Free marine SOS · for anyone on the water

If something happened right now, who would you call?

No dialling 911 and waiting to be transferred. VesselSOS calls the Coast Guard rescue centre responsible for where you are, or 911 inland, in one tap, and puts the words in front of you. Prepared for the worst day, built for every other one: the people at home can follow you, and what others have spotted in the water is on your map.

Get the free beta

See how it works

The SOS is free and needs no account. On iPhone; Android later.

Boating elsewhere? Australia New Zealand USACanadaUK Malta Europe

Marine SOS in Canada: is anyone's life in danger? Yes calls the Coast Guard rescue centre, JRCC Victoria, no opens towing, and 911 is one tap away · VesselSOS — SOS · free, no account needed **The right rescue centre, in one tap** Chosen by your GPS position, not by your phone. On the coasts and the Great Lakes it calls the Coast Guard rescue centre; inland, 911. You get a short script and your position in words.

Boat tracking app for Canada: a live link shows your boat's position, speed in knots and phone battery on a map, with a Call 911 button for family ashore · VesselSOS — Live position · Pro **The people at home can see you** Share a link that opens in any browser. At your return time your phone asks if you’re OK; automatic texts to Canadian numbers are being set up.

Boating hazard reports: a drifting log, a missing buoy and a rock reported by boaters near you; the log's position and confirmations · VesselSOS — Hazards **See what others have spotted** A drifting log, a lost net, a buoy that has moved. Reported by other users, confirmed by others, marked on the map.

Boating friends map: two friends on the water near you with their boat, time out and distance, and one friend ashore · VesselSOS — Friends · Pro **See who else is out** Your friends on the same map. They only see you during a trip, and only if you choose to share.

The SOS is free and works without an account. Live tracking, the return-time check, friends and hazard reporting are part of Pro, with the first 14 days free. The hazard map is open to everyone.

SAFETY GEAR · BY BOAT

What do you take out?

Before you go: your sail plan →

Cottage dock, lake run, back for supper. Someone at the cottage knows exactly where you are.

Photo: User:no1 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Lifejacket or PFD for everyone LAW · ONE FOR EVERYONE

Every pleasure craft must carry a Canadian-approved lifejacket or PFD of the right size for each person on board. Inflatables only from age 16, and they must be worn on an open boat.

Pleasure Craft Operator Card ANY MOTOR · PROOF OF COMPETENCY

Proof of competency for any boat with a motor, electric trolling motors included, even when the motor isn’t running. It’s valid for life.

VHF marine radio ROC(M) TO OPERATE

Transport Canada: “generally the best way to send a distress alert.” Channel 16 reaches the Coast Guard and every boat nearby. You need a ROC(M) to operate one.

Phone in a waterproof case GOOD PRACTICE

Your backup way to call. Transport Canada: a cell phone is not a substitute for a marine radio, so keep it dry and on you.

The motorboat basics Transport Canada’s rules plus good practice. Your boat’s size and type can add more.

Before you go: your sail plan →

Rules from the Small Vessel Regulations, Transport Canada’s proof of competency page and the Safe Boating Guide (2026), checked Oct 2026. The full equipment list depends on your boat’s type and length, and rules change, so check the guide before you go.

Works offline.

GPS needs no cell signal. Your position is always on screen.

Coast, Great Lakes or cottage lake.

The Coast Guard rescue centre for your waters on the coasts, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes; 911 inland.

Nothing to install ashore.

Your people open a link. That’s it.

LIVE TRACKING

Ashore, they see you. Live.

Tap “Going to sea” and text your chosen people a link. It opens in any browser and shows position, speed, course and battery, until you tap “I’m ashore”.

→ Nothing to install, no account on their end→ You decide who sees it, and the link expires on its own

FRIENDS AT SEA · HAZARD REPORTS

Your friends on the water. Hazards on the map.

One app and one account wherever you boat. Take it on a charter in Greece or Croatia and it works the same as at home: GPS picks the local rescue centre (222 centres in 118 countries), and friends and hazard reports work there too. We haven’t found another boating app that offers both (checked October 10, 2026).

On the water, where are you, exactly?

The rescue coordinator’s first question is where you are, and “off the point” isn’t a location. If you carry a VHF, channel 16 is still your first call. When all you have is a phone, the first minute decides how fast help finds you.

WITHOUT THE APP

You look up the number

Five regional Coast Guard lines, or 911. Which one is yours, from a rocking boat?

You describe the scenery

A headland, a buoy, a bit of shoreline, in the wind, with a wet phone in one hand.

They work out who responds

Coast Guard, Auxiliary, police or a vessel nearby: it all waits on your position.

Meanwhile, you drift

Every minute spent on “where” is a minute nobody is on the way.

