FishBeacon Help
How to use the map and the app
FishBeacon has two parts: the map, which is the same at fishbeaconusa.com/map and on the app's Map screen, and the app's other screens for your spots, boat and club. You can use the map as a guest. Buttons that need an account stay hidden until you sign in.
Contents
- The map: top bar buttons
- Layers menu
- Tools menu
- History menu
- Search
- Tapping the map
- Trail player
- Saving a fishing spot
- Your account on the map
- The app: Home screen
- Track Me, sharing your location and My Track History
- Engines & Fuel
- Free accounts and subscriptions
- Clubs and fleets
- Account
- Subscription and contact
- Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
The map: top bar buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| ☰ Menu | On phones, opens the menu. It shows how many vessels are on the map and the connection status (a green dot means live), plus 👤 Sign In / Account, My Spots, 🏆 Fishing Contests, Help, your Fishing area (tap it to choose another area), Text size (Normal, Large or Extra large), 🚪 Disconnect and the version number. |
| 🧹 Clear | Turns off every layer and tool (depth, temperature, wind & wave, fishing spots, vessels, history, Track Me, Fleet, chart, measuring and navigation lines). It also empties the search boxes, closes popups and moves the map back to the starting view. |
| ➤ Center on me | Moves the map to your GPS position. Your boat icon is always on the map and turns with your heading. |
| 📌 My spots | Shows or hides your saved spots and your club's shared spots. The map remembers your choice. |
| 📍 Track Me | Asks you to confirm, then starts or stops recording your trip to your Track History. If you're in a club, you can also choose who sees your position while you track: No one, Everyone in my Club / Fleet or Selected boats only. In the app, recording continues with the screen off, and the button flashes while it's recording. See Track Me and sharing your location. |
| ⛵ Fleet | Shows the boats in your club that are using Track Me and sharing their location, with boat name and photo. It refreshes every 15 minutes. If you're not in a club or haven't been approved yet, it tells you. |
| 🗺️ Layers ▾ | Opens the Layers menu. |
| 🧰 Tools ▾ | Opens the Tools menu. |
| 🕓 History | Opens the History menu: vessel history and your own track. |
| 🔍 Search | Opens Search: find a vessel, a spot or a coordinate. |
Layers menu
| Layer | What it shows |
|---|---|
| 🤿 Depth | Depth contour lines every 5 ft from 10 to 1,000 ft. Every 50 ft and 500 ft line is heavier, like a topographic map. |
| 🌡️ Temp | Water temperature. Pick Today, Tomorrow or Day 3. Today shows satellite water temperature colors, a line every 1 °F, and readings from NOAA stations and buoys that you can tap. Tomorrow and Day 3 show forecast shading and lines. A color legend explains the colors. |
| 💨 Wind & Wave | Pick Today, Tomorrow or Day 3, or Turn off. A line runs about 2 miles offshore along the coast of the areas on screen, with wind and wave readings along it and cross-lines going offshore. Each reading gives wave height and period, swell, and wind speed, gusts and direction. |
| 🎣 Fishing & Wrecks | Built-in markers for wrecks ⚓, rocks 🪨, ledges 📊, holes 🕳️, canyons 🏔️, humps ⛰️, coral 🪸, buoys, lights, beacons, towers, wind farms and fishing areas 🎣. Tap one to see its type, distance from shore and charted depth, plus the current water temperature, depth and wind & wave. |
| 🚢 AIS Vessels | Live boats that broadcast AIS, with a list of vessels: a side panel on a computer, folded away on a phone so the map stays visible. Tap a boat, or its row in the list, for details. |
| 🗺️ Chart | Replaces the street map with NOAA's nautical chart. Tap it again to switch back. The chart can load more slowly as you move around. |
Tools menu
While a tool is waiting for you to tap the map, the Tools ▾ button stays highlighted. Pick the tool again to turn it off.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| 📏 Measure 2 Points | Tap two places to see the distance between them. You can also tap spots, buoys or vessels. |
| 📏 Measure from Home Port | Tap anywhere to see how far it is from your home port. |
| 📍 Save Current Spot | Saves a fishing spot at your current GPS position. You need to be signed in. |
| 🗺️ Save a Spot | Tap the map to save a fishing spot at that place. You need to be signed in. |
| 📋 My Spots | A list of your saved spots, sorted by Newest, Oldest or Species. Show on Map jumps to a spot. More Info opens Spot Details, which shows everything saved with the spot, including the conditions at the time. |
History menu
- Show AIS Vessel History: where every vessel has been over the last 3 days, 1 week or 2 weeks. A banner at the top shows what you're looking at. Tap ✕ or 🟢 Live to go back to live boats.
