Everything in Fishwake, step by step

Signing up

What it does: creates your account, which keeps all your catches, trips and spots, even if you change phones.

1. Install Fishwake from Google Play or the App Store and open it.
2. On the welcome screen, choose how to sign up: with your Google account, with Apple (on iPhone), or tap "Sign up with email".
3. To sign up with email, fill in your full name, email address and password, and tap "Create Account". Do you have an invite code from a friend? Enter it in the "Invite code" field.
4. Right after sign-up, a short tour opens. You can go through it or skip it.
5. On one of the first screens of the tour, you choose a language. Choose "English" or any other of the six.
6. When the app asks for location permission, allow it. Your location is used for the forecast where you are and for anglers near you.

You can change the language at any time: the "Me" tab, the gear icon, "General", "Language".

Signing in, logging out and resetting your password

Sign in on a new phone

1. Open the app and tap "Already have an account? Sign in" on the welcome screen.
2. Choose the same method you signed up with: Google, Apple, or email and password.
3. Tap "Sign In". All your data appears within a few seconds.

Forgot your password

1. On the sign-in screen, tap "Forgot password?".
2. Type the email address you signed up with and tap Send.
3. Open the email you received, tap the link and set a new password. If the email hasn't arrived within a minute, check your spam folder.

Log out

1. The "Me" tab, the gear icon, "Account".
2. Tap "Log Out" and confirm. Your data stays in your account; only the phone is disconnected from it.

My profile

What it does: sets how other anglers see you: name, photo, cover photo and a few words about you.

Edit your profile

1. On the "Me" tab, tap the pencil icon on your profile photo.
2. Change your "Display Name", username, "Bio" and country. Tap the photo to replace it.
3. Tap Save.

Cover photo

1. On the "Me" tab, tap the camera icon in the corner of the cover photo.
2. Choose a photo, position it in the crop window and confirm. The bin icon removes it.

See what others see

1. On the "Me" tab, tap the eye icon at the top of the screen. This is your public profile: only public catches and gear you marked to show.
2. From there, "Share" sends a link to your profile.

Under the trip card on the "Me" tab is "Get more from Fishwake": a list of three settings worth completing (auto-detection, photo import, forecast profile). It disappears once you're done.

Logging a catch

What it does: saves one catch to your log, with the photo, species, measurements, location and that hour's conditions.

1. Tap the plus button in the middle of the bottom bar. The "Log a Catch" form opens.
2. Tap "Add Media" and take a photo of the fish or choose one from the gallery. The whole fish, side-on, close up and in good light.
3. Wait a few seconds. The app identifies the species and suggests a weight and length, and the fields fill in by themselves.
4. Check the "Species" field. If the identification is wrong, tap the field and choose from the suggested species or search the catalogue.
5. Correct the weight and length if you measured them. The estimate from the photo is only a starting point.
6. Choose a platform (shore, boat, kayak, wading, ice, diving), "Fishing method" and "Bait". A method that isn't on the list is added through "Add Method".
7. Check the location. It comes from GPS, from a spot you saved or from the photo. You can choose a different place on the map.
8. Check "DATE & TIME". If you're logging at home after fishing, change it to the time of the catch; the conditions update to match.
9. Decide on visibility: "Share publicly" on or off. A public catch appears in the feed and on the map, as an area of about half a kilometre, not the exact spot.
10. Did you release the fish? Mark "Catch & Release". Want to add a note? Use the "Notes" field.
11. Tap "Save Catch".

Your first catch starts as public. After that, each new catch starts at the level you chose last time. A free account allows up to three photos and one video per catch.

Editing, deleting and restoring a catch

Edit

1. Open the catch: from the "Me" tab ("Your latest catches" or "View all"), from the feed, from the map or from the trip screen.
2. Tap "Edit" at the bottom of the screen.
3. Change what you need, including adding a photo or video, then tap "Continue" and save.
4. To change who sees the catch, turn "Share publicly" on or off in the same form.

Delete and restore

1. On the catch screen, tap "Delete Catch" and confirm.
2. The catch moves to "Recently Deleted" and stays there for thirty days: the "Me" tab, the gear icon, "Data & Privacy".
3. To restore it, open it there and tap Restore.

Share a catch

1. On the catch screen, tap "Share".
2. In your phone's share sheet, choose WhatsApp, Instagram or any app. A card is sent with the photo and details and a "View catch on Fishwake" link.
3. Anyone who receives the link sees the catch even without the app. A private catch shares only the card, with no location.

Importing old catches from the gallery

What it does: turns fish photos you already have on your phone into catches in your log, with that day's date, location and conditions.

