Portside
← Home
Beginner friendly · 5-minute read

How to use Portside

A quick tour of every feature. Follow the sections in order, or jump to what you need.

1

Getting started

Install and open. No account needed.

  1. Install Portside from Google Play.
  2. Open the app — you'll land on the map.
  3. Allow location access when asked. It's only used to center the map on your position and to fill in coordinates when you tap Use current location. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere.
  4. That's it. You can log everything offline, forever, without an account.
Tip: the pill at the bottom of the map is your main control. + adds a vessel, the list icon opens your log, and the gear opens settings.
2

Sign on to a vessel

Marks the vessel you're currently working on.

  1. Tap the + button at the bottom of the map.
  2. Enter the vessel name, call sign, and IMO number.
  3. Tap Rank / Position and choose from the list, or type your own.
  4. Tap Sign On This Vessel.
While you're signed on, every port call you save goes into this vessel's history automatically. Same name, same session, one card in your log.
3

Log a port call

Add a stop to the vessel you're signed on to.

  1. Tap + again while signed on — the vessel fields are already filled in.
  2. Pick a country and status (Alongside, At Anchor, STS, Transiting).
  3. Tap Latitude and Longitude to enter coordinates. Use the DDM format (degrees + decimal minutes), or tap the crosshair to fill from your device location.
  4. Enter the port name and pick arrival and departure dates from the calendar.
  5. Add notes if you want — cargo, berth, delays, anything.
  6. Tap SAVE.
You can add as many ports as you need during one session. They all stay grouped under the same vessel card.
4

Edit or delete a port

Fix a mistake or remove a stop.

  1. Tap the list icon → tap a vessel → its port history opens.
  2. Swipe left on a port for Edit and Delete actions.
  3. Or long-press a port card to see its full details.
  4. To make retroactive changes: open a port → Edit → change any field → SAVE.
  5. You can also mark a port as your sign-off point right from the edit screen.
Deleting a port is permanent. If you just need to correct it, edit instead.
5

Sign off

Close the session when you leave the vessel.

  1. Tap + → tap Sign Off (bottom of the sheet).
  2. Confirm. The session is archived with a SIGNED OFF pill on the last port.
  3. Your next port call will start a fresh session under a new vessel card.
Forgot to sign off? Open the port where you actually left → Edit → toggle Mark as sign-off point → SAVE. The session closes retroactively.
6

Download offline maps

Save coastal regions for use with no signal.

  1. Tap ⚙ → Offline Map Manager.
  2. Tap + Add Region.
  3. Pan the map to the coastal area you need.
  4. Drag the rectangle over the region you want to save.
  5. Move the zoom slider — higher zoom = more detail but more space.
  6. Tap SAVE → name the region.
  7. The download starts automatically. Tap a saved region any time to fly the map there.
Offline maps take storage. A typical harbor region uses a few MB. Bigger areas = more space.
7

Cloud sync (optional)

Back up and sync across devices — for a fee.

  1. Tap ⚙ → Account → Sign In or Sign Up.
  2. Enter your email and a password. Confirm via the link or the 6-digit code in the email.
  3. Once signed in, tap Sync Now any time to push your log to the cloud.
  4. On another device, sign in with the same account to pull everything down.
Creating an account is free. Cloud sync itself is an optional paid upgrade. Your local log works fine without any account.
8

Export & import

Back up your log or move it to a new phone.

  1. Tap ⚙ → Storage & Data.
  2. Export vessel records → saves both JSON and CSV files. Share them via Drive, email, or any app.
  3. Import vessel records → pick a JSON or CSV file to merge the log into your account.
Export regularly — it's the safest backup. Files are yours; nobody else sees them.
9

Light & dark mode

Match your phone's theme automatically, or pick your own.

  1. Tap ⚙ → App Appearance.
  2. Choose Auto (System), Light, or Dark.
  3. The map, the pill, and every sheet re-theme instantly — no restart.

Mariner Pro

Routing engine, route editor, canal toggles, and ECDIS export

10

Unlocking Mariner Pro

One-time $14.99 purchase — no subscription.

