SeaMemo
The best sailing logbook apps in 2026
If you want to record your trips, log your sea miles and keep the memories from every passage, you need a sailing logbook app – not a chart plotter. Here's what separates a great one from the rest, and how to pick the app that actually fits how you sail.
Logbook app vs. navigation app – which do you actually need?
Search for a "sailing app" and you'll mostly find navigation apps – Navionics, savvy navvy, marine chart plotters. They're brilliant for charts, routes and tides while you're underway. But they're not built to be your logbook: the running record of where you've been, how far you sailed, who was on board and what happened along the way.
A sailing logbook app is a different tool. It quietly records each trip, adds up your sea miles and hours, keeps your photos and notes per leg, and gives you something to look back on – and something to lean on when you need to prove your experience for a licence or an exam. Many sailors run both: a plotter for navigating, a logbook app for remembering and documenting.
Quick rule of thumb: if you're asking "which way do I go?", you want a navigation app. If you're asking "where have I been, how far, and with whom?", you want a logbook app. This guide is about the second kind.
What makes a great sailing logbook app
Not every logbook app is worth your storage. After a season, the ones that stick share the same handful of traits:
- Automatic GPS tracking that works offline. Out at sea there's often no signal. The app has to record your route, distance and speed on GPS alone and sync later – not lose the passage because you dropped off the network.
- Legs and routes, not just a total. Good apps break a trip into legs (harbour to harbour) with distance, duration and the track on a chart – so your logbook reads like a story, not a spreadsheet.
- Sea miles and sea time that add up automatically. Your total nautical miles, hours at sea, night hours and days as skipper should accumulate on their own. That's the data you'll need for RYA, ICC or national licences.
- Crew sharing. One trip, shared with everyone on board – so the miles and memories land in each person's own logbook instead of a chaotic group chat.
- Photos, journal and weather per leg. A logbook you enjoy re-reading is a logbook you'll actually keep.
- Export and proof. A clean PDF you can hand to an examiner, a charter company or a licensing authority.
- Light on the battery, easy with wet fingers. A passage is long; the interface has to survive both.
- Sail and motor. If it separates sailing from motoring hours, your stats stay honest for whichever licence you're chasing.
SeaMemo – the logbook that writes itself
SeaMemo is built around exactly that checklist. You start tracking when you cast off, and it records the route, distance, speed and duration automatically – in the background, offline, with a dedicated mode for sailing and motoring. Each leg gets its photos, journal, weather and crew; each trip becomes a shared story every crew member keeps in their own profile.
Your sailor profile adds it all up on its own: total nautical miles, hours at sea, night miles, days as skipper versus crew, and a personal Sea Map of every route you've ever sailed. When you're building experience for an exam, that's precisely the record you want to be able to show.
And if you sail towards a German (SKS, SSS) or Austrian (FB1–FB4) licence, SeaMemo goes one step further and fills the official sea-miles certificate for you – see how to log sea miles for RYA Yachtmaster & Day Skipper for the UK picture, where your logbook itself is the proof.
Your logbook, written for you
SeaMemo is free on iOS and Android: automatic GPS tracking, crew memories and sea-mile stats that add up on their own.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free sailing logbook app?
Yes. SeaMemo is currently free on iOS and Android, including automatic GPS tracking, crew sharing and your sea-mile statistics. Early users lock in a lifetime price or discount when premium features launch.
Do sailing logbook apps work offline?
A good one does. SeaMemo records your route on GPS alone – no mobile signal needed – and syncs everything the moment you're back in range, so an offshore passage is never lost.
What's the difference between a logbook app and a navigation app?
A navigation app (like a chart plotter) helps you decide where to go right now. A logbook app records where you've been – distance, sea time, crew, photos – and produces the record you keep and, when needed, prove. Many sailors use both.
Can my whole crew share one logbook?
In SeaMemo, yes. You invite the crew to the trip with a link; everyone contributes photos and entries, and each person keeps the shared miles and memories in their own profile.