1. On the "Me" tab, tap "Import catches" (a large card when you have no catches, a single row when you do).
2. Tap "Open the photo picker" and choose your fish photos. You can choose many at once.
3. Wait. The app reads the date and location from each photo, suggests a species, and fetches that day's sea conditions from a weather archive.
4. Go through the list: correct the species or location where needed, and remove photos that aren't fish.
5. Tap Import. All the catches go into your log as private.

Data that isn't in the archive stays empty. The app doesn't make up numbers. A photo with no location becomes a catch with no location, and you can add it later by editing.

Import from a CSV file (from another app)

1. The "Me" tab, the gear icon, "Data & Privacy", "Import Catches from CSV".
2. Download the template from the link on the screen, fill it in in a spreadsheet, and save it as CSV.
3. Go back to the import screen, choose the file and confirm. On Free: one import of up to 100 rows.

Trips: starting and ending

What it does: groups all of one day's catches into a single trip, with times, location and conditions.

Start

1. On the "Me" tab, tap the "Start a trip" card.
2. Name the trip (for example "Morning on the pier") and choose a platform. Tap Start.
3. From now on, every catch you log joins the trip by itself. A green bar with a clock appears above the bottom bar on every tab.

End

1. Tap the green bar, or the active trip card on the "Me" tab.
2. Tap "End trip" and confirm.
3. If you didn't log any catches, the app asks "Catch anything?". Tap "Log a catch" and fill in the form, and after saving it asks "Another one?". Tap "Nothing this time" when you're done.

Add a catch to a trip that has already ended

1. On the "Me" tab, in the "My fishing" card, tap "Trips".
2. Scroll to the list and tap the trip.
3. Tap "Log a catch" under the stats card. The form opens with the trip's platform and time.

Automatic trip detection (Android)

What it does: the app detects by itself that you've arrived somewhere you fish and offers to start a trip, and reminds you to end it when you leave or when you're back on shore.

Turn it on

1. The "Me" tab, the gear icon, "Fishing Setup", "Auto-detect my trips".
2. Turn on the switch. Android asks for location permission "Allow all the time": allow it. Your location is checked on the phone only and isn't sent anywhere.
3. Leave "Tell me when I arrive" and "Tell me when I leave" on, or turn one of them off.

What happens on the water

1. When you arrive at a spot you saved, at water where you caught fish before, or at a shore you launched from before, and stay a few minutes, an "Arrived at …?" notification comes in.
2. At a place where you already chose a platform before, there is one button: tap it, or the notification itself, and the trip starts. At a new place there are two buttons, for example "Start kayak trip" and "Start shore trip": choose the right one.
3. On a shore trip: when you move away from the place, after twenty minutes a "Left …?" notification comes in. Tap "End trip", or "Still fishing" if you just went to the car.
4. On a kayak, boat or diving trip: moving away from the shore doesn't count as leaving. When you return to the shore you launched from, a "Back at …?" notification comes in. Tap "End trip".
5. A long trip gets a check-in question: "Still out on the water?" after five hours by kayak or boat, "Still fishing at …?" after four hours from shore.

Your platform choice is remembered for that place. Next time you arrive there, the notification offers it directly.

Forecast: place, platform and profile

What it does: shows wind, waves, swell, pressure, water temperature and tide for ten days (three on Free), and marks the hours that suit you.

Choose a place

1. Open the "Forecast" tab.
2. Tap the place row at the top of the screen and choose: your current location, a spot you saved, or a search by name.
3. From the map, you can also tap a spot and choose forecast: it opens directly for that place.

Choose a platform and create a profile

1. Under the place is a row of platforms. Tap the one you fish from. Can't see it? Tap "more".
2. The first time, the app offers to set up a profile. Tap the offer, or scroll to the bottom of the tab and tap "Manage profiles".
3. Choose the platform and fill in the limits: "Max wind", "Max wave height", water temperature range, chance of rain, conditions you avoid and the hours you prefer. You can start from the default values.
4. Tap "Save profile".
5. Go back to the forecast. Each day card shows how many good hours there are, and the chart colours them green. A good hour is one that meets all the limits.

On a lake, stream or reservoir, the app hides waves and tide and shows "Freshwater · marine waves and tides hidden". If a spot is identified wrongly, set its water type on the map (see "Saved spots").

Saved spots on the map

What it does: saves places you go back to, so you can pick them with one tap in the form and the forecast and see what you caught there.