  1. Open the app. Sign in if prompted (optional for routing features).
  2. Tap the MARINER PRO pill in the top-right corner of the map.
  3. The paywall sheet opens with the current feature list.
  4. Tap UNLOCK — $14.99. Google Play billing opens.
  5. Complete the purchase. Banner: Mariner Pro unlocked.
  6. The top-right pill now reads ← LOGBOOK — tap to toggle back.
Already purchased? Tap RESTORE on the paywall.
11

Route planner

Build, save, and load routes between any two ports.

  1. Tap the Route icon in the bottom navigation pill.
  2. The Route Planner sheet slides up with From/To fields, NEW ROUTE, LOAD ROUTE, and the SAVED ROUTES list.
  3. Tap From port or To port. The port picker opens with a live search keyboard.
  4. Type sing → Singapore, sao → São Paulo, SGSIN → exact UN/LOCODE match.
  5. Tap a result. The sheet closes and the port fills the field.
  6. Fill both ports, tap LOAD ROUTE. The button turns blue when ready.
  7. Sheet closes. Banner: Saved: Manila → Rotterdam. Camera flies to fit the route.
  8. The EDIT ROUTE pill slides up. The ACTIVE ROUTE card appears in the planner.
Search tips: accent-insensitive, partial matches work, and 5-letter UN/LOCODEs match exactly.
12

Two-tap route building

Build a route from two seaport dots — no planner needed.

  1. Enable the Seaports overlay (Overlays → Seaports).
  2. Zoom in to see orange port dots on the map.
  3. Tap the first seaport. A sheet opens with the port name, UN/LOCODE, and START ROUTE / CLOSE buttons.
  4. Tap START ROUTE. A FROM: [port] ✕ pill appears above the bottom navigation.
  5. Pan to the second seaport and tap it. The sheet now shows END ROUTE.
  6. Tap END ROUTE. Banner: Building route…
  7. Banner updates to Saved: [start] → [end]. Camera flies to fit the route.
To cancel a pending start, tap the FROM: [port] ✕ pill.
If you tap a non-seaport feature, the route buttons don't appear. Route planning only works on seaport features.
13

Manage canals & straits

80+ choke points as toggleable gates. Close any one — the router goes around.

  1. Open the Overlays sheet (Settings or map button).
  2. Toggle on Straits & Canals. Dots appear — green for open, red for closed.
  3. Tap any dot. Dialog opens with CLOSE / OPEN / CANCEL.
  4. Tap CLOSE. The dot turns red. The routing engine respects it immediately.
  5. Verify by rebuilding the route. Manila → Rotterdam with Suez closed jumps from ~9,800 nm to ~13,000 nm (via Cape of Good Hope).
Closures persist across app restarts. Existing routes re-path next load.
Key passages: Panama, Suez, Malacca, Sunda, Lombok, Gibraltar, Bab-el-Mandeb, Hormuz, Bosporus, Danish Straits, Dover, Messina, Magellan, Mozambique Channel.
Arctic penalty: Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage are permanently deprioritized (3× cost). No user toggle — it's a safety margin.
14

Route editor

Add, insert, delete, drag, and rename waypoints.

  1. Open the editor: tap the EDIT ROUTE pill above the bottom nav, or load a fresh route from the planner.
  2. + (Add) — tap the map to append a new waypoint at the end of the route.
  3. ↔ (Insert) — tap the blue line between two waypoints to insert one between them.
  4. − (Delete) — tap a waypoint dot to remove it. Route cannot have fewer than 2 waypoints.
  5. ✕ (Close) — collapses back to the EDIT ROUTE pill.
Moving a waypoint: long-press directly on a dot. Yellow halo appears, and a circular magnifier loupe shows a 2× zoomed view above your finger. Drag live; release to commit.
Renaming a waypoint: Route Planner → active route → VIEW PASSAGE PLAN. Long-press the leg row to rename. Names appear in exports.
Long-press away from a waypoint drops a coordinate pin instead. Only presses within ~48dp of a dot pick it up.
15

Passage plan

Distance, ETA, and per-waypoint breakdown.

