A new free app out now for divers is Digidive, a customisable dive-log for all qualification levels and currently available for iPAD and iPhone users.
The system has been developed by US dive instructor Ariella Fuchs. Based on Florida’s Gulf Coast, after some 2,000 dives she decided it was time to create a comprehensive and user-friendly app that would allow scuba divers, freedivers and snorkellers alike to capture details of their underwater experiences.
“Traditional paper-based dive logs have their limitations,” says Fuchs. “They are difficult to search and lack the interactive features modern technology can provide.”
Digidive allows users to log dive-sites, conditions, marine-life encounters and other details in one easily accessible place, she says, and features a Wish List function to assist divers in setting out and keeping track of dream destinations.
“You can also choose which fields you want to see or not, so you don’t have to keep passing over the same fields you’re ignoring each time if you’re not interested in them,” says Fuchs.
Dive-computer compatibility
At present the app does not allow for direct uploading of data from dive-computers – that function is on the way but Fuchs had not regarded its absence as a drawback at the outset.
“The original reason I developed Digidive was to target novice users,” she explained to Divernet. “I think most log-books are tremendously complicated for new divers, so I wanted to make something that would allow users to focus on their interests without any clutter – fish, conditions, gear and general notes about how they felt on the dive.
“As I worked through the various ideas, I realised that advanced divers, including myself, stop logging their dives because it gets repetitive and they get to be ‘too cool’ for it. Unfortunately, this means they don’t have any real stats, because the information is often stored across multiple computers.”
Fuchs therefore expanded Digidive’s technical features, including the ability to log up to eight cylinders with different configurations and gas mixtures, and added a search capability and the Wish List to appeal to more advanced divers.
“You’re on a boat, discussing the amazing pygmy seahorse you saw, and want to explain exactly where you saw it and at what time of the year. Digidive can help identify that quickly, and that’s also something a paper log won’t do well – nor will the SSI app, for instance.”
In Digidive such information has to be written in the notes to be picked up by the search feature, but Fuchs is also now working on another optional function, Wildlife Identifier. “You’ll be able to search ‘pygmy’ and the search results will return the relevant dives immediately, because you’ve added them to your log using the identifier.”
Site recommendations
The existing Wish List feature offers the ability to flag divers’ recommendations of specific dive-sites, or to create a custom site referring to a wider location. “The app then also captures it if you have dived one of your Wish List destinations. I don’t know of any other app that offers these features.”
Recognising that many advanced divers will still demand dive-computer compatibility “to get those graphs”, Fuchs plans to introduce that feature as a paid-for optional extra to ensure that Digidive can compete with other major apps. The Wildlife Identifier will also be paid-for, and an Android Digidive version is on the way too.
The 37MB Digidive app requires iOS/iPadOS 16.2 or later for iPhones or iPads, MacOS 13.3 or later for a Mac with and Apple M1 chip or later and vision) S 1.0 for Apple Vision. Get it from the App Store.
Also on Divernet: FINDING THE BEST DIVE-LOGGING APP, APP REVIEW TEMPLATE
