Find answers to common questions about Fishmarks — from offline use and GPS accuracy to billing, privacy, and referrals.
Yes! FISHMARKS is a Progressive Web App (PWA) that you can install on your phone or tablet for use on the water with spotty connectivity.
Look for the install banner at the bottom of the screen, or use your browser’s “Add to Home Screen” option. The installed app opens in full-screen mode like a native app.
The crosshair represents the exact GPS coordinates of the center of the map. When you click a mark in the sidebar and the map pans to it, the crosshair sits precisely at that mark’s latitude and longitude. The marker symbols (pins, squares, circles, etc.) are visual references. Each symbol is anchored at its bottom-center point, but due to their size and shape, they serve as a general reference rather than a precision indicator.
When a proximity circle is active (via Near Me or Search Near Here), the yellow pill at the top of the map displays a menu with powerful actions scoped to marks within the circle.
Fishmarks Connect is the companion iOS app for Fishmarks. It gives you quick access to your marks on your phone — browse your spots, export to your chartplotter app, and view mark details without opening a browser.
Fishmarks Connect requires a paid subscription (Angler or Captain) with cloud sync enabled. It syncs with your Fishmarks account so your marks are always up to date.
Not yet — but we’d love to make that happen someday. Unfortunately, chartplotter manufacturers like Garmin, Simrad, Lowrance, and Raymarine do not currently offer open APIs that would allow third-party apps to sync data directly with their devices.
Looking ahead: We hope to be invited to work with the major chartplotter manufacturers to build direct sync integrations.
FISHMARKS supports import and export for all major marine electronics brands:
The NOAA Bathymetry layer is a basemap option that displays compiled best-available bathymetric data as a hillshade terrain view. It uses data from NOAA’s BlueTopo program, combining multiple sonar and depth survey sources into a single, seamless layer.
They serve different purposes:
Use NOAA Charts for navigation. Use NOAA Bathymetry when you want to read the shape of the bottom at a glance.
The data comes from NOAA’s BlueTopo program, which compiles the best available bathymetric sources — including multibeam sonar surveys, lidar, and historic soundings — into a single compiled dataset. The tiles are served free of charge through NOAA’s nowCOAST service.
The Bottom Hardness overlay is a map layer that visualizes bottom substrate hardness across U.S. coastal waters. It uses NOAA Seabed Type data from over 685,000 USGS/NOAA usSEABED sample points to display a continuous color gradient from soft bottoms (mud) to hard bottoms (rock).
The color scale represents bottom hardness on a spectrum:
A legend displaying this scale appears in the bottom-right corner of the map whenever the overlay is active.
Bottom composition is one of the strongest predictors of where fish hold. The overlay helps you identify productive areas before you ever leave the dock.
The data comes from the USGS/NOAA usSEABED database, a compilation of over 685,000 seafloor sediment samples collected across U.S. continental shelves. The raw sample points are processed into a continuous hardness gradient using spatial interpolation (IDW), then rendered as map tiles.
The overlay is available at zoom levels 6 through 10. Zoom in past level 6 to see the data appear. At zoom levels beyond 10, the tiles are upscaled from the highest available resolution.
Coverage includes U.S. coastal and continental shelf waters where usSEABED samples exist. Areas without sufficient sample density may appear transparent.
The HD Sonar overlay displays high-resolution seafloor terrain from NOAA multibeam sonar surveys. It renders a color-shaded hillshade showing underwater topography in striking detail — channels, ledges, drop-offs, and man-made structures are clearly visible.
They answer different questions about the ocean floor:
Use them together for the most complete picture — Bottom Hardness to find hard bottom, and HD Sonar to see the structure and terrain around it.
The data comes from NOAA BAG (Bathymetric Attributed Grid) surveys — multibeam sonar collected by NOAA hydrographic survey vessels.
This is dramatically higher resolution than standard chart data, which is typically derived from older singlebeam soundings.
The high-resolution terrain view reveals underwater structure that doesn’t appear on standard charts.
Dynamic Lists are rule-based collections that automatically populate based on conditions you define — no manual mark assignment needed.
Dynamic Lists support a wide range of conditions across two categories:
Auto-Update keeps your Dynamic List membership current in real time.
Yes! Your data is always yours. Open the Left Rail and go to Transfer > Export, or right-click a list in the sidebar and choose Export List.
When exporting to GPX, choose a profile optimized for your target device:
No, your data is not shared. Free accounts store data locally in the browser, and paid accounts store data in a secure cloud.
