Safety disclaimer

WatchKeeper records what you tell it, helps you share that record with the people on shore who care about you, and produces plain-English summaries of your passage. It does not navigate. It does not forecast weather. It does not receive AIS targets, broadcast your position to coast guards, or interface with vessel control systems.

Treat every output from WatchKeeper as an aid to your own seamanship, never a substitute for it. The authority on what your vessel does, where it goes, and how it responds to conditions is the skipper aboard. Always.

Positions, courses, distances, and headings displayed in WatchKeeper come from log entries you create or from devices you connect. They are visualised for convenience, not certified for navigation. WatchKeeper’s charts and map tiles are illustrative only and may be incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate.

Always navigate using current paper charts, official electronic charting systems (ECDIS / ECS), and the publications required for the waters you are transiting. Cross-check WatchKeeper’s map against your primary navigation systems before relying on any displayed position or track.

WatchKeeper does not generate weather forecasts. When weather data appears inside the app or inside a shore brief, it is sourced from third-party providers and may be delayed, regional, or incorrect. Always consult an official meteorological service before departure and throughout the passage.

Shore briefs are produced by a large language model that summarises your recent log entries into prose. The model can be wrong. It can omit important context, misinterpret entries, or generate detail that did not happen. Every brief is calibrated to be calm and reassuring — that calibration can under-represent severity in a real emergency.

Briefs are a convenience for routine status updates. They are not a substitute for direct contact with shore crew, the coast guard, or other competent authority when conditions warrant it.

WatchKeeper does not contact emergency services. If you are in distress, use VHF (Channel 16 / DSC), EPIRB, PLB, satellite distress messenger, or the appropriate regional emergency number directly. Do not rely on WatchKeeper to alert anyone on your behalf in an emergency.

WatchKeeper queues writes locally and replays them when connectivity returns. Until a write is acknowledged by the server, it exists only on the device you created it on. Always assume offline entries are at risk of loss in the event of device damage or destruction.

By using WatchKeeper for any voyage, you confirm that:

• You are competent to operate your vessel and responsible for its safe navigation.
• You carry, maintain, and know how to use the safety equipment required by law and good seamanship for the waters you transit.
• You file independent float plans with people on shore who are not relying solely on WatchKeeper for situational awareness.
• You monitor weather, sea state, and navigation hazards via official sources.
• You understand that WatchKeeper makes no guarantee of availability, accuracy, or timeliness, and that its outputs are advisory only.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, WatchKeeper and its operators are not liable for any loss, damage, injury, or death arising from use of the service, including but not limited to: incorrect or missing log entries, unreliable shore briefs, network or server outages, third-party weather or chart data, or any consequence of reliance on the service in lieu of proper seamanship.

See our Terms of Use for the full liability framework.