FAQ
The questions we get asked
What the comfort score is worth, where the numbers behind it come from, and what a plan costs. If your question is not here, write to us and it will be.
The product
What it does, and what it doesn’t
The honest edges of the app, before you spend an evening finding them yourself.
Does it work for sailboats?
Not yet, honestly. The comfort model is built around planing and semi-planing motorboats, so there are no polars, no wind-based routing and no heel comfort. Sailing features are on the roadmap, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong app.
Does this replace Navionics or my official charts?
No. Bonasea is a planning and decision-support aid. Keep your official charts and publications on board, and keep using your own judgement. The map is a planning aid, not an official nautical chart.
How the chart is builtCan I switch to knots and feet?
Yes. Speed in knots, km/h or mph, distance in nautical miles or kilometres, depth in feet or metres, fuel in gallons or litres, temperature in °F or °C.
Does it work offline?
Partly. The app shell and the map tiles you have already looked at stay available, so navigation keeps working in an area you have loaded. The offline map packs, which come with Charter and Pro, put a whole region on the phone before you go. New forecasts still need a connection.
What languages is the app in?
English and Slovak today, with German, Italian, Croatian and Czech next, then Greek, Turkish, French and Spanish.
Which devices does it run on?
Nothing runs yet: Bonasea is not released, in a browser or in either store, and that is what the App Store and Google Play buttons on this site mean by available soon. When it lands it will be a web app — any phone, tablet or computer with a browser, and you can add it to your home screen so it opens full screen, like an installed app.
Data and accuracy
Charts, depths and accuracy
Where every number on the screen comes from, and how far to trust it.
Where do the depths come from, and how accurate are they?
From open hydrographic models: EMODnet in Europe, NOAA in the United States, AusSeabed in Australia, LINZ in New Zealand, and GEBCO everywhere else. They are modelled averages, not a survey of your bay, and the coverage page lists the source for every region. Always trust your echo sounder over the app.
What is covered whereIs the detailed chart there where I go?
Yes. Depth bands, contours and soundings, seamarks with their light characters, terrain and the places around every bay are on the chart wherever your boat meets the sea, and so are comfort scores, weather and navigation.
Browse the regionsDoes it handle tides?
In the regions where tides matter, yes: the tide height at your arrival time, and the depth in the anchorage corrected for it. Tidal currents are on the roadmap.
What is covered whereWhere is my data stored?
On our own servers in the European Union, with daily backups. Your GPS position is sent to the server only while you are navigating, so the conditions at your position can be computed, and no position history is kept on the server. This applies wherever you are, including outside the EU.
A port or anchorage is missing. Can you add it?
Yes, write to us. Most place data comes from OpenStreetMap, so a fix there reaches everyone; in the priority regions we make curated additions ourselves.
Write to usAccount and billing
Plans, sign-in and your account
What the trial covers, what the two paid plans cost, and why there is nothing to cancel.
Is there a free version?
There is a free trial: three days, with everything unlocked except the offline map packs, and an account rather than a card to start it. After that the plans are Charter at €9.90 for seven days and Pro at €39.90 for a year. There is no permanent free tier.
What the three plans costIs there anything to cancel?
No. None of the three plans renews. The three days, the seven days and the year are fixed lengths of time, and when one runs out Bonasea stops — there is no subscription running in the background.
What the three plans costHow does signing in without a password work?
Enter your e-mail, get a code, type it in. The code is valid for 10 minutes. You can also use Google, Apple or a password, and link several of them to the same account.
Can I have more than one boat?
Yes, on every plan — boats and saved routes are not rationed by what you paid. One boat is active at a time, and everything is computed for the active boat.
Find your day on the water.
Set your boat up once, and every route you care about gets a ten-day answer.
Three days free when it lands. No card to start.