Shearwater Cloud or MacDive?

[fred32176]

Any thoughts on which app - shearwater cloud or MacDive would work better for me? I bought a peregrine today,

We are an apple family with MacBook air's, iPhones and for work a MacBook pro. I have an iPhone SE (2020) which has a small screen that I love. DiveLog+ did not work well on the small screen, I believe there are save buttons in DiveLog+ which I could not get to because there was no scroll and my screen was too small.

Does anyone have any experience with either shearwater cloud or MacDive on a small screen iPhone? Can I simply use my iPhone as a conduit to my MacBook Air? I plan on putting the app on a MacBook Air as well as my phone. The MacBook Air runs MacOS Ventura and has Bluetooth 4.2? Would a recently manufactured peregrine connect better with a Mac? I am not going to try and migrate any dives from DiveLog+ ( I probably can't get to the export button if it has one).

 

[azstinger11]

I have and use both. I personally prefer MacDive. MacDive imho, unfortunately needs 2 purchases to be fully utilized. The MacOS license and the iOS/iPadOS one. Use the mobile one to import and run the GPS tracker for auto dive site tagging. Then use the MacOS one for any heavy editing, typing etc. My workload is put phone on airplane mode, start MacDive tracker, take dive notes in default iOS notes app, go diving for the day (assuming multi tank boat here), finish diving, stop tracker, upload from dive computer to MacDive on iPhone, tag location, sync MacDive, drive home, then edit on my macbook. If you have a camera, make sure that the camera time and the dive computer time are synched up, then if you import photos into MacDive you can see where those were on the dive (it also updates the animal information about where you have seen them).

Alternatively you can use subsurface which is free, available across all platforms, maintained by a wide range of very knowledgable and dedicated volunteers (instead of the single developer of MacDive), and has more support for advanced technical diving. The downside is the user interface. Think about stepping on a lego with bare feet, it's about as enjoyable lol.

Regardless of MacDive, Subsurface, Shearwater, etc i have always had FAR better luck using a mobile device's bluetooth than any laptop or desktop's bluetooth connection (Linux, Mac, Windows laptops/desktops it doesn't seem to matter). So regardless of the software you end up using, I would highly recommend the mobile upload, sync, then edit on larger platform.

 

[Todd999]

I have both and use MacDive. Much better and has ALL my old dives from Dive 1 on older computers or on paper. 1 dive log to keep forever.

 

[acreichman]

Another vote for MacDive. I can't speak to how it works on smaller screens or how it compares to Shearwater Cloud but MacDive has been great for me. If you get both licenses (phone and computer), syncing works great. I import dives from my Perdix to my phone (and tag GPS sites) and then do all the fun stuff on my computer.

 

[JoeTPhilly]

MacDive hands down. It is way better. I use it on both the iPhone and my MacBook Air. AZstinger11 covered everything. I will add one note in that the developer doesn't seem to work on it anymore. I have emailed him and got no response. Also, I haven't seen an update in a long while.

 

[fred32176]

Sounds like everyone likes MacDive. Thanks!

 

[Mike1967]

Check this out...

‎Dive Log

‎Dive Log is designed to work either as your primary SCUBA diving logbook application or in conjunction with compatible 3rd party desktop logbook applications. You can use Dive Log at the dive site or on the dive boat to capture the information about the site while it is fresh in your mind (or...

apps.apple.com

 

[Watthem]

I primarily use MacDive which is fantastic, but I also make a point to sync my computer to the Shearwater app as well because it's better at logging my AI gas consumption when diving sidemount with 2 transmitters

 

[azstinger11]

I primarily use MacDive which is fantastic, but I also make a point to sync my computer to the Shearwater app as well because it's better at logging my AI gas consumption when diving sidemount with 2 transmitters

Ditto. Also if you connect a Shearwater device to a mobile shearwater cloud app, it updates the dive computer clock. Very handy when traveling.

 

[Sevenrider860]

MacDive hands down. It is way better. I use it on both the iPhone and my MacBook Air. AZstinger11 covered everything. I will add one note in that the developer doesn't seem to work on it anymore. I have emailed him and got no response. Also, I haven't seen an update in a long while.

I hope he has just gotten busy. While I have not had direct communication with him since 2019, Nick Shore was super responsive when Shearwater changed the data format and he sent me a beta version to validate some of his code changes.

He did answer a support forum question on July 4, 2023 and was on the support forum on July 10, 2023...so he is still around. Maybe working on the 3.0 version??

I use both the desktop and the iOS versions. I will, on occasion, upload to the Shearwater Cloud when I want to see all the computer information (individual CCR cell voltages during the dive, etc), but MacDive is my true logbook where all of my dives are recorded.