- My Track History: your recorded track for Today, 3 days, 1 week or 30 days, or pick a From and To date and time and tap Show Track.
Search
- Vessel: type a boat name or MMSI number. Results include live boats and boats seen before.
- 🎣 Fishing Spot: type a spot name to find built-in spots and your own spots.
- 🧭 Lat, Lon: type coordinates, for example
40.7128, -74.0060, and tap Go or press Enter. A marker shows the place as you type. Nothing is saved.
Tapping the map
- Open water: shows water temperature, depth, wind & wave, the nearest tides and the coordinates. Each reading appears as soon as it loads. Two buttons:
- 🧭 Navigate Here: draws a green line from your boat to that point, with the compass bearing and distance. Tap it again (it changes to ✕ Cancel Navigation) to remove the line.
- 💾 Save This Spot: opens the Add Fishing Spot form for that place.
- Tide station dot: high and low tide times for the coming days, plus whether the tide is rising or falling right now and its current height.
- Temperature reading (when Temp is on): the water temperature, with the depth and wind & wave at that point.
- A saved spot: the name, species, weight and length, photo, who added it, and whether it's Private or Club. It shows the conditions when it was saved side by side with the conditions now. Buttons: 🧭 Navigate Here, plus ✏️ Edit and 🗑️ Delete on your own spots.
- A vessel: name, MMSI, type, whether it's live or when it was last seen, speed, course, position, call sign and destination. 📍 Show trail draws where it has been.
Trail player
When a vessel's trail or your own track is showing, a player appears at the bottom of the screen:
- ▶️ plays the track point by point.
- 1x changes the playback speed.
- The slider moves through the track and shows the time, speed and course at each point.
- ✕ closes the player.
Saving a fishing spot
The Add Fishing Spot form opens from Save Current Spot, Save a Spot or 💾 Save This Spot.
- Spot Name/Comment
- POI / Species (required): Wreck, Ledge, Canyon, or a species such as Bluefish, Striped Bass, Fluke, Black Sea Bass, Yellowfin or Bluefin Tuna, Mahi Mahi, Shark, Cod, Weakfish, Tautog or Porgy. The species list matches the coast where the spot is. Choose ❓ Unknown if you're not sure, or 🎣 Other to type your own.
- Fish Weight (lbs) and Fish Length (inches), both optional.
- Visibility: 🔒 Private (only you) or 👥 Club / Fleet (members of your club).
- Photo (optional). After you add a photo, 📏 Measure Fish in Photo appears:
- Lay the FishBeacon measuring card flat on the fish, take the photo, then tap the two ends of the card's long edge, then the fish's nose and tail tip. The card is often found automatically, so you may only need the last two taps. 🔍 Touch and hold to magnify, slide to the exact spot, then lift. Drag any point to adjust it.
- ↩️ Undo Point and 🔄 Reset fix mistakes. ✓ Use This Measurement fills in the length.
- No card handy? lets you type the length instead.
- 🏆 Submit this catch to a contest? appears only while one of your club's contests is open. Choose the contest, species, weight and length.
The water and weather conditions at that moment are saved with the spot automatically.
Your account on the map
- Sign In with your username or email. Forgot password? emails you a reset link that works for 1 hour. Create an account if you're new.
