Featured Articles
Article in App of the Week category.
Paddle Logger Is the Ultimate Watersport Companion App
I’ve always been a fan of the water. We grew up with an aging lake house passed through the generations where we’d canoe, kayak, paddle…
I’ve always been a fan of the water. We grew up with an aging lake house passed through the generations where we’d canoe, kayak, paddle board, water ski, occasionally jet ski, and just swim for hours on end. I didn’t have any fancy apps as I was growing up but now when I head out to the water, I love the data — and safety features — Paddle Logger adds.
Paddle Logger keeps things straight to the point, surfacing a large “GO” button in the app the moment you open it. It’s that easy to start tracking your adventure and hit the water, whether you’re canoeing, kayaking, or embarking on some other paddle-based water sport. I know what you’re thinking too, which is when paddling, you probably stick your phone in some sort of buoyant dry bag. Not easy to start a workout to tracking session. To handle this, Paddle Logger has an integrated countdown timer that won’t start the workout for a set period of time.
When you log this excursion, it will track your route, your calories, your duration, and other metrics. If wearing an Apple Watch, it can more accurate track your calories as well as your heart rate the entire time. This logs as a workout too by the way, giving you credit towards filling your Activity Rings. It also lets you add photos to your trip too, letting you revisit your ride after the fact and remember the sights you saw.
There’s definitely a tendency with paddle sports to head out alone. You may want just a relaxing kayak ride along the shore in the early hours of the day. But those relaxing rides can also be dangerous. It’s far too easy to inadvertently tip a kayak, even for experienced paddlers. Paddle Live is a custom feature that automatically fires off an SOS on your behalf if you don’t check in within a certain period of time. You always have the option to extend this when it alerts you, but if you don’t, your emergency contact will get a notification and your exact geographical location. It’s just a bit of peace of mind not just for you, but your family too.
While I haven’t raced by any means, the racing feature seems pretty cool. You can set your racing distance and get alerts when you’ve reached that threshold. Then you can analyze the data afterword or export that data to compare with previous trial race runs. I’d use this even just as a way of trying to better myself and grow my skills.
Paddle Logger is such a clever app. Use it for reminiscing about your trips, about increasing your speed, or for staying safe. It’s so cleanly designed with minimal distraction and great-looking maps overlaid with your speed-based route. It also supports things like Live Activities, the Dynamic Island, and Home Screen widgets. For novice or experienced paddlers, this app is a must-have.
But enough about other people's apps.
