ActiveCaptain‪®‬ 4+

Connect to Your GPS Plotter

Garmin

    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Screenshots

Description

The free ActiveCaptain app creates a powerful connection between your compatible mobile device and Garmin chartplotter, charts, maps and the boating community. Whether you use your Garmin products for cruising, fishing, sailing or diving, this all-in-one app will help you enjoy your time on the water.

Just pair the app with your compatible chartplotter to wirelessly transfer and access charts and maps, software updates, routes, waypoints and helpful feedback from the ActiveCaptain Community. And, with the purchase of the OnDeck™ hub(1), you can track and monitor your boat from virtually anywhere.

Please note that this app is intended for Garmin chartplotter owners and is not recommended for use as a stand-alone navigational app.

FEATURES AVAILABLE:
- ONECHART™:
> New Garmin Navionics+™ and premium Garmin Navionics Vision+™ cartography, featuring a Navionics® style appearance, advanced Auto Guidance+™ technology(2) and a one-year subscription to daily updates, is available now for North America and Europe, and coming soon to the rest of the world.

Purchase our newest-generation charts or legacy BlueChart® g3 charts from your mobile device, and upload them to registered Garmin chartplotters on your vessel.

You will get exceptional coverage, clarity and detail with charts that feature integrated Garmin and Navionics data and much more. Plus, the NOAA raster cartography(3) and premium features can be downloaded for free through the ActiveCaptain app. Visit Garmin.com/marinemaps.


- PLAN A TRIP: Plan your trip, or e-scout a new fishing spot before you’re on the water. Then, transfer your data to your chartplotter where you can view your routes and waypoints.

- USER DATA SYNC: Automatically back up and sync your data between your chartplotter and the ActiveCaptain app.

- ACTIVECAPTAIN COMMUNITY: Join a community of boaters to get up-to-date feedback on marinas, boat ramps and other points of interest (POI). Check ratings, read reviews, and view pictures of POIs to make informed decisions on the water. Contribute your own POI, reviews and pictures from your compatible mobile device.

- CONTROL YOUR CHARTPLOTTER: Using the built-in Helm™ feature, the ActiveCaptain app lets you view and control your compatible(4) chartplotter from your smartphone or tablet, even when someone else is at the helm(5).

- EASY SOFTWARE UPDATES: Receive notifications about software updates from the app, and update your chartplotter wirelessly.

- ONDECK HUB: Use the ActiveCaptain app to track, monitor and control any number of switches with the OnDeck system(1) from nearly anywhere. Door open? Bilge running? Peace of mind comes in the form of text alerts and updates.

- GARMIN QUICKDRAWTM COMMUNITY: Download the latest 1’ HD contour maps shared by your fellow boaters, and sync with your chartplotter. You can also upload your own Quickdraw Contours map data.

- SMART NOTIFICATIONS: Connect the app to your chartplotter, and turn on smart notifications(4) to see calls, text messages and more on the chartplotter display while your phone is somewhere safe and dry.


FOOTNOTES
1)OnDeck hub sold separately and requires an active subscription plan
2)Auto Guidance+ is for planning purposes only and does not replace safe navigation operations
3)NOAA raster cartography cannot be viewed on echoMAP™ CHIRP and ECHOMAP™ Plus combos but can be viewed on mobile devices via the ActiveCaptain mobile app
4)Helm feature is not compatible with ECHOMAP series chartplotters
5)Check device compatibility on the ActiveCaptain app web page; visit https://www.garmin.com/c/marine/marine-apps/

End User License Agreement: https://www.garmin.com/en-US/legal/marine-mobile-eula/

What’s New

Version 34.0

- Updated UI
- Bugfixes and performance improvements

Ratings and Reviews

3.9 out of 5
2.8K Ratings

2.8K Ratings

Em Anni ,

Pretty good but needs work

I love that I can mirror the plotter to my phone and tablet. However, getting there took time with support. You must disable cellular data in order for Helm to show the video feed. You can still press buttons and the thumbnail will reflect that, but no video. There are in app settings and phone settings so it can be seamless.

This app helps when we are cozy down below and need to get some info about what’s going on up top and around us. While we are not using it to its full potential, the bells and whistles we have are pretty great.

3 stars due to the cellular issues and cannot pinch to zoom on Helm. A few other minor frustrations. Can’t wait until any tablet can be used as a full replacement for a plotter and all instrumentation is available wirelessly. Still, hands on analog data is still pretty hard to beat. If you wanna impress the hotties, this app will do it. If you wanna impress your fishing buddies, this app will do it. Be prepared for jeers from the fuddyduddy and boomer crowd.

DC_COLLINS ,

Active Captain application

I decided to drop some money on a new Garmin 93SV this past Christmas to start my fishing season for 2023.
Lucky for me, I have a fishing friend who had previously purchased a Garmin 93SV and is a deep researcher on everything in the fishing equipment arena. When the Active Captain application became one of our conversation pieces, I liked what I heard and saw with this app and I made a decision to buy my own Garmin 93SV and learn more about this Active Captain app.
The thing that I loved out of the gate with the Active Captain application was knowing when/if there were any updates for my Garmin 93SV. If so, it just walked me through it step by step. Another thing great about this application is that I can add others devices and monitor them for updates as well.
Overall, I am excited about my Garmin purchase and having and having the Active Captain application that does exactly what it says it can do is a plus (+) on my purchase. Another thing I love about the Active Captain app is that it walks you through the initial setup on the Garmin fish finder and if there’s anything I do not understand, there’s a place on one of its tabs where I can contact a Customer Service Support representative to call and help me with the setup or other questions I may need help with.
Not often do I give a review this early in a purchase, but this one is the exception to my rule.

Centaur714 ,

Very Buggy and slow

When transferring charts via the app it can take a very long time depending on the amount of data to be transferred. I have about 22 Gigs of charts and most time it hangs up and fails to transfer, or if it does it hangs validating. Either way you are looking at a full day when it does manage to work. The QuickDraw community almost always hangs up transferring. The app is very slow moving from step to step of transferring information. For example it will transfer the Active Captain data and when finished it can take another 30 minutes to begin the transfer of the one chart files if it doesn’t completely hang in the process. The app sets up both a WiFi connection and a Bluetooth connection to your mobile device which is a private WiFi from your internet WiFi if network if you have one so I cannot understand why the transfers are so unreliable and slow.

App Privacy

The developer, Garmin, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

  • Contact Info
  • Identifiers

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

  • Usage Data
  • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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