Tides

What it does

Shows tide times and heights for your location on any date, with a tide chart you can drag across and a 7-day strip for picking a day. Near the coast it uses real NOAA tide station data. Elsewhere it shows a rough estimate.

What you need

• A location, set with the Location picker. Without one, the screen asks you to set it in Settings.
• A network connection. The tide data is loaded live, so this tool does not work offline.
• The estimate is not a device calculation. It also comes from the network request; it is the fallback the app uses when no station is close.

How to use it

1. Set your location.
2. Read the chart card. Above the chart are the station, a headline, and a line about the next high or low.
3. Drag across the chart to read the height at any time of that day. Let go to return to the current reading.
4. Tap a day in the 7-day strip under the chart to switch days.
5. To jump further, pick a date with the date field in Highs and lows. A date outside the strip moves the strip to start on that date. Tap the calendar icon beside the date field to return to today.

Reading the results

• Station: if a NOAA tide station is within 50 miles, the chart card shows the station name and its distance, in your unit setting. Highs and lows also shows the station ID. These are published tide predictions.
• Estimated: if no station is within range, the chart card says Estimated and notes that it is a rough Moon-based estimate, not real tide-table data. Do not rely on it for navigation or safety.
• Today: the headline shows whether the tide is Rising or Falling and its height right now. The line under it names the next high or low, its height and time, and how long until it, falling through to tomorrow's first event if needed.
• Other dates: the headline shows the day's Highest tide and the line under it the Lowest, each with its time.
• While dragging: the line under the headline starts with the time you are on (At and the time), followed by the next high or low after it. The chart's marker shows that time, or Now when you are not dragging.
• 7-day strip: each day shows its weekday (or Today), the date, and that day's highest high (↑) and lowest low (↓).
• Highs and lows: each High and Low for the selected day, with its time and height. On today, tides that have already passed are dimmed. A day with none says No highs or lows this day.
• Heights are in feet (imperial) or meters (metric), following your unit setting.

Live Activity countdown

The Live Activity card counts down to the next high or low tide at your nearest tide station. Under Count down to, choose High, Low, or Next (whichever comes first). It needs a connection to start, and it does not work where there is no tide station near you (the card says so). It is part of Pro and only on iPhone. Tap Start countdown to put it on your Lock Screen, and in the Dynamic Island on iPhones that have one. On the Free plan the button reads Start countdown (Pro) and opens the upgrade screen. Tap Stop countdown to end it. Changing a choice while it runs restarts it with the new choice. It only starts when you tap Start with the app open, replaces any other countdown that is running, and iOS ends it after about 8 hours. Settings, Notifications, Live Activities shows what is running and lets you stop it.

Tips

• An inland location will usually show the estimate, since no station is near.
• If loading fails, the chart card says Couldn't load tide data. Try again shortly.