Save a spot

1. Open the "Map" tab.
2. Press and hold the place you want on the map.
3. In the "Save Fishing Spot" window, enter a name and choose the "Water type": sea, lake, river or reservoir. The water type sets how the spot's forecast looks.
4. Tap Save.

Use a spot

1. In the catch form: the location field offers your saved spots with one tap.
2. On the map: tap the spot. The sheet that opens has the forecast, the history of catches at that place, and editing.
3. At the top of the map, turn layers on or off: "My Spots", "Following", "Public", "Heatmap". "Spot stats" opens an analysis: which spot is the most productive per trip.

Your spots are private. On a public catch, others see an area of about half a kilometre, not the spot, unless you chose "Exact" for that catch.

My gear

What it does: records your rods, reels, lines and lures, attaches them to catches, and shows what works.

Add gear

1. On the "Me" tab, in the "My fishing" card, tap "Gear items". "My gear" opens.
2. Tap "Add your first gear" or the plus, type the item's name and choose a category: rod, reel, line, lure, hook, accessories and more.
3. You can choose an item from the results (with a photo and price) or add the name you typed as it is, and take your own photo.
4. "Show on public profile": turn it on if other anglers can see the item.

Attach gear to a catch

1. In the catch form, scroll to the gear field and choose from your shelf, or tap "Add to this catch" from an item in "My gear".
2. "Gear Stats" on the shelf shows how many catches each item has and which of them brings in the big fish.

Wishlist

1. An item you haven't bought yet: add it to the "Wishlist" instead of the shelf.
2. "Compare Prices" opens the item in the shop. Fishwake gets a small commission on purchases through the link; your price doesn't change.

Followers and following

What it does: an angler you follow appears in your feed and in the "Following" layer on the map, and you can get a notification about their new catches.

Follow an angler

1. Open the "Anglers" tab and tap the people icon at the top of the screen.
2. Search by name, or open an angler's profile from a card in the feed.
3. Tap "Follow". If they follow you, the button says "Follow back".

Invite a friend

1. On the same anglers screen is your invite code. Send it on WhatsApp.
2. Your friend enters the code in the "Invite code" field when signing up, and you're both connected.

Stop following

1. Open the angler's profile and tap the follow button.
2. Confirm "Unfollow". Their catches stop appearing in your feed; you can follow again at any time.

The "Followers" and "Following" counts appear under your name on the "Me" tab. Tapping them opens the lists.

The feed and your area

What it does: shows what other anglers caught, near you and around the world, and what was caught in your area in the last few days.

Read the feed

1. Open the "Anglers" tab.
2. At the top of the screen there are three views: "Area" (what was caught around you, by species, with a radius you can change), "Following" (only people you follow) and "All".
3. Tap a catch card to open it. You can like it and write a comment.
4. In the "Area" view, tap "Change" to check a different area, for example before a trip away.

Likes, comments and alerts

1. On a catch card, tap the heart to like it, or open the catch and tap "Comments" to write one.
2. You can remove a comment you wrote by pressing and holding it.
3. The bell at the top of the feed opens "Alerts": likes, comments, new followers and catches by people you follow. "Mark all read" clears the red dot.

Block or report a user

1. Open the user's profile and tap the menu (three dots).
2. Choose "Report user" to send us a report, or block. A blocked user can't see your catches and can't comment or follow.
3. The list of blocked users: the gear icon, "Data & Privacy", "Blocked Users". From there you can unblock.

The feed shows only catches whose owners chose to share them. A private catch never appears in it.

My fishing: reading your numbers

What it does: sums up all your catches for the period you choose: what you catch, when, in what conditions, and with which method.

Read the numbers

1. On the "Me" tab, tap the "My fishing" heading.
2. Choose a period on the month bar: tapping a month chooses it, tapping another month chooses the whole span between them. Or tap "This month", "This year", "All time", or the calendar icon for a custom range.
3. Switch between the views: "Overview", "What you catch", "When you catch", "Conditions".
4. Tap a number tile (total catches, species, fishing days) to open the list of catches behind it.
5. For a question about your fishing, tap "Ask about your fishing" and ask in your own words, for example which bait worked best for you in summer.

List of all catches

1. On the "Me" tab, tap "View all" above the catch gallery (or the "Total Catches" tile on the "My fishing" screen).
2. Search in the "Search species or spots…" bar, filter "By Species", saltwater or freshwater, and visibility (private or public).
3. Sort: "Newest catch", oldest, "Heaviest" or longest.

Trip stats, such as the share of successful trips and catches per trip, are at the top of the "View all trips" screen.

