Help & Support

Contact us

Email aron@boatbase.app

We usually reply within a couple of days. To help us help you, please include your device model, iOS version, and what you were doing when the problem happened.

Getting started

• Tap Drop Anchor as your anchor hits the water, then back down on the rode as usual.
• Set your swing radius to cover where the boat can lie, plus a margin.
• Tap Set Anchor to arm. AnchorBase settles on a stable GPS baseline, then keeps watch.

Make sure the alarm can reach you

This is the most important setup step. For the alarm to wake you, AnchorBase needs:

• Location set to "Always" (Settings > AnchorBase > Location) so the watch keeps running in the background with the screen off.
• Notifications allowed, including Critical Alerts if prompted. Critical Alerts let the alarm sound even when your phone is on Silent or in Do Not Disturb / Focus.
• A sensible ringer/volume level, and the phone kept charged for overnight watches.

The alarm didn't sound, or sounded for no reason

AnchorBase deliberately settles on a stable GPS baseline before it starts watching, and weighs distance, speed, and bearing together so normal GPS wander, tide, and swinging on the rode do not trip a false alarm. A separate check also catches slow dragging that builds over many minutes.

If the alarm did not sound when it should have, the usual cause is one of the permissions above (Location not on "Always", notifications or Critical Alerts disabled, or the phone powered off). If you believe it misjudged a real drag, please email us the date and roughly where you were anchored so we can review it.

It says I'm a few metres from the anchor while I'm sitting still

Consumer GPS naturally wanders by several metres, and your boat lies back from the anchor on its rode, so a small reading is normal and expected. AnchorBase accounts for this and will not alarm on it. In weak signal it arms with a widened safety margin rather than refusing, so you are never left unprotected.

Guest mode and accounts

You can start an anchor watch without an account. Creating an account later keeps your boat and watch history. Guest data lives only on that device and is lost if you delete the app before creating an account.

Sharing a live watch

While armed, you can share a live link so crew or friends ashore can follow your position in real time. You can revoke the link at any time; sharing stops automatically when you disarm.

Your data

You can export all your data or permanently delete your account from Settings > Your profile in the app. See our Privacy Policy for what we collect and why.

A note on safety

AnchorBase is a tool to help you keep watch. It does not replace good seamanship, appropriate ground tackle, a proper anchor watch in severe conditions, or your own judgement. Always monitor changing weather.