WITH VESSELSOS

Your position, ready to read

Latitude and longitude spelled out in words, ready to read to the coordinator.

One question, then it calls

Is a life in danger? Yes, and the app calls the Coast Guard rescue centre for your waters at once: JRCC or MRSC on the coasts, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, 911 on inland lakes and rivers.

The words are already written

Who you are, where, what happened and how many on board, line by line.

BY POSITION, NOT SIM CARD COASTS · ST. LAWRENCE · GREAT LAKES · ARCTIC · INLAND

Life at risk, or just a dead motor?

THE APP ROUTES YOU TO

Coast Guard rescue centre · VHF 16

With a radio, a Mayday on channel 16 reaches the Canadian Coast Guard and every boat nearby, and the app shows the script. By phone, it calls the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre or Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre for your waters, or 911 on inland lakes and rivers, with your position and a word-for-word script on screen. It never gets between you and help; it makes the call faster.

Boating safety app for Canada: SOS button and the Coast Guard rescue centre for your waters, JRCC Victoria · VesselSOS

VHF channel 16 Mayday: the distress call script filled in with your boat's name, call sign, MMSI and position · VesselSOS

THREE STEPS

Nobody remembers coordinates in a panic.

Press SOS

One big red button, on every screen. Your coordinates are ready, no cell signal needed.

Answer one question

Is anyone’s life in danger? Yes calls the rescue centre at once. No shows the towing options.

Read it out

Step by step: who you are, where, what happened. On the radio, the official Mayday with your call sign in the NATO alphabet.

The SOS screen is free. Forever.

Calling for help never sits behind a paywall. Pro adds live tracking, your contacts and the return-time check.

 FREENO ACCOUNT 

CA$0

FOREVER

SOS screen with your positionOne-tap rescue call with a word-for-word scriptMayday script + position by text message

 PRO · YEARLY14 DAYS FREE 

CA$19.99

PER YEAR · CAD

Text your SOS and a live link to your contactsBoat profile goes into the call scriptLive tracking, return-time check, trip history, friends on the water, hazard reports

 PRO · MONTHLY14 DAYS FREE 

CA$3.99

PER MONTH · CAD

The same Pro features, billed monthlyCancel any time in the App StoreComing: internet calls to a rescue centre’s regular number (can’t reach 911, needs data)

Pro is bought in the app through the App Store and renews automatically until you cancel; the 14-day free trial is once per person, and the App Store shows the price in Canadian dollars before you confirm. Coming to Pro: calls routed through a phone-network gateway to a rescue centre’s regular number, for when you have no SIM, roaming fails or you only have satellite internet; it can’t reach 911 and it needs a data connection.

What VesselSOS does not replace.

A beacon is a beacon, and a radio is a radio. This is the backup that’s always with you, and in plenty of canoes and runabouts the only thing there.

EPIRB Satellite beacon for the boat Anywhere, far offshore included Cospas-Sarsat satellites → the rescue centres See the gear

PLB Personal beacon worn on you Anywhere with open sky Same satellites, tied to a person See the gear

VHF-DSC Marine radio with a digital distress button Within radio range of the coast and other boats Coast Guard radio stations + boats nearby See the gear

VesselSOS The phone that’s with you anyway Wherever you have cell coverage The rescue centre, 911 inland, and your people Get the free beta

BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE DOCK

Four minutes, once.

Your cell number

A text code instead of a password. It also goes into the call script, so rescuers can call you back.

Add the boat

Name, type, length, colour, MMSI, call sign: the first things you’ll be asked.

Choose your people

As many as you like, each set to None, Emergency or Live.

Allow location

“Always”, so tracking works with the phone locked. Stored only during a trip, an SOS or a one-hour link you start.

COVERAGE · CANADIAN WATERS · APP VERSION 1.8

Called where you are.

BC coast → JRCC VICTORIA · 250-413-8933 · 1-800-567-5111 · VHF 16 Great Lakes & Ontario’s St. Lawrence → JRCC TRENTON · 613-965-3870 · 1-800-267-7270 · VHF 16 St. Lawrence, Saguenay & Quebec’s Gulf → MRSC QUÉBEC · 418-648-3599 · 1-800-463-4393 · VHF 16 Maritimes, Bay of Fundy & eastern Arctic → JRCC HALIFAX · 902-427-8200 · 1-800-565-1582 · VHF 16 Newfoundland & Labrador → MRSC ST. JOHN’S · 709-772-5151 · 1-800-563-2444 · VHF 16 Hudson Bay & the central Arctic → JRCC TRENTON · 613-965-3870 · VHF 16 Inland lakes & rivers → 911

From app version 1.8 (the next beta). Areas follow the Coast Guard’s search and rescue regions; the sub-centre lines are approximate. How to make a Mayday call →

CLUBS & MARINAS

Clubs and marinas near you

Sailing, rowing and paddling clubs and guest harbours — with VHF channel, depth, prices, weather and the rescue centre for their water. Free to use, no account needed.