- When signed in, the 👤 button shows your account:
- ✏️ Edit Profile: your name, email, boat name and boat photo. Your boat photo is used as your home port marker.
- ⚓ Set / Change Home Port: name the port, then tap 📍 Use My Current GPS Location or 🗺️ Click Map to Set Location, then Save Home Port. Remove Home Port deletes it.
- Sign Out
- 🏆 Fishing Contests in the menu: your club's contests, the same as in the app (see Clubs and fleets). Club members can enter a catch here too.
- 🚪 Disconnect stops the live boat feed and closes the map.
The app: Home screen
- Track Me: the full-width button at the top records your GPS track and shares your location with your club if you choose. It flashes red while recording and shows the trip's time, distance and speed. See Track Me and sharing your location.
- 📷 Photo Spot: takes a photo and saves it as a spot where you are, with the current conditions. Choose the POI / species, optional weight and length, and Private or Club / Fleet.
- 🗺️ Map: opens the map described above. The map's 🏠 button brings you back Home.
- 📍 My Spots: your saved spots. Open one for Spot Details: the catch, the conditions when you saved it, and Show on Map. While your club has a contest open, Submit Entry enters your catch.
- ⚓ Fishing & Wrecks: the built-in spots as a list, A to Z, that works offline. Search by name and filter by All, ⚓ Wrecks, 🏔️ Canyons, 🎣 Fishing or Other. Map › shows a spot on the map.
- 📈 My Track History: your recorded trips, with Map and Delete trip on each. See My Track History.
- 🔧 Engines & Fuel: see below.
- Club tiles (see Clubs and fleets):
- 👥 Club / Fleet Spots: spots that members have shared. Filter by member, or tap Show everyone's.
- ⛵ Club / Fleet Members: the member list. Can see me sets which boats can see your location.
- 🏆 Fishing Contests
- 🔗 Club / Fleet Website, or 🤝 Create or Join a Club / Fleet if you haven't joined one
- 🛠️ Manage Club / Fleet and 📋 Manage Members, for club admins
- Account and Contact App Admin at the bottom.
Pull down on the Home screen to refresh, for example to see that your club has approved you. Guests can see every tile, but the ones that need an account ask you to sign in first.
Track Me, sharing your location and My Track History
Recording a trip
- Sign in, then tap Track Me on the Home screen, the map's top bar or My Track History. They're the same button: all three flash red while a trip is recording.
- Tap Start Tracking. The first time, the app asks for your location: on iPhone choose Allow While Using App, on Android choose Allow all the time. Recording carries on with the screen off or the app in the background.
- While recording, the Home screen shows the trip's Time, Distance (nautical miles) and Speed (knots).
- No signal offshore? Your track is kept on your phone and uploaded when you're back in range.
- To end the trip, tap Track Me again and choose Stop Tracking.
Sharing your location
Sharing is for approved members of a Club / Fleet and needs a FishBeacon subscription. It stays off until you turn it on.
- When you start Track Me: the Start Tracking window has Share my location with your club. Choose:
- Off: no one sees your location.
- Everyone: every member of your club sees you.
- Selected: only the boats you pick. Tap Choose who can see you, then turn on Can see me next to each boat.
- Any time: change it in Account → Location sharing. While sharing with selected boats, use the Can see me switches on ⛵ Club / Fleet Members.
- What they see: your boat name, boat photo and position on the map's ⛵ Fleet layer, which refreshes every 15 minutes. You show only while Track Me is on, and you're removed as soon as you stop it (or 30 minutes after your last position if your phone loses signal).
- Only your current position is shared. Your track history stays private.
My Track History
- Open 📈 My Track History on the Home screen. The calendar puts a dot on every day with a track. Tap a day to see only that day, and tap it again to see the whole month.
- Each trip shows its date, start and end time, distance, top speed and number of positions, plus the spots you saved during it. Tap a spot for its details.
- Map shows the trip on the map with the trail player.
- Delete trip deletes the trip after you confirm. Spots saved during it are kept. A trip that's still recording can't be deleted, so stop Track Me first. This cannot be undone.
