Swell Signal

Big ships make rideable waves. Swell Signal tells you which ones, where the wave lands, and what time to be standing on the beach. I built it at Three Tree Point in Burien, Washington, after too many afternoons of guessing. A container ship would go by, the water would come alive twenty minutes later, and I was still in the car. So the app watches every large vessel nearby over live AIS, runs real ship wake physics on each one, and puts the answer on your Lock Screen: the boat, how good the wave should be, and the clock time it passes your spot. WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU OPEN IT A dark nautical chart of the Sound with every tracked ship on it, the state ferries and their sailings included. Tap one for its name, size, speed, heading, the wake it is throwing right now, and a 3D view of it. The headline is always a time, like "2:20 PM, in 18 min", because that is what decides whether you grab the board. Nothing coming? It says so, with the tide and wind right there. PICK THE SPOTS YOU RIDE Drop a pin anywhere on the water and Swell Signal forecasts for that exact point: which ships matter, when their wake arrives, and how good it should be. Save up to twelve. Your location is read only if you tap the button, to place a marker you can drag anywhere. TIDE, DONE PROPERLY NOAA tides for the beaches you choose: a curve you can scrub, thirty days of highs and lows, the current and slack water, sun and moon. WIND YOU CAN TRUST Forecast models corrected against what the local buoys recorded, because models under-call wind on the water here. A beginner view with the short answer, an expert view with every model. WIDGETS FOR EVERYTHING Next Boat, Tide, Wind, and a Swell Board that puts all three together, on the Home Screen and the Lock Screen. Glance, do not open. Or turn a spare iPad into a wall display. RATE THE WAVE After a predicted wave passes, the app asks how it was: three sliders, ten seconds. Every rating tunes the model for that spot. SWELL SIGNAL PRO: SHIP ALERTS An optional subscription that sends a push before a ship is predicted to pass a pin you chose. Set how big a wave is worth a buzz and see how many alerts that would have sent you in the last seven days. Pick your lead times, snooze a pin or mute a ship from the notification, set quiet hours (alerts arrive silently) and a daily limit, and find every alert in a history. Alerts fire where ships are tracked: the West Coast from San Diego to Prince Rupert, the Columbia River to Portland, and the Texas Gulf. An alert is a heads-up, not a guarantee: never rely on one for navigation or safety. Three monthly plans, all with the same alerts; Supporter and Patron put more toward the live ship feed. The app shows each plan's price for your region before you subscribe. No free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically each month unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Settings > [your name] > Subscriptions. HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT IS The chart, pins, tide, wind, ferries, widgets, wave ratings and display mode are free and stay free. No ads, no analytics, no tracking. An account is optional (a handle and a password, deletable in Settings any time) and only needed to rate waves or sync pins across devices. Ships are tracked along the West Coast from San Diego to Prince Rupert, up the Columbia River to Portland, and along the Texas Gulf. Want ships where you ride? Tell me in the feedback form. A forecast is not a safety system. Ship wakes come from working vessels in shipping lanes. Keep well clear of traffic, read the water yourself, and treat every prediction as a maybe. Data: NOAA tides and currents, ferry schedules and live vessel traffic; wind from public forecast models and local buoys. Terms of Use: https://swell-signal.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://swell-signal.com/privacy