Clubs in Canada →Marinas in Canada → All clubs worldwide → All marinas worldwide →

In Canada

Questions boaters actually ask.

Does the app call the Coast Guard, or 911? +

It depends on where you are. On the coasts, the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and the Arctic, “Yes, a life is in danger” calls the Coast Guard search and rescue centre for those waters directly (JRCC Victoria, Trenton or Halifax, or MRSC Québec or St. John’s), because that’s what the Canadian Coast Guard asks: VHF channel 16 or “your regional 24 hours emergency line”. On inland lakes and rivers the Coast Guard doesn’t serve, it dials 911, as Transport Canada advises. The app isn’t connected to the Coast Guard or 911: it dials the call and shows you the words.

When does the Canadian version arrive? +

Canada routing (the rescue centres, 911 inland, C-Tow and TowBoatUS) is in version 1.8 of the iPhone beta, the next one after 1.7. Older builds don’t know Canadian waters: near the border they may show a US Coast Guard sector, elsewhere 112, so update in TestFlight first. The app is a TestFlight beta by invite: it isn’t in the App Store yet, and there’s no Android version.

Does it file my sail plan? +

No. Transport Canada asks you to leave a sail plan with someone you trust, who calls for help if you’re late. VesselSOS doesn’t file one, and its automatic texts to your contacts don’t reach Canadian (+1) numbers yet, so nobody is alerted automatically. Leave your sail plan as usual, and share the live link with the same person.

Does it replace a VHF radio or a beacon? +

No. Transport Canada: “Marine VHF radio is generally the best way to send a distress alert,” and a cell phone is “not a substitute for a marine radio”: it can lose reception and won’t alert boats nearby. VesselSOS is the fast backup that’s there when the radio and beacon aren’t, and the only option in many canoes and small boats.

What about *16 on a cell phone? +

Some carriers connect *16 to the nearest Coast Guard radio centre, but only “where available”, and the Coast Guard warns that not all cellular companies provide it. The app doesn’t dial *16: it calls the rescue centre’s ordinary phone number.

How much battery does it use? +

Ashore, next to none: outside a trip, an SOS or a share link the app doesn’t track you; while it’s open it only checks hazards nearby, using an approximate position. During a trip it reports in the background at the interval you choose (every 30 seconds by default, roughly 4% an hour by our estimate), and slows to every 5 minutes below 20% battery. The people watching see your battery level.

What if I don’t come back on time? +

Set a return time when you leave. If you haven’t ended the trip by then, your phone asks you “Are you OK?”. Automatic texts to your contacts when you don’t answer don’t reach Canadian (+1) numbers yet, so nobody else is alerted automatically. Until then, send your trip link to someone yourself, and leave a sail plan so they know when to call for help.

Who can see my position? +

The people you send the link to and, during a trip, accepted friends if “Show friends when I’m at sea” is on. Automatic texts with the live link, sent when you miss the “Are you OK?” check, don’t reach Canadian (+1) numbers yet. The link stops when you tap “I’m ashore” (a quick share link lasts one hour), and we never sell or share location data.

Can my friends see where I am? +

Only while you’re on a trip with “Show friends when I’m at sea” on. Then friends who accepted your invitation see your position, speed, course, battery, start time and planned return, and get a push notification when you head out and when you’re back. Ashore they see only your name, number and main boat. Friends aren’t emergency contacts and get no overdue alert; automatic overdue texts to your contacts don’t reach Canadian numbers yet either. Friends is part of Pro.

How do hazard reports work? +

Anyone can open the hazard map, even without an account. With Pro you report a hazard (its type and your position) and confirm other people’s reports. Reports expire by type, from 20 minutes to 7 days, and confirmations renew them; fixed hazards such as rocks stay until removed. During a trip your phone alerts you to reported hazards nearby. Reports come from boaters and aren’t checked, they don’t go to the Coast Guard, and they never replace a lookout, charts or official navigational warnings.

Be aboard first.

We’re testing on iPhone now. We’ll email you the day VesselSOS opens to everyone in the App Store. Android comes later.

Launch email always included. Never shared or sold, one-click unsubscribe. Privacy notice

IMPORTANT

VesselSOS is an aid, not a rescue service. It doesn’t replace a VHF radio, an EPIRB or PLB, a lifejacket, or a call to the Coast Guard or 911, and it depends on your phone’s battery, GPS and coverage.

SUPPORT

A human answers within one working day.

support@vesselsos.com