- On the map, History → My Track History shows your track over a time range (see History menu).
- Free accounts keep the last 3 trips (see Free accounts).
Engines & Fuel
- Set up your engines (how many, plus make, model, year, horsepower and serial number) and your fuel tanks (how many, plus name and gallons each holds).
- Update Hours: record the current engine hours.
- Add Fuel: date, tank, gallons, price per gallon, total cost, engine hours, notes and a photo of the receipt.
- Add Maintenance: tick the jobs you did, plus engine hours and notes.
- History: everything you've logged. You can open or remove a receipt photo.
Free accounts and subscriptions
The map, its layers and tools, Engines & Fuel and your account are free. Without a subscription:
- You can save up to 5 spots. To add more, delete a spot or subscribe. Spots you saved before this limit started are kept.
- Track History keeps your last 3 trips. When you record a new trip, the oldest one is deleted.
- The Catch Log holds up to 5 catches. To log more, delete a catch or subscribe.
- Club and fleet features aren't available (see below).
A FishBeacon subscription removes these limits and adds the club and fleet features.
Clubs and fleets
Club features need a FishBeacon subscription.
- Join a Club / Fleet: enter the club's join code, and its admins approve your request. You can also choose No Club, or Create a Club / Fleet with a name, website and logo, which makes you its admin.
- Fishing Contests: current, upcoming and past contests. Inside a contest you can:
- Read the Rules.
- Enter a Catch with species, weight, length, notes and a photo.
- Sort entries by Newest, Heaviest, Longest, Species or Angler.
- Report an entry.
For club admins
- Manage Club / Fleet:
- Edit the name, website, logo and join code. Share sends the code to people.
- Create fishing contests with a name, area, start and end dates, rules and species categories. You can add your own category, such as Most Fish. Edit or delete contests later.
- Delete Entire Club and Fleet: removes the club and its contests for everyone. Members keep their own spots. Use with caution: this cannot be undone.
- Club Admin Website: Manage Club / Fleet → Open Club Admin Website, or on a computer go to fishbeaconusa.com/ais/clubs-admin.php and sign in with your FishBeacon email and password. It shows your members, contests, entries and winners, and prints reports.
- Manage Members: Approve or Decline requests to join. Tap a member to make them an admin or remove them. Invite people by email or with Share Code….
- In a contest, tap Pick place on an entry to make it 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a category (each earns the angler a gold, silver or bronze trophy on Club / Fleet Members), or Remove an entry.
Account
- Sign in with your email and password, Continue with Google or Sign in with Apple. You can also Create Account (passwords need at least 7 characters, with a capital letter, a number and a special character such as ! or #), use Forgot password? or Enter Reset Code, or tap Skip for now to use the app as a guest.
- Edit Profile: name, email, boat name, boat photo and home port.
- Location sharing: Off, Everyone or Selected boats in your club see your boat while you use Track Me (see Sharing your location). If you're not in a club, it asks you to join one.
- Subscription: Subscribe or Manage Subscription.
- Blocked people: anyone you've blocked, with Unblock.
- Sign Out
- Delete Account: deletes your account immediately and can't be undone. Deleting your account doesn't cancel your subscription. Cancel it in your Apple or Google account. See the privacy policy for what gets deleted. No app? Delete your account on the website at fishbeaconusa.com/delete-account.
Subscription and contact
- Subscription screen: Subscribe, Restore Purchases, Manage Subscription, and links to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Subscriptions renew automatically until you cancel in your Apple or Google account.
- Contact App Admin: enter your name, email, an optional phone number and your message, then tap Send Message.
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
- Terms of Use: the rules for using FishBeacon, including subscriptions, clubs, contests and your content. FishBeacon is not a navigation or safety device. Always use official charts and forecasts on the water.
- Privacy Policy: what we collect, who can see it and how to delete your account.
Still need help?
Use Contact App Admin in the app, or email admin@fishbeaconusa.com.
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