Getting started
Your first session, from download to first track.
Is Hydrove free?
Yes. Checking conditions, tracking sessions and browsing verified spots are free, with no account needed to view the forecast for a spot. Hydrove Pro adds offline map downloads, unlimited saved spots, custom safety thresholds and full session export.
Which devices does Hydrove work on?
iPhone on iOS 16 and later, including an Apple Watch companion for starting and stopping a session, and Android phones on Android 10 and later. Tablet layouts run in phone compatibility mode for now.
How do I record my first session?
Open Track, choose your discipline (SUP, kayak, wave or other), wait for the GPS lock indicator to turn solid, then tap Start. Lock your phone and put it somewhere dry — tracking continues with the screen off. Tap Finish when you are back on land.
Can I change units — metres, feet, knots?
Yes, in Profile → Settings → Units. Distance, wind speed, swell height, water temperature and time format are each set independently, so you can keep knots for wind and metres for swell.
Account & login
Sign-in, email changes, and moving your data to a new phone.
What sign-in options are there?
Apple, Google, or an email address with a one-time code. There is no password to forget. If you first used Apple with Hide My Email, keep using that same option — the private relay address is what your data is tied to.
How do I change my email address?
Profile → Account → Email. We send a confirmation code to the new address; your sessions, spots and subscription move with the account automatically.
I got a new phone — how do I get my sessions back?
Sign in with the same method you used before and your sessions, saved spots and achievements sync down from your account. Offline map packs are stored on the device, so download those again on the new phone.
How do I delete my account?
Profile → Account → Delete account. This permanently removes your sessions, saved spots, event RSVPs and profile within 30 days. Spot contributions you have made stay on the map but are unlinked from your name.
Subscriptions & billing
Hydrove Pro, trials, receipts and refunds.
What do I get with Hydrove Pro?
Offline map downloads, unlimited saved spots and alerts, custom safety thresholds per discipline, extended forecast range, full session history filters and GPX export.
How do I cancel or change my plan?
Subscriptions are billed by Apple or Google, so manage them there: on iOS, Settings → your name → Subscriptions; on Android, Play Store → Payments and subscriptions. Pro features stay active until the end of the period you have paid for.
Can I get a refund?
Refunds are handled by the store that took the payment. Apple: reportaproblem.apple.com. Google: Play Store → Order history → Request a refund. If a store declines a refund you believe is fair, email us and we will advocate for it.
I paid but Pro is not showing
Profile → Account → Restore purchases, using the same store account that paid. If it still does not appear, send us the store receipt and we will attach Pro to your account manually.
Does Pro work across my devices?
Yes, on any device signed in to the same Hydrove account and the same app store account. Family Sharing is supported on iOS.
Tracking a session
GPS accuracy, background recording, editing and exporting sessions.
Does tracking keep running with the screen off?
Yes. Hydrove records in the background using significant-power-saving GPS. On Android, exclude Hydrove from battery optimisation (Settings → Apps → Hydrove → Battery → Unrestricted) or the system may suspend recording mid-session.
My route looks jagged or the distance is wrong
GPS accuracy drops when the phone is under a wet buoyancy aid, in a deck bag against your body, or in heavy rain. Keep it high on your body or in a dry bag on the deck. You can also re-smooth a finished session with Session → Edit → Recalculate route.
I forgot to stop the session
Open the session, tap Edit → Trim, and drag the end point back to when you actually landed. Distance, duration and pace recalculate. You can trim the start the same way.
Can I add a session I did not track?
Yes — Track → Add manually. Enter discipline, spot, date, duration and distance. Manual sessions count towards totals and achievements but are marked as manual in your history.
How do I export a session as GPX?
Open the session → the share icon → Export GPX. Pro accounts can also export a whole date range from Profile → Data → Export sessions.
Live conditions & safety
Where the forecast comes from, how alerts work, and what they do not do.
Where does the tide and weather data come from?
Tide predictions come from national hydrographic harmonic data, marine forecasts from global and regional weather models, and inshore sea state from marine model output plus nearby buoys where available. The source and last update time is shown at the bottom of every spot detail screen.
How accurate is the forecast for a small cove?
Model resolution is coarser than a cove. Treat the forecast as the conditions for that stretch of coast, not for one exact metre of shoreline — local wind bends around headlands and tidal streams accelerate through narrows in ways no model fully captures.
