Change to Navionics Subscription Model ?

[wonkywinch]

On the topic of charts, I download areas from Openseamap and convert them to Garmin format for my handheld GPS. Also use it for walking so just switch the map over.

There is a free converter at BBBike but the results are so useful, I make donations via occasional use of their Paypal link.

BBBike extracts OpenStreetMap (OSM, Garmin, Shapefile etc.)

 

[Kerenza]

For non qtvlm users, you may be interested in their ukho vector charts, and license, found here:
Meltemus Charts

 

[dunedin]

For non qtvlm users, you may be interested in their ukho vector charts, and license, found here:
Meltemus Charts

Hadn’t been aware of them before - but their website states “Meltemus charts packs are useable only with qtVlm”.
So doesn’t sound much use for a “non qtVlm users”?

As an aside, the SHOM charts are updated weekly. But the UKHO derived ones only quarterly - which I think is a UKHO constraint. They seem a bit behind the times.

 

[Kerenza]

Yes, shom charts are brill. I have them, along with ukho and the old cm93. Combined with Google earth its the nearest thing to expedition, and sometimes better

 

[Frank Holden]

My go-to chart app is now i-Sailor.
There was a bit of a fuss a few years back when they were sold to Wartsilla. It had been a case of buy the charts and get a free annual correction service. Wartsilla changed that to an annual fee for the corrections.
You can still just buy the charts and they are yours to keep, the correction service is optional.

I don't bother with the corrections as little changes on the Chilean coast the cost is not warranted . North Sea and English Channel? I think I would pay for the updates.
Chile was US$10 to buy, US$10 a year if you want the updates.
Other prices vary, English Channel - London to the Scilly Islands US$40 f'rinstance.

 

[[3889]]

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!

I thought I'd made clear that I didn't buy Navionics in the last few years. Did you read my post refuting your assertion that I didn't buy the app before replying to it?
As to whether most people have bought Boating, I have no means of knowing, as I suspect neither do you. Nor does it have any relevance.

 

[[3889]]

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.

I use Android and my original charts run perfectly well on my Galaxy S 20. I have the free Boating app but use my original charts with it and have never agreed to a change of terms to my original contract, simply uploaded Boating when instructed to do so to continue using my charts.
Regarding updates, I was berthed on a pontoon installed in 2013. It appeared in Navionics in 2021. Other than that, rocks don't move, sandbanks move quicker than updates.

 

[lustyd]

I use Android and my original charts run perfectly well on my Galaxy S 20. I have the free Boating app but use my original charts with it and have never agreed to a change of terms to my original contract, simply uploaded Boating when instructed to do so to continue using my charts.
Regarding updates, I was berthed on a pontoon installed in 2013. It appeared in Navionics in 2021. Other than that, rocks don't move, sandbanks move quicker than updates.

Android probably works differently. There’s no way for me to download the old app or charts onto a new iPhone but I can still use on an old phone. I imagine on Android you could copy the files if you had to but the play store is less restrictive too

 

[B27]

I thought I'd made clear that I didn't buy Navionics in the last few years. Did you read my post refuting your assertion that I didn't buy the app before replying to it?
As to whether most people have bought Boating, I have no means of knowing, as I suspect neither do you. Nor does it have any relevance.

Whether people have 'bought' 'boating' is extremely relevant in terms of their consumer rights I think.

A lot of software vendors prefer the model of selling a time-limited support service and avoiding and liability to support previous customers.

 

[HenrikH]

Where to go? I have B&G instruments, so C-map is the natural option for changing charts on the plotter. But is there an option to Garmin-Navionics to download maps onto Ipad?

 

[Sandydog2]

I thought I'd made clear that I didn't buy Navionics in the last few years. Did you read my post refuting your assertion that I didn't buy the app before replying to it?
As to whether most people have bought Boating, I have no means of knowing, as I suspect neither do you. Nor does it have any relevance.

I'm in the same position as you with the same 2 original purchases. I had to contact customer services about it a few years ago as I had a new device. They agreed to honour the original terms and conditions and did something to my account so that I could download charts to the new device.