The fish encyclopedia

What it does: hundreds of species with a name in English and five other languages, habitat, behaviour, recommended techniques and peak season.

1. The "Me" tab, "My fishing", scroll to the species section and tap "Browse all species".
2. Search by name, or filter by world region and by saltwater or freshwater.
3. Tap a species to open its entry.
4. Shortcut: in a catch's details, tap the species name and its entry opens.

A species you searched for in the form that wasn't in the catalogue was added to it with its own entry. A custom species you created gets a short entry written for it.

Your documents

What it does: keeps your fishing licence, boating licence, vessel licence and insurance, available even with no signal, with a reminder before they expire.

1. On the "Me" tab, tap "Documents".
2. Tap "Add a document" and photograph the document or choose a photo. For a document with several pages: "Add a page" for each page.
3. On Premium, the app reads the "Document type", "Issued by", "Issued on" and "Expires on" from the photo. Check and correct them. On Free, fill them in by hand.
4. Leave "Expiry reminders" on (Premium): 30 and 7 days before and on the day itself, and for a boating licence and vessel licence also 60 days before.
5. Tap Save.

An ID number is not saved, even if it appears in the photo. Your documents are visible only to you.

Premium: trial, managing and restoring

What it gives you: a ten-day forecast, unlimited spots and the full heatmap, all the analyses, unlimited fishing coach, more photos per catch, large imports, export to a fish finder, and document reminders. $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year.

Start a free trial

1. On the "Me" tab, tap "Upgrade to Premium" (or any feature marked as Premium).
2. Choose monthly or yearly and tap "Start 30-day free trial".
3. Confirm in the store. The first charge is only at the end of the thirty days, and you can cancel before then.

Cancel or change your plan

1. On the "Me" tab, tap the Premium row. The app takes you to the subscription management page in the store.
2. Choose cancel or change plan. Premium stays active until the end of the period you paid for.

Restore on a new device

1. Sign in with the same store account (Google or Apple) you bought with.
2. Open the Premium screen and tap "Restore Purchases".

Settings: language, units, alerts and export

Settings open from the gear icon on the "Me" tab. Six groups: "General", "Fishing Setup", "Alerts", "Data & Privacy", "Help & About", "Account".

Appearance

1. "General", "Appearance": "Automatic" (light by day, dark at night, by sunrise and sunset at your location), "Light" or "Ocean" (dark).

Change language or units

1. "General", "Language", choose from the six. The app switches immediately, including fish names.
2. "General", "Units": "Metric" (kg, cm, m) or "Imperial". The data itself doesn't change, only the display.

Automatic weather and AI features

1. "General", "Weather auto-fill": when it's on, every catch gets the conditions for its place and time.
2. "AI features": identifying the fish from the photo, the fishing coach and reading documents work only after you've agreed in the "Allow AI features?" window (shown the first time). You can turn them off and on here.

Custom content and profiles

1. "Fishing Setup", "Manage custom content": this is where you edit or delete species, methods, spots and baits you added yourself.
2. "Fishing Setup", "Platform profiles": the same profiles as in "Manage profiles" in the forecast.

Choose which alerts you get

1. "Alerts". Turn on or off: "New catches" by anglers you follow, "New followers", "Trip safety alerts" during a trip, and messages from Fishwake.
2. If a "Notifications blocked" banner appears, tap it: it takes you to your phone's settings to allow notifications for the app.
3. "Catch reminders": when it's on, we remind you when a week you fished in the past comes round again. "How often": "Only the best ones" (about once a month), "Now and then" or "Whenever there's one".

Export your data

1. "Data & Privacy", "Export My Catches": choose CSV (for a spreadsheet) or JSON (all the data, including conditions and trips).
2. "Export fishing spots": GPX, CSV or KML, to load into a fish finder or Google Earth.
3. The file opens in your phone's share sheet: send it by email or save it to Drive.

Delete your account

1. First export anything you want to keep. Deletion is immediate and final.
2. "Account", "Delete Account", enter your password and confirm "Delete Permanently".

Support and reporting a problem

Help inside the app

1. The gear icon, "Help & About": "FAQ" answers the common questions, "Show me around again" runs the tour again, and from there you can also share the app with a friend and rate it in the store.

Report a bug or suggest an improvement

1. The "Me" tab, the gear icon, "Help & About".
2. Tap "Report a bug or suggest improvement".
3. Choose "Bug" or "Suggestion", choose a category (forecast, catches, AI, map and more) and describe what you saw. You can attach a screenshot.
4. Send. We read every report and reply to the email you signed up with.

You can also write directly to support@fishwake.com.