Argo - Boat Navigation GPS

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Argo is that its core navigation tools are free, not a trial. The base app includes NOAA charts, depth survey data from the Army Corps of Engineers for US waters, a searchable catalog of more than 500,000 marinas, anchorages and fuel docks, and your own plotted routes with distance, ETA and fuel use. For a boater used to paying for chart access, that is the headline.

It is built for recreational boaters on US coastal waters, the Intracoastal Waterway, inland lakes and rivers, with coverage extending to Canada and the Caribbean. If you run a small powerboat, a sailboat or a fishing boat and want charting, trip planning and a bit of community on your phone, this is the app's territory. The developer calls it a boating companion that knows the good dock bars and never asks for gas money, which sets the tone well.

Charting and navigation on the water

Current NOAA charts and Army Corps surveys make up the chart layer, which can be filtered by survey date. That filter matters more than it sounds: knowing how recent a depth survey is before you run a shoaling inlet is exactly the kind of check a careful skipper makes. Both coastal and inland river charts show shoals, dredged channels, restricted zones and suggested tracks, with your GPS position and speed overlaid.

Search covers buoys, beacons, lights, wrecks and mile markers, so you can locate a specific mark rather than hunting across the chart. You can record a track as you go and use the Return function to follow it back, which is useful in unfamiliar water or in low visibility. Depth shading presets are included, two of them tuned for bright sun glare, a small detail that suggests the developer has spent time on open water.

Planning trips and finding places

The place search spans boat ramps, moorings, non-ethanol fuel and dock bars among its 500,000-plus entries, and each listing can carry reviews from boaters who have been there. Reading what others say about an anchorage before you drop the hook is a sensible use of that layer. Routes can be drawn straight onto the chart, with distance, ETA and fuel use updating as you shape them.

A trip log keeps a record of everywhere you have been, and routes, places and trips can be shared with other users. Fishing spots can be kept private or shared with your group, which acknowledges that not every good spot is public information. The planning side is deliberately hands-on: you draw the route, and the app tells you what it costs you in time and fuel.

The social side: boaters, clubs and live sharing

Argo includes a community layer. You can see other Argo boaters on the water, share your live location with family ashore, and join a boat club, marina or rally group. Posts can include photos and video, and hazard reports from other boaters appear on the chart alongside your own.

The live location sharing is the feature I would single out for anyone whose family worries when they are out. One account works across every phone and tablet you own, at no cost, which removes the usual friction of syncing between devices. How active any given group is will depend on who else in your area uses the app, so the social side is likely to be most rewarding where Argo has a local following.

What Argo Premium adds

Argo is free to download and use, carries no ads, and offers in-app purchases. The premium tier is where the more advanced tools live. Autoroute uses your boat's draft, height and safety buffer to plan around shallow water, hazards and restricted zones, and can be set to run inside or outside, or to stay within the marked channel. The chart holds multiple routes, and you can switch between them while underway. Boaters with both a sailboat and a powerboat can save each with its own draft and height.

Premium also brings marine weather and tides: a seven-day forecast covering wind, wave height and period, tides and currents, plus wind, rain and lightning overlays on the chart. Over 6,000 tide and current stations are shown on the chart, with predictions extending as far ahead as you like, and tide variance sits next to your depth gauge. Charts for your area and home port are saved for offline use automatically, covering times when signal drops, and an NMEA link through a Wi-Fi gateway brings in depth, speed and heading from your electronics along with AIS targets. Custom depth shading and contours help shallow water and fishing drop-offs stand out, and next-turn distance, time, bearing and course stay in view.

For record-keeping, GPX routes and tracks can be imported and exported between Argo and a chartplotter, and a PDF trip report documents sea time toward a captain's license. The practical approach is to start with the free tools and decide later whether the routing, weather and offline layers are worth paying for.

How Argo compares with the alternatives

The obvious comparison is with dedicated marine chartplotters and paid charting subscriptions. Argo's pitch is that the chart, survey and place data come at no cost, with the advanced routing and weather kept behind the premium tier. If your needs are simple, plotting a route, checking depth and finding a marina, the free side covers a lot of ground.

The other comparison is with general-purpose map apps. Those can show you where you are, but they do not carry Army Corps survey dates, shoal and channel markings, tide stations or hazard reports from other boaters. Argo is narrower and more specific, and that is the point. It is a navigation aid, and the developer is explicit that you should still consult official charts and conditions and rely on your own judgment on the water.

Recent updates and what they tell you

The October 2026 update added the ability to pause and resume trips and tracks, with automatic resume and finish while underway, plus a one-tap zoom out to see your whole route and a jump back to your location. The tide and current graphs are now fed by live NOAA tide and current data. Posts and comments gained editing, copying and tappable links, and Boat Club boat share became free.

Spanish and Portuguese translations arrived in the same release, alongside minor bug fixes. Taken together, the changelog suggests a developer still actively shaping the app around how people actually use it. The company describes itself as family-owned, with a founder who grew up boating on the Chesapeake Bay, and says many features began as requests from users, with a support address for sending more.

A capable free charting app for US boaters

With over 100,000 installs and a 4.3 average from 1,053 ratings, Argo has found a real audience since its release in September 2019. The combination of free NOAA charts, dated Army Corps surveys, a large place catalog and route planning with fuel estimates gives recreational boaters a genuinely useful toolkit without a subscription. The premium tier adds serious routing, weather, tides, offline charts and NMEA integration for those who want them.

I would point this at boaters around the US coast and the Intracoastal Waterway, on inland lakes and rivers, and those cruising Canada or the Caribbean, particularly anyone who wants charting, trip planning and a boating community in one app. If you mainly need a simple depth readout and a marina finder, the free tools should serve you well; if you want autorouting around your boat's draft and a full marine forecast, the premium tier is where that lives.

What's new in version 3.12.0

- Pause and resume your trips and tracks, plus automatic resume and finish while underway - Zoom out to see your whole route with one tap, then jump back to your location - Live NOAA tide and current data in the tide and current graphs - Edit, copy and tap links in posts and comments - Boat Club boat share is now free - Spanish and Portuguese translations - Minor bug fixes and improvements