Short answer: yes — and here is everything you need to check it yourself instead of taking our word for it.
Helm Boating is published by Loop Mobile FZCO, a software company registered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is listed on the Apple App Store as Helm Boating: GPS, Chart & Map under that same company name, in the Navigation category, and it is free to download. The listing went live on 18 September 2026 and runs on iPhone and iPad with iOS 18 or later.
Trusting a navigation app is a real decision — you are using it to decide where to put your boat. So the rest of this page is specific rather than reassuring: who we are, where every number in the app comes from, what happens when the signal drops, what we do with your data, and how to reach a person.
Helm is built and operated by Loop Mobile FZCO, registered at Unit 113, DMCC Business Centre, Level 1, Jewellery & Gemplex 3, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The same company name appears as the developer on the App Store listing and on loopmobile.io, so what you install matches who we say we are. The team that answers your email is the team that writes the app.
Check it yourself in two minutes. Open the App Store listing and tap the developer name — Loop Mobile FZCO, with the same company site and privacy policy linked from this page. Then look up any of the four data sources below; all of them are published by US federal or state agencies, not by us.
Helm does not invent depth. It merges four independent public sources and reports the result against the draft you entered, with the date the measurement was taken.
| Source | Published by | What it contributes |
|---|---|---|
| NOAA ENC | NOAA, Office of Coast Survey | The official US electronic navigational chart — the authoritative baseline |
| USACE eHydro | US Army Corps of Engineers | Dredging and channel surveys, often far fresher than the chart in maintained channels |
| State lake elevation data | State agencies | Inland lake depth, so a lake is real water on the chart rather than a blank |
| Live tide | NOAA CO-OPS (MLLW datum) | The water level right now, so the number moves with the water |
Helm shows you the date. A charted sounding can be decades old while a dredging survey next to it is from last season — they are not the same promise, and flattening them into one blue number hides that. Helm also surfaces CATZOC, the confidence rating carried inside the electronic chart itself, which records how a survey was done and how far its depths can be trusted. A surveyed channel and a low-confidence zone look different on screen because the chart says they are different. The full explanation is here.
You enter your boat's draft once. Water you cannot cross is shaded, routes plan around it, and the measure tool reports the shallowest point along any line you draw rather than the average of it.
Coverage is packaged into 161 downloadable chart packs. You take the water you actually run and leave the rest. Once a pack is on the device, the app keeps doing its job with no cell service at all.
| On the water, with no signal | |
|---|---|
| NOAA charts | From the downloaded pack |
| Depth against your draft | Works offline |
| Route planning | Works offline |
| Tides | Predictions computed on the device |
| Anchor alarm | Runs on GPS, no connection needed |
| Track recording and logbook | Works offline |
Downloads run in the background and resume if they are interrupted, and Helm checks there is disk space before it starts. More about offline packs.
Helm is covered by the Loop Mobile FZCO privacy policy, published at the company site and linked from the App Store listing and from the footer of every page here. In its own words: “We do not sell your location data to third parties.”
Location is used for what a navigation app is for — showing your boat on the chart, recording the trip you asked it to record, and waking you if the anchor drags. Your routes, markers and saved spots sync so a passage planned on the iPad is on the phone at the dock. Privacy questions go to support@loopmobile.io, the address published in the policy.
Helm is free to download from the App Store. Anything you buy inside the app is an ordinary Apple purchase: it is billed by Apple, it appears in your Apple ID account, and you cancel it yourself in Settings → your name → Subscriptions in a couple of taps. There is no phone call to make, no form to fill in and nobody to talk you out of it.
For anything else — a chart pack question, a question about a chart or a depth reading, a feature you want — email support@loopmobile.io. It reaches the company that builds Helm, not an outsourced call center and not a chatbot.
Yes. It is published on the Apple App Store as Helm Boating: GPS, Chart & Map by Loop Mobile FZCO, a software company registered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in the Navigation category, free to download, for iPhone and iPad on iOS 18 or later. The listing went live on 18 September 2026.
Loop Mobile FZCO, Unit 113, DMCC Business Centre, Dubai, UAE. The same company name is on the App Store listing, on loopmobile.io and on the privacy policy the app links to.
From public authorities: NOAA electronic navigational charts, USACE eHydro dredging surveys, state lake elevation data and live NOAA CO-OPS tides against the MLLW datum. Helm merges them and reports the result against your draft, with the date the measurement was taken and the chart's own CATZOC confidence rating.
Helm tells you how old each measurement is instead of hiding it, and pulls in fresher USACE survey data where it exists. The tide component is live, so the depth reading moves with the water rather than sitting at a chart datum.
Yes. Download the chart packs for your area first — there are 161 of them — and charts, depth, routing, tides, the anchor alarm and track recording all keep working with no service.
Use is covered by the published Loop Mobile FZCO privacy policy, which states that location data is not sold to third parties. Location powers the chart, the logbook and the anchor alarm. Questions go to support@loopmobile.io.
Anything bought inside the app is billed by Apple and cancelled from your own Apple ID subscription settings, in a couple of taps, at any time.
Email support@loopmobile.io. It goes to the company that builds the app.
Yes — coastal, intracoastal, rivers and inland lakes. Lake depth comes from state elevation surveys rather than NOAA charts, which is why inland water is real data in Helm.
Helm Boating is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
Free to download. 3-day free trial, then $99.99 per year.
Helm Boating