How do I set up condition alerts?
Save a spot, then tap Alerts on it. Set thresholds for wind, gust, swell height, tide state and water temperature, and choose whether you want a good-conditions alert, a warning alert, or both. Pro accounts can set different thresholds per discipline.
What does the offshore wind warning mean?
It means the wind is blowing from the land out to sea at your spot, which makes it easy to be carried away from shore and hard to get back — the single most common cause of paddleboard rescues. Hydrove flags it whenever the wind direction is within 45° of directly offshore.
Can I rely on Hydrove to decide if it is safe?
No. Hydrove gives you better information, not a safety decision. Conditions change faster than any forecast, and only you can judge your own kit, skill and group. Always tell someone your plan, carry a means of calling for help, and if in doubt do not launch.
Spots, maps & offline use
Verified spots, contributing your own, and paddling with no signal.
What does a verified spot mean?
A paddler submitted it, and we checked the launch point against charts and access rules and cross-referenced it with at least one other local contributor before publishing. Unverified submissions stay private to their author until that check is done.
How do I add a spot or route?
Map → the plus button → Add spot. Drop the pin on the actual water access point, add parking, difficulty, hazards and the disciplines it suits, and a photo if you have one. Review usually takes a few days.
A spot has wrong or unsafe information
Open the spot → Suggest an edit, and tell us what has changed. Access rights, private slipways and seasonal restrictions change often, and reports about hazards or access are prioritised the same day.
How do offline maps work?
Map → Download area, then pinch to cover the stretch of coast you want. Packs include map tiles, verified spots and the tide table, and they last until you delete them. Live wind and swell need a connection, so check conditions before you lose signal.
Can I keep a spot to myself?
Yes. When you add a spot, set visibility to Private and it stays visible only to you. Nothing you mark private is ever shown on the public map.
Community & events
Meetups, clubs, RSVPs and posting your own paddle.
How do I find events near me?
Events shows club paddles, meetups, race days and beach cleans within your chosen radius, each with the forecast for the day attached. Filter by discipline or by beginner-friendly.
Can I post my own paddle or club session?
Yes. Events → Create, then choose whether it is open to anyone or invite-only. Clubs can request a verified organiser badge by emailing us from a club address.
What happens if an event is cancelled for weather?
The organiser can cancel or reschedule from the event page and everyone who RSVP’d is notified straight away. You will also get a heads-up if conditions on the day breach the thresholds the organiser set.
How do I report a person or a post?
Tap the overflow menu on any profile, event or spot comment and choose Report. We review reports ourselves, usually within a day, and we remove anything that pressures people into unsafe conditions.
Troubleshooting
When something is not behaving — start here.
The app cannot get a GPS fix
Check location permission is set to Always (iOS: Settings → Hydrove → Location; Android: Settings → Apps → Hydrove → Permissions), turn on Precise location, then step outside away from buildings for about thirty seconds. Airplane mode and battery saver both block location on some Android skins.
I am not getting condition alerts
Three things to check: notifications are allowed for Hydrove in system settings, the spot has alerts switched on with thresholds that your conditions actually cross, and background app refresh is enabled. On Android, also set battery usage for Hydrove to Unrestricted.
A session is missing after a paddle
Sessions record locally first and sync when you have signal — pull down to refresh on the Sessions list while connected. If it is still missing, do not reinstall the app: email us first, because the local recording can usually be recovered from the device.
Tracking drains my battery fast
Keep the screen off during the session, use the Apple Watch companion for start and stop instead of waking the phone, and download the map area beforehand so the app is not fetching tiles over a weak mobile signal.
The app crashes or freezes
Update to the latest version, then restart the phone. If it continues, send us the app version from Profile → About, your phone model and OS version, and roughly what you were doing — that is usually enough for us to reproduce it.
Privacy & data
What we collect, who can see your tracks, and how to get your data out.
Are my sessions public?
No. New sessions are private by default. You choose per session whether to share it, and sharing shows the route and stats but never your home location — start and end points are trimmed by a privacy radius you set in Profile → Privacy.
What location data do you keep?
The GPS track of sessions you record, and the spots you save, held against your account so they sync across devices. We do not track your location when you are not recording a session, and we do not sell location data to anyone.
Can I get a copy of all my data?
Yes — Profile → Data → Request my data. We email a machine-readable archive of your sessions, spots, contributions and profile, usually within a couple of days.