  1. Open Route Planner, then tap VIEW PASSAGE PLAN on the ACTIVE ROUTE card.
  2. The header shows the route name and a Last updated date.
  3. The speed control defaults to 12.0 kts. Tap it, type a new value — the ETA updates live.
  4. The summary card shows total distance in nautical miles and ETA at the chosen speed.
  5. Scroll for the leg-by-leg breakdown: numbered legs, DMM coordinates, custom waypoint names.
ETA assumes constant speed with no stops. Add ~15% for weather and canal overhead.
16

Exporting routes

Seven formats — from ECDIS standard to weather routing.

  1. Route Planner → long-press any saved route.
  2. Tap Export in the action menu.
  3. The Export Options modal shows all 7 formats.
  4. Tap the format you want. Android's file picker opens with a suggested name (Manila_Rotterdam.rtz).
  5. Choose destination (Downloads, cloud, SD card). Banner: Exported [Format]: [route name].
Formats: RTZ (IEC 61174 — ECDIS standard), GPX (OpenCPN, Garmin, Google Earth), GPX Weather (PredictWind), KML, CSV, RUX (Furuno, best-effort), RTM (Raymarine, best-effort).
RTZ is the safest choice. Almost every modern ECDIS accepts it. RUX and RTM are reconstructions — verify against your specific plotter.
17

Marine overlays

13 categories of regulatory and reference layers.

  1. Open the Overlays sheet from the map button or Settings.
  2. Toggle any layer on or off. Categories: Seaports, LNG Terminals, Anchorages, MARPOL Areas, Emission Control Areas, Load Line Zones, ATBA, Straits & Canals, War Risk Zones, NAVTEX, NAVAREAs / METAREAs, GMDSS HF DSC, Pilot Stations.
  3. Tap any dot, polygon, or line for the feature sheet — name, country, type, UN/LOCODE, position in decimal and DMM. GMDSS shows MMSI, band, and status. Seaports show a START ROUTE button.
Your on/off choices persist across restarts. Fresh install defaults to all overlays off.
18

Multi-select delete

Clean up saved routes in bulk.

  1. Route Planner → long-press any saved route.
  2. Tap Select multiple.
  3. Checkboxes appear on each route row.
  4. Tap routes to check or uncheck. Header shows N SELECTED.
  5. Tap DELETE and confirm. Or CANCEL to exit.
19

Tips & gotchas

Small habits that make routing painless.

  1. Long routes take 2–5 seconds to build. The banner covers the wait — map stays interactive.
  2. Distances match published sailing distances to ~1–2%. Small differences are normal.
  3. If a closure “doesn’t work”, rebuild the route — cached paths aren’t re-routed automatically.
  4. Drag requires long-press first. A quick tap on a waypoint does not move it.
  5. The magnifier only appears during a waypoint drag.
  6. Waypoint names export. Rename a waypoint “Pilot Station” and it appears in your RTZ file.
  7. Export does not modify the route. It’s a read-only copy.
  8. Filenames are auto-sanitized. Spaces become underscores.
  9. Everything works offline. Routing, overlays, port lookup — works in airplane mode.
  10. Sign-in is optional for routing features.
  11. Data is bundled. Every app update brings the latest route graph and port database.

Navigation Disclaimer

Portside is a personal logbook and planning tool — not a navigational system. Portside does not replace official means of navigation and must never be used as the sole means of navigation. All routes, distances, and passage plans provided by Portside are advisory and must be verified by the user against official charts and navigation systems before use. Chart data is derived from OpenStreetMap and OpenSeaMap and may not reflect current conditions. Canal and strait data is curated from public sources and may be incomplete or outdated. The GMDSS station list is sourced from IHO GMDSS.1/Circ.17 and is provided for reference only — verify against current ITU List IV and IMO publications before operational use. The publisher assumes no responsibility for losses or damages arising from the use of this application.

Still stuck?

We read every message and usually reply within a day.

[email protected]