My Tide Times - Tables & Chart

Analysis by Norviv

Checking the tide should be simple, but in practice it often becomes a small research task. I have had to search for a nearby beach, work out whether a listed time referred to high or low water, and then compare that information with the time I actually planned to leave home. My Tide Times is built to remove that repeated effort. It is a free weather app from JRustonApps B.V. focused specifically on tide tables and forecasts, rather than trying to be a complete general-purpose weather service.

That narrow focus is the reason I find it useful. If I am deciding when to launch a small boat, walk across a tidal area, fish from the shore, photograph exposed rocks, or simply visit a beach without arriving at the wrong part of the cycle, I want tide information immediately. The app does not ask me to interpret a broad weather dashboard first. I choose a location and go straight to the information that matters.

The app has been available since January 22, 2014, and its current version is 26.3.0. It is rated for Everyone, works on Android 8.0 and later, and has passed one million installs. Its average rating is 4.8 from roughly twenty-seven thousand ratings, with about one thousand three hundred written reviews. Those figures suggest that it has found a clear audience, but my recommendation is based more on how well its focused design fits real coastal routines than on popularity alone.

Why a dedicated tide app saves more time than a general forecast

Most weather apps are excellent when I need rain, wind, temperature, or radar. They are less convenient when the question is, “What will the water be doing at this particular place and time?” Tide information may be buried in a marine section, presented through a website, or mixed with several nearby stations that are not equally useful for the beach or harbor I have in mind.

My Tide Times approaches the problem from the opposite direction. It treats the tide table as the main event. That makes it particularly helpful for people whose plans are controlled by water level rather than by temperature alone. A pleasant forecast does not make a tidal path safe or accessible, and a sunny afternoon can still be a poor time for launching or shore fishing if the tide is moving in the wrong direction.

I also like the way this changes planning behavior. Instead of checking the tide only when I am already on the way, I can look at the day in advance and decide whether the outing is worth making. That is a small convenience, but it prevents wasted travel and avoids the familiar mistake of arriving at a location just after the useful window has passed.

The app is not a replacement for local knowledge, official safety notices, or a proper marine forecast. It is best understood as a quick reference for tide timing and predicted movement. That distinction matters: tide tables can help me plan, but they should not be treated as a complete account of currents, surf, storms, visibility, or local hazards.

The first setup is about choosing the right place

The most important early decision is the location. A tide prediction is only useful when it represents the coast, inlet, harbor, or beach I actually intend to visit. I would not simply accept the first familiar-sounding result. For a trip involving a narrow estuary or a beach far from a major port, I take a moment to check that the selected place makes sense geographically.

That is one of the less obvious habits that makes the app more reliable in everyday use: treat location selection as part of the planning process, not as a one-time formality. Nearby stations can differ enough for a schedule to become misleading, especially around shallow bays, river mouths, and enclosed harbors. If I am using the app for a regular outing, I keep returning to the same carefully chosen location rather than changing it casually.

Once the location is correct, the value is immediate. I can use the table to identify the sequence of high and low water, then compare those times with daylight, travel time, and the activity itself. For a beach walk, I may want a falling tide so more shoreline is exposed. For launching a small craft, I may care about having enough water at the access point. For photography, the best moment could be neither high nor low water exactly, but a window around one of them.

I would not describe this setup as complicated, but it rewards a deliberate first pass. The app’s focused purpose means there is less distraction than in a full weather platform, yet it also means I am responsible for understanding what the selected station represents. That is a fair trade-off for a tool designed to get me to the table quickly.

How I use the table instead of just glancing at the next event

A common mistake is to open a tide app, read the next high or low point, and stop there. I get more from My Tide Times when I look at the surrounding pattern. The useful question is not only “When is high tide?” but also “How does that fit with the time I will arrive, how long will I stay, and what will the water be doing while I am there?”

For example, if I am planning a walk through a tidal area, I do not schedule the trip around a single low-water time without allowing for travel and a return route. I look at the whole day, identify the likely direction of change, and build in enough margin. That makes the app more than a list of times; it becomes a planning aid that helps me avoid treating a tidal event as a precise appointment.

This is also where the app compares favorably with searching the web. A search engine may find a tide page, but I then have to deal with advertisements, unrelated locations, changing layouts, or a page that is awkward to read on a phone. A dedicated table is faster for repeated checks. On the other hand, a full marine service may be better when I need wind, waves, currents, warnings, and navigation information alongside the tide. The choice depends on whether I want a focused answer or a complete marine picture.

Real situations where the focused design earns its place

I find the focused design most valuable when the tide is a deciding factor, not just another detail to check. Before committing to a drive or packing gear, I use the table to test whether the useful window fits the day I actually have; that simple check can make a coastal plan feel deliberate rather than hopeful. It also clarifies when a broader forecast or local safety guidance should take priority.

Planning a beach visit around access rather than weather

One of my favorite uses is planning a beach visit where the shoreline changes dramatically. A general forecast may tell me that the afternoon will be dry, but it cannot answer whether a rock shelf will be exposed, whether a sandbar will be reachable, or whether a route along the water will remain practical. I check the tide first, then use the weather forecast separately for clothing and comfort.

The useful workflow is simple: select the intended location, inspect the day’s high and low points, estimate the time needed to reach the beach, and leave a margin before the return journey. I do not assume that the exact low-water time is automatically the safest or most enjoyable moment. Conditions underfoot, waves, cliffs, and local warnings still matter. The app helps with timing; it does not remove the need for judgment.