It worked perfectly until last Friday. Today it offered me a 15 day free trial, then said that has expired. Now all my downloaded charts have gone. I can no longer replace them. It would seem from the amount of data stored by the app that the charts are still there but no longer showing. They have disappeared on android and iPhone. The only device still working is an ancient ipad running an old version of the app.

 

[GunfleetSand]

Hmm with this I’ve just tried opening the Boating app on iPhone.

No access to app until you tick the accept option. My iPhone set to auto update so must have updated 4 days ago

T’s & C’s here

Something really off about this that doesn’t sit well. I use Navionics a lot for fishing, good for contours, wrecks and so on. I’ll be looking at other options for sure.

 

[lustyd]

No access to app until you tick the accept option. My iPhone set to auto update so must have updated 4 days ago

This is illegal in the EU, and I assume still the UK. Unfortunately the Apple app store auto updates meaning you can't easily not upgrade, but this means that the Ts&Cs and Privacy policy become an unfair contract since you can't decline and still use the app you paid for.
I had a bit of a "discussion" with Sonos a while ago for pulling a similar stunt and after a couple of articles in global tech news they changed their mind (this is one of the reasons why there are now two apps for Sonos). In that case their new privacy policy gave them the right to record and permanently store audio from my house, so I declined, but in declining it meant none of my speakers would ever work again!

 

[Sandydog2]

On both android and iPhone I get the message "Your subscription to UK, Ireland and Holland has expired" I then get the option to subscribe now or click 'not now'. Last time this happened they told me to click 'not now', after they had made some changes. My old expired purchases still show in the app as they have for years, but my downloaded charts have gone and can't be replaced.

We actually downloaded a bit of chart on the iPhone last Friday. No issue then. But that was done just by zooming in on the chart. This has changed to a menu option. Strangely on the ancient ipad which still has its downloaded charts and is running a very old app version (14.6) I can still download charts but only by the new method.

 

[SC35]

My downloaded charts are still there, but I can't download any additional areas.

 

[Sandydog2]

They replied to my enquiry today. Useless reply telling me what they had done. I'd already told them that ! They will not honour the old subscriptions.

They did comment that the downloadable chart up to last week was the 2020 version.

They did not reply to why my downloaded charts had gone. I suggest anyone that still has them is careful not to log out.

 

[NDG]

Apologies for replying to an old thread.

I have the Navionics UK and Ireland subscription on my iPad. Last year I went on a charter to Croatia so I paid for the Adriatic subscription. The two now appear as separate subscription packages under the menu on the boating app. I want to cancel the Adriatic one to avoid having to pay for it when it ‘auto-renews’ in May this year, but I can’t see how to do it. The Garmin website tells me to click on the subscription and then click ‘manage subscriptions’ then ‘cancel subscription’ but this option is nowhere to be seen.

Has anyone else had this issue, and managed to find out how to do it?

 

[Irish Rover]

Apologies for replying to an old thread.

I have the Navionics UK and Ireland subscription on my iPad. Last year I went on a charter to Croatia so I paid for the Adriatic subscription. The two now appear as separate subscription packages under the menu on the boating app. I want to cancel the Adriatic one to avoid having to pay for it when it ‘auto-renews’ in May this year, but I can’t see how to do it. The Garmin website tells me to click on the subscription and then click ‘manage subscriptions’ then ‘cancel subscription’ but this option is nowhere to be seen.

Has anyone else had this issue, and managed to find out how to do it?

When I click on a particular subscription I see this

 

[Irish Rover]

I had previously cancelled the auto renew on this through the Manage Your Subscription link

 

[Laser310]

My go-to chart app is now i-Sailor.

looks like some pretty unhappy users there too:

"What’s new in Wärtsilä iSailor
In this latest release, we are introducing a new annual subscription service..."

recent reviews here:
Wärtsilä iSailor

edit - i now see that those are older reviews and this subscription model is not new.

have they not had a new version since 2018?