I’m terrible at logging dives. I stopped recording dives in a logbook (remember them) nearly 15 years ago and constantly regret it. Whether it’s trying to remember that dive site’s name or how much weight I used with a particular set-up there’s loads of info I wish I’d kept. So I’m probably the ideal diver for the new logbook app Digidive.
Digidive is a free dive logbook app that aims to be a straightforward and customisable way to digitally record your dives. I put it to the test on a recent dive trip to St Abbs, Scotland.
Keep it simple
The app allows you to log dives, capture locations, add photos and see accumulated stats of your diving. The initial version of the app is free and available only on Apple IOS devices. This free version does not allow the direct import of dive data from dive computers but this feature is planned to be added as a optional paid upgrade at a later date.
Map it!
The user interface is clean, simple and familiar. It lacks the odd design flourish and does feel slightly basic in places. However, it is functional with intuitive menu and settings layouts, easily allowing me to log my first dive without issue. It just lacks any real design flair.
Logging a dive begins with choosing its location on a map (an embedded version of Apple Maps). The app already has a decent number of dive sites, particularly wrecks in the UK, pre-loaded by the app creators that allows you to quickly select your dive site. However, St Abbs was only shown as a single dive site.
The solution is manually adding dive sites onto the map. It’s straightforward to do; a long press on the map. The challenge is if you don’t have your phone with you while diving trying to locate the site accurately is not always easy. You can just drop the pin roughly where you were diving but if you’re particular (like me) it takes some time to work out exactly where the site was. The sites manually added are not shared with other users and purely for your own use.
In St Abbs for example there are many sites close together and working out exactly which rocky outcrop is which was hard to translate onto a map! This would be even worse if you were on a liveaboard and had no visual references or clear understanding where you were diving. It would be useful to have the option to ignore the map and just log the dive by name.
Customise
The app gives you control over what information you choose to log for each dive, with data fields easily toggled on or off in the settings menu. It’s then a quick process to fill in the data or toggle relevant sliders. It was easy enough to quickly grab my phone post-dive and enter the information.
The stats section is a nice touch. It shows your number of dives, total dive time, average dive time and average max depth. I think this area could definitely be expanded and offered the same level of customisation as the logbook entry. It would be fun to see the number of dives done in a year or how many in a certain country. As the data is already there you could potentially have unlimited ways to display and combine it.
Final Thoughts
Digidive is a competent app that does what you’d expect from a digital logbook. It’s simple to use and has enough customisation to allow you to record the information you want.
The lack of dive computer integration isn’t a deal breaker for me, particularly for a free app, I’m happy with the basics done well. The need to locate or place each dive on a map is frustrating as it’s not always possible to do accurately.
Digidive does 90% of what you’d want from digital logbook and for the price (free) is great value.
– Digidive is available to download for free from the App Store
