PaddlePilot Support
Talk to a person
Write to info@orlproducts.com. We answer in English, French or Vietnamese, usually within two business days. In the app, You › Contact Support opens an email with your device and app version filled in.
Getting started
Pick what you paddle and your usual pace, then choose a reach on the Waters map or search a river, lake or town. PaddlePilot times the trip against today’s flow, wind and daylight. To look around first, open Waters › Try a demo trip: it is a full sample plan on the Eno River, North Carolina, and nothing in it is saved or shared.
River Time and Return-by-Dark
River Time is a range, not a single number: it combines your pace, the current estimated from the live gauge, wind, stops and portages. Launch-by, turn-back and your daylight margin always use the slow end of the range. When a gauge is missing or old, PaddlePilot says so and assumes a slow current.
Every value shows its source and age. You › Sources & Methods lists the public safety guidance and the data behind each number, with links.
Shore Crew and float plans
Invite crew through a private iCloud share. Their iPhone, iPad or Mac keeps your plan and sets its own overdue alarm, so it works even when you have no signal. Anyone else can get the plan by message or email as a PDF. When you finish, hold “I’m Off the Water”.
Apple Watch
Start a paddle on Apple Watch and it records on its own, with time, distance, daylight margin and Course View. If your iPhone is nearby it shows the same trip and Live Activity instead of recording a second track.
PaddlePilot Pro
Pro is offered weekly, monthly or yearly (auto-renewing) or as a one-time Lifetime purchase. Prices are shown in your App Store currency before you buy. There is no free trial. Safety features — official alerts, Float Plan, Shore Crew, River Time ranges, launch-by and turn-back times, daylight notices, off-route alerts and recording — are free.
- Cancel: Settings › your name › Subscriptions on your device, or You › PaddlePilot Pro › Manage subscription in the app. Pro stays on until the end of the period you paid for.
- Restore: You › Restore Purchases, or Restore on the Pro page, signed in with the Apple Account that bought it. Yearly and Lifetime work with Family Sharing.
- Refunds are handled by Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Permissions
PaddlePilot asks only when you use a feature that needs it, and everything else keeps working if you say no. Changed your mind? Settings › PaddlePilot has every switch.
- Location (while using the app) — launches near you, trip timing and recording your track.
- Notifications — float plan reminders, overdue alarms, flow alerts and gear reminders, all scheduled on your device.
- Health — saves paddles as Paddle Sports workouts; heart rate on Apple Watch.
- Camera, Microphone, Speech Recognition, Calendars — only for photos, voice notes (transcribed on the device) and Add to Calendar.
Data sources and open data
River flow comes from the U.S. Geological Survey and Environment and Climate Change Canada (Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada), tides from NOAA CO-OPS, weather and official alerts from Apple Weather, topographic tiles from USGS The National Map and Natural Resources Canada (Open Government Licence – Canada), and launches, dams, weirs and portages from OpenStreetMap.
The launch, hazard, portage and water database in PaddlePilot is derived from OpenStreetMap data, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and is available under the Open Database License 1.0. Download it here: database (JSON, gzip, 3.9 MB) · build details · build script.
A safety note
PaddlePilot is a planning and tracking aid. It doesn’t guarantee conditions and doesn’t replace official warnings, local rules, training or your own judgment. Not for marine navigation. In an emergency call 911 (US and Canada).