Fishing and photography benefit from looking ahead

For shore fishing, the app is useful because it prevents me from planning entirely by habit. I can compare different days and choose a session that fits my available time instead of arriving whenever I happen to be free. The same applies to coastal photography. Exposed textures, pools, rocks, and reflections can look completely different as the water rises or falls, so the table gives me a practical starting point for choosing when to carry equipment to the shore.

A helpful trick is to plan the desired visual or fishing window rather than chasing a named tide event. If the best conditions are likely to occur during the transition toward low water, I allow time to arrive before that transition and stay long enough to see how the scene develops. This avoids the false precision of believing that one listed time marks the only worthwhile moment.

Small-boat preparation needs more than this app

People who use kayaks, dinghies, or other small craft may appreciate the quick tide reference, especially when checking whether a launch point will be practical. I can use it before packing equipment and again before leaving, which is much less cumbersome than repeatedly searching online.

Still, this is where I become most cautious. A tide table is not a navigation system. It does not, by itself, tell me about wind against tide, tidal streams, breaking surf, restricted channels, sudden weather changes, or local notices. For a serious trip, I would pair the app with an appropriate marine forecast and official information. If someone wants one tool to support an entire boating decision, a dedicated marine navigation app may be the better choice.

Travel planning is easier when the tide is part of the itinerary

Coastal travel often involves more than one destination. I might want to visit a harbor in the morning, walk a beach later, and return before darkness. My Tide Times helps me identify which stop deserves priority. If one location has a narrow useful window, I can organize the day around it and leave more flexible activities for later.

This is a practical time-saving benefit that is easy to overlook. The app does not need to manage my entire itinerary to improve it. By giving me a clear tide reference before I commit to driving, parking, or carrying gear, it reduces the chance that I will spend the day working around a missed window.

It is also useful for people who simply want a quick answer

Not every user is a sailor or angler. Someone living near a tidal river may want to know why a familiar path looks different, when a waterfront area will be most open, or whether a planned walk is likely to coincide with rising water. For those casual checks, the dedicated format is less intimidating than a professional marine dashboard.

The Everyone content rating also fits that broad everyday audience. I would still explain the difference between a prediction and a safety guarantee to younger or inexperienced users, particularly if they plan to explore rocks, mudflats, or narrow coastal paths. Easy access to information is helpful, but it should encourage better planning rather than overconfidence.

What friction the app removes, and what it leaves to me

The biggest friction removed is repeated searching. Once I know the location I care about, I can return to the tide information without rebuilding the same web search each time. That matters for people who check conditions regularly, because a few seconds saved on every outing quickly becomes a noticeable improvement in routine.

It also reduces the mental effort of translating a general forecast into a tide-specific decision. I do not have to scan a weather app for a marine card or guess which nearby station a search result is using. The dedicated presentation keeps my attention on the day’s water-level pattern.

What it does not remove is interpretation. I still need to understand whether the listed high or low point fits my activity, allow for travel, and consider conditions that tide predictions do not cover. That is not a flaw so much as the boundary of the product. Problems arise only when someone expects a tide table to behave like a complete coastal safety service.

Where the experience may feel limited

The focused design can feel restrictive if I want a single screen containing every environmental factor. A general weather app is more convenient for temperature, rain, wind, and alerts. A marine navigation product may offer deeper information for boat handling and route decisions. My Tide Times is strongest when the tide itself is the recurring question.

There is also a learning curve for anyone unfamiliar with tide tables. The app can show the timing, but a beginner may still need to learn what high water, low water, rising tide, and falling tide mean in relation to a particular activity. I consider that a manageable limitation, because once the basic ideas are clear, the table becomes much easier to use. I would rather see a focused tool that gets the core information out of the way than an overloaded interface that hides it among unrelated features.

Another important limitation is that predictions should not be confused with observations. Weather, atmospheric pressure, local geography, and unusual conditions can affect the water in ways that a standard prediction cannot fully express. If I am making a safety-critical decision, I use the app as one input and check current local guidance as well.

Device compatibility, cost, and long-term practicality

The app is free, which makes it easy to try without turning the decision into a financial commitment. It supports Android 8.0 and later, so people with older but still usable Android phones may be able to run it. That is valuable for outdoor use, where I may prefer to carry a secondary phone rather than risk a newer primary device near water.

Because the app has been maintained over many years and is now at version 26.3.0, it feels like a mature utility rather than a temporary experiment. I would still check that my phone meets the minimum operating-system requirement before planning around it. On a compatible device, the main practical question is not whether it is powerful enough, but whether its focused tide information matches the locations and activities I care about.

My recommendation for different kinds of users

I recommend My Tide Times to beach walkers, shore anglers, coastal photographers, travelers, and casual boat users who repeatedly need tide timing without wanting a full marine control center. It is especially good for someone who is tired of searching the same location on a browser and wants a quick, dedicated reference before leaving home.

I would suggest a different category of app to offshore sailors, professional crews, or anyone who needs navigation, current detail, weather warnings, route planning, or a complete marine forecast in the same workflow. The tide table remains useful for those users, but this app alone should not be treated as their entire information system.

After using it as a planning tool, my view is straightforward: My Tide Times succeeds because it solves one recurring problem without making me work through a general weather product first. It saves time, makes coastal scheduling clearer, and is easy to justify as a free addition to a phone. Its limits are equally clear, and I appreciate that distinction because it keeps the recommendation honest.

If your usual question is “When will the water be high or low at the place I am visiting?”, this is the kind of app I would recommend to a friend. Choose the location carefully, read the complete day rather than one isolated event, leave sensible margins, and combine the tide table with weather and local safety information when the outing demands it. Used that way, My Tide Times is a practical, low-friction companion for making better coastal plans.