Client-side encryption is an optional feature that adds an extra layer of protection to your most sensitive data — your waypoint names, GPS coordinates, and notes.
To enable: Click your profile icon in the top-right, choose My Encryption, and turn encryption on.
Encryption and list sharing work together seamlessly. When you share a list with another user:
You can change your passphrase at any time from your profile icon (top-right) > My Encryption.
Every Fishmarks account — Free, Angler, and Captain — syncs to our secure cloud. Your marks, trips, catches, tracks, and routes are tied to your account, not to a single browser or device, so logging in anywhere brings everything with you.
On Angler and Captain, deleted marks, trips, and routes are moved to Trash and remain recoverable for 30 days. Free accounts do not have Trash — deletions are immediate and permanent.
If you are on a paid plan (Angler or Captain), deleted items are moved to Trash instead of being permanently removed. Items remain recoverable for 30 days.
To access Trash: Click your profile icon in the top-right and choose My Trash Bin.
Payments are processed through Stripe, an industry leader and secure payment processor. All major credit/debit cards are supported and we hope the payment process is simple for everyone.
Where you cancel depends on where you signed up. Fishmarks subscriptions are billed through three different stores:
If you’re not sure which one you used, open My Profile on the website and look at the Subscription section — the source is shown there.
Your paid features stay active through the end of your current annual billing period. After that, your account drops to the Free tier — you keep your data and can resubscribe any time.
Apple manages the billing — we don’t see your card or have a way to cancel for you. Your paid features stay active through the end of your current billing period.
Google manages the billing — same as Apple, we can’t cancel on your behalf. Your paid features stay active through the end of your current billing period.
The trial is gated by your card on file (web) or your Apple/Google account (Connect), so cancelling works the same way as a regular paid subscription — use the path above that matches where you signed up. As long as you cancel before the trial end date, you will not be charged.
You can confirm your trial end date in My Profile under First Charge On. After cancelling, you keep full Angler/Captain access for the remainder of the trial — you don’t lose features the moment you cancel.
Not formally, however we will work with you to do what’s right if you are unhappy with the solution. To avoid this need we offer a generous Free tier so you can get a feel for the software, plus a 7-day free trial on Angler and Captain so you can try the paid features risk-free — cancel before the trial ends and you won’t be charged.
Deleting an account is different from cancelling a subscription. If you only want to stop billing, you don’t need to delete your account — just cancel your subscription and your account drops to the Free tier at the end of the current billing period. You keep your marks, lists, trips, and catches, and you can resubscribe any time.
If you specifically want to permanently delete your Fishmarks account — erase all your data and remove the account entirely — here’s how.
This action cannot be undone. If you change your mind after deletion, you would need to start a new account from scratch with a different email.
When you upgrade your plan, you are only charged the prorated difference for the time remaining in your current billing period. Your new features activate immediately.
When you downgrade, your current plan stays fully active until the end of your billing period. The switch happens automatically at renewal.
Each year we will donate a portion of proceeds to Captains for Clean Water, however at this time an exact amount or percentage has not been determined. At a minimum we will donate $1 for every Angler account and $2 for every Captain account, however we may donate more as subscriber count scales.
Our referral program rewards you with free time on your plan when you bring friends to Fishmarks. Open the Left Rail and go to Social > Refer a Friend to grab your unique link. For every 4 friends who subscribe to a paid plan using your link, you automatically get a free year of your current plan.
Every 4 paid referrals earns you 1 free year of your plan. A credit equal to your annual subscription price is applied to your Stripe account and used on your next renewal — so your next year is on us.
You can track progress toward your next free year from the Refer a Friend panel (Left Rail > Social, or the Settings screen on Fishmarks Connect).
If someone signs up for a free account using your referral link and then upgrades to a paid plan within 90 days, the upgrade counts as a paid conversion toward your next free year.
For example: if your referral signs up free, then upgrades to Captain within 90 days, that’s 1 paid conversion credited to your referral total.
On the web app, open the Left Rail and go to Social > Refer a Friend to see your unique referral link. Click the “Copy” button to copy it to your clipboard, then share it via text, email, or social media.
On Fishmarks Connect, the same link lives on the Settings screen under Refer a Friend — tap Copy or Share to send it straight to Messages, Mail, or anywhere else.
Your link never expires and is unique to your account.
Use the Contact Us form on the website, or email us at [email protected].