Location & Away Mode

Where the boat is, whether it moved, and whether anyone should be aboard — usually with hardware you already own.

Where the position comes from

DockNeighbor never requires extra location hardware. A boat's position can come from:

  • Your cellular router's built-in GPS — GL.iNet X-series, Peplink, and Cradlepoint gateways carry GNSS; if one is already the boat's uplink, it's also the position source. See How It Works.
  • An NMEA 0183 feed over TCP or UDP — from a chartplotter or any onboard GPS already on the network.
  • This phone's GPS — the simplest start. A phone source is bound to the phone that created it, so your laptop can never quietly substitute its own position for the boat's.
  • A manual pin — tap the map or type coordinates. Fine for "here's my slip"; not armable for the anchor watch, since a pin can't drag.

Live feeds are smart about cadence: positions are saved when the boat actually moves (~10 m) and reported to the cloud on meaningful movement (~25 m, at most every 30 s) — so a dragging boat reports every half minute while a boat at rest stays quiet.

Privacy: nothing runs with the app closed — the app reports positions only while it's open, and the cloud watches what was reported. Position history is kept at your plan's retention like any other telemetry, and there are no analytics or tracking SDKs anywhere in DockNeighbor. Details: privacy policy.

Away Mode’s vessel moved alarm

Choose Away and DockNeighbor puts a circle around where you left the boat: the slip, the mooring, the storage row. If the boat's live position leaves it, everyone on the boat hears about it. Away is available on every paid plan — Dockside and up.

How Away Mode's vessel moved alarm works Away Mode — a circle around where you left the boat ⛵ center: where it was when Away Mode turned on ⛵ Vessel moved the boat left without you — push to everyone on the boat 👋 Away Mode: Aboard, Away or Anchor — movement that's normal with you there becomes worth an alarm when nobody should be aboard.
Away Mode marks where you left the boat; the live GPS feed proves it moved.

Worth knowing: the center is where the boat was when Away turned on (the live feed proves it moved — arming requires a GPS source to exist).

Aboard, Away and Anchor

Tell DockNeighbor whether the boat is Aboard, Away or at Anchor, and alerting adapts: Away arms the vessel moved alarm when you leave, and movement that's routine with you there becomes worth an alarm when nobody should be aboard. The mode is manual today — set it from the Away Mode card (Away is Dockside+).

Location sharing Coming soon

In development now: share your position with the people you pick — family following a passage, a partner meeting you at the ramp — on every plan, including Free. Friends who accept get position updates and a live where-is-it-now view. A public option (anyone can look up where you are) is planned for paid plans. Follow it on the roadmap.

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