. The only free option was a 1 week trial. They ran as seperate entities and the price included the app and the charts. I was forced to change to Boating but my original charts are still in use.

The system for the past few years has been:
The app is free to download.
The charts (actually the subscription service which gives you the facility to download them) are an in-app purchase. For a one-year licence.

App developers are not completely incompetent, they know what they are giving away and what they are selling.

You may have bought a licence for some previous version, which is now unsupported. But that's like me moaning my Microsoft Word licence from 1998 isn't giving me a lifetime's service after two changes of PC and three changes of operating system.
You buy software, there is never a commitment to support it for ever.

It could be you are talking about a different product from the 'Boating' most of us have downloaded over the past few years?
Maybe you've got the equivalent of an old Word licence and the rest of us are on Office 365 or whatever?

There are some legacy programs I still use from last century!

 

[Devon Boy]

You didn't buy the app. The app is(was?) free to download. The license was to subscribe to the chart service etc.

I always thought this would happen, was not expecting it just yet though.
There are some things I really dislike about Navionics, so I will probably try a different app next year.

I assume google will try to update copies of the existing app to the new version? I have it on a couple of devices which don't see the internet.

OPENCPN might be a good shout for you

 

[lustyd]

I did buy the apps. Prior to Boating I bought UK and Holland and Western Europe for, IIRC £12 and £28 respectively. The only free option was a 1 week trial. They ran as seperate entities and the price included the app and the charts. I was forced to change to Boating but my original charts are still in use.

That was the reason the app changed. You're quite free to use the original app and charts you paid for on a permanent basis, but they are no longer updated and do not support new iPhones or iPads so you'll have to keep your old device too. The new one is a free app but you have to subscribe to the service to download new or updated sections of chart, but it's a different app so no change in contract.

 

[ProDave]

OPENCPN might be a good shout for you

I use that and I bought into it on the "deal" that the app was free and the charts were a one off purchase, updated for a year but still free to use forever after that. I will be a bit peed off if that changes and my free to continue using charts stop working in the future.

 

[B27]

When you pay for charts such for OpenCPN, are they in a format which is common to any alternative apps?
Can one buy a set of charts and use them in two different apps?

 

[st599]

When you pay for charts such for OpenCPN, are they in a format which is common to any alternative apps?
Can one buy a set of charts and use them in two different apps?

The desktop OpenCPN uses an industry standard format (which US charts are made freely available in). Presumably the Android ones does something similar.

 

[dunedin]

The desktop OpenCPN uses an industry standard format (which US charts are made freely available in). Presumably the Android ones does something similar.

Is that the S57 standard, or the encrypted version S63?

The issue might be that whilst an industry standard for official Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs), as used for commercial ship charts, I don’t know if many leisure craft chart app developers use this standard.
I don’t believe Navionics vector charts are stored in this format (though not entirely certain).

And of course raster charts, such as I believe used by VisitMyHarbour, Memory Map etc can’t be in S57 format, by definition, as it is a vector chart standard.

 

[B27]

I need a neutral beginners guide to all this, I am confused by the overlap between chart package sellers, software sellers, and all that.
To confuse things further I have an interest in land maps too, and I'm Android-trans-IOS, but I'm writing this on a Pi.

I'm guessing the Garmin BlueChart CD ROMs can go in the bin now?
I inherited these in a box of junk.

 

[lustyd]

I'm guessing the Garmin BlueChart CD ROMs can go in the bin now?

I'd probably sell them. They may be out of date but might be useful to someone for a handheld or watch as a backup

 

[B27]

I'd probably sell them. They may be out of date but might be useful to someone for a handheld or watch as a backup

I do have a handheld to go with them, a GPSV? or it could be IV or VI. It works but gets the year wrong.
Not sure a 2 inch square mono LCD screen will cut the mustard after an Ipad, But it is waterproof and sunlight viewable.

I need to become a net exporter on ebay.

 

[st599]

Is that the S57 standard, or the encrypted version S63?

The issue might be that whilst an industry standard for official Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs), as used for commercial ship charts, I don’t know if many leisure craft chart app developers use this standard.
I don’t believe Navionics vector charts are stored in this format (though not entirely certain).

And of course raster charts, such as I believe used by VisitMyHarbour, Memory Map etc can’t be in S57 format, by definition, as it is a vector chart standard.

OpenCPN desktop version lists BSB 1, 2 and 3, Fugawi, Nos/Geo1, S57 ENC, Inland ENC, S63 ENC, CM93 v2 + geo-referenced raster images as internally supported, then there are plugins for O-Charts, NVCharts, BSB 4.

VisitMyHarbour seems to have a set of charts for Windows installs, or a full set for qtVLM on any platform: Download 2023 Cross Platform qtVlm Charts : by VisitMyHarbour [qtVlm- the new Nav, Weather and Simulator program] - VisitMyHarbour articles