Last updated on December 8th, 2025 at 02:45 am
Boat Master – Simulation Game Review
Boat Master is a Simulation/Education game from Tommy Vaux, first launched in 26th June 2018.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 1,697+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Boat Master Stand Out
Boat Master is a boat navigation and berthing (parking) simulation game where players have to berth different boats in varying conditions. It is designed to replicate the controls and conditions of berthing and navigating a real boat in a marina and coastal channels (rivers and bays) as closely as possible.
Current Features
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Drive and berth a motorboat or superyacht (see screenshots) with 2 engines and bow and stern thrusters, using either berthing controls which allow access to all thrusters and easy individual engine control or driving mode which provides a steering wheel and individual or simultaneous control of both engines.
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Drive a yacht with a single engine and steering wheel, along with bow thrusters in easier levels.
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Drive a speedboat with a single engine & steering wheel as well as realistic tilting when turning at speed.
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Drive a dual engine control Euro Cruiser with a steering wheel but no thrusters.
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Drive a Jet Ski with realistic engine-driven steering, making low speed maneuvering more difficult.
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Drive any boat through a channel in various conditions where you need to obey navigation markers and signs as well as avoid AI-Controlled boats going in the opposite direction. At the end of the navigation level, you then need to berth the boat in a small marina.
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Multiple difficulty levels and berthing conditions and situations, including:
- A hands-on tutorial level explaining the different controls
- Wind and current which vary in direction and strength in different levels
- Different berth locations and widths
- Randomly timed thruster failure in harder levels
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Berth the boat as quickly as you can without damaging it with the built-in time-based scoring system, as well as a 3-star scoring system, which gives you a rating based on your performance. If you don't obey navigation rules, crash, or are too slow, you won't get the 3 stars for the level (specific rules for getting ratings are outlined at the start of each level on the start screen).
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Realistic water physics with drag based on speed and realistic boat handling (now including prop walk on the yacht)
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multiple camera modes, including views from both sides, the front, back and the top of the boat as well as a camera mode which looks at the target berth from anywhere on the map while keeping the boat in view.
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Console and PC level graphics with modern post-processing effects like Bloom, Ambient Occlusion and Filmic Colour Grading (turn on in settings). You can also improve the performance of the game by reducing reflection resolution, increasing the FPS target, and more. A new battery saver mode and the new balanced mode will automatically determine the best settings for your device.
DISCLAIMER: This app is not a substitute for real life boat berthing or driving training, some boats (Superyacht, Yacht, Speedboats & Jet Ski) are paid (they are behind a one-time in-app purchase that costs real money to unlock).
MINIMUM HARDWARE:
iPhone 6 / 6S. The iPhone 5S really struggles to run this game currently, as does the original iPad Air.
RECOMMENDED HARDWARE:
iPhone 6S / 7 / iPad Air 2 or above.
When playing on these devices or above it is recommended to turn on Colour Grading and Vignette in settings for a better graphical experience.
Turning on post-processing features in settings will reduce the performance of the app, with Bloom and Ambient Occlusion being the most demanding.
Want to get information about upcoming updates to Boat Master and gain early access to them? looking for more progress content such as gameplay videos, progress updates and screenshots? Follow us on Facebook for all of this inside info, access and more!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flatWombatStudios/
Website: https://flatwombatstudios.com/
Music in video previews: "Notanico Merengue" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This Simulation game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Boat Master is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 4th September 2025
Recent improvements include:
This update brings a new Custom Level system to Boat Master, allowing you to customize wind, current and other parameters. It also brings an initial version of gamepad support, enabling control of the game without using the touchscreen while a gamepad is connected.
Download & Availability
Boat Master is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We wish they had a free play but they dont. They really need an update.
Great game but could use some center console boats as well single twin triple quad and quint.
It was too hard for our kids that they hated that the boat would drift so much and make you die on the easiest level it needs to be easer.
That game is great but we wish that maybe in a future up date you could unlock that boat with money and stuff and maybe a free drive or something would also be nice.
Can you all help? We have the game on IOS and we cant get above one star on motorboat navigation 1. We stayed to the right of green and to the left of red and parked without any damage in under 5 minutes. We also followed the weird pattern the starting demo showed navigating the markers sometimes cutting between them for some reason, parked without damage in under 5 minutes. Still only one star. Any suggestions.
Okay im not saying this was the apps fault (it was probably our phone bc it was having issues at the time) but anyway we went to buy a new boat and we said we didnt have money so we clicked okay then the same pop up came up again then again then again and so on for a good ten minutes at this moment we were in the car so we couldnt get our parents so help us so we tried to power off our phone but the pop up kinda glitched out our phone completely so we tried to double click and it called 911 so thats our boat master story.
There is a picture of a catamaran but you cant select the Catamaran to use.
Now we have an idea and some confidence.
It teaches you how to dark boat so better than anybody else we could be a pro at this game.
So this is a important message the creator did his or her best but this game is trash absolutely horrible create something like free time whenever you can drive around with no missions please make a first person cam on the boat please this game is not good without ideas and improvements please update the game every week do not quit this is an message to the creator and you need improvements for this game lol well anyway still a cool game lol.
Improvement suggestions: (1) Allow custom user settings for boat dynamics (idle speed, turn radius, acceleration, thruster, etc.) for each model. Stock settings dont correspond well (closebut not close enough) to the many boats Ive owned and driven. (2) Allow zoom-in/out for overhead view to allow better anticipation on speeds and headings as boat approaches mooring. (3) For tight docking scenarios, include normal fender benefits so allisions are not as likely during slow approaches (particularly for super yacht docking). Soall together a good boat docking game, but if you want it to be useful for more than just a game (we.e., actual boat handling training), recommend the above improvements.
After the first few levels we cant get the slip to turn green no matter how hard we try. We are getting the boat into the slip without touching anything in under three minutes. And we mean completely into the slip. We tried deleting it and reinstalling to the same effect. Help.
But its horribly sensitive. Best advice we can give is that driving a boat is a lot like driving on ice. Youll hit something as fast as youre going and holy smokes this app is 0-100 real fast with maneuvering. Like we said, great to get an initial feel but if you are an experienced seaman just find a friend with a boat that you havent driven yet.
We spent a good 15 minutes on this. Like most games of this nature, we want more and started to get bored. We would much prefer driving the boat a bit, THEN coming in to dock. We would also prefer to have crew to order to toss ropes, fenders, etc. Hope this helps GO ARMY AIRBORNE.
Real fun game just no free ride.
Horrible. Do not get this game!!!!! Iv tried it and its BORING.
We like it a lot. But please to make it most realistic you should add two scenarios, one on each side of the boat, when you approach to a dock you can only see the side where you are going to dock or get alongside, if you can add a those scenarios On either side it will be great. And we think every one will love it Thanks.
The boats respond WAAYY to fast to everything. Prop walk doesnt seem to be modeled nor does the difference between stern drives and rudders in the different boat types. Also in navigation game types it is impossible to dock within 3 minutes. To get close you must cut shortcuts behind bouys at full throttle, forgetting all rules of safe navigation. That all said.. Its fun.
This app is useless. You can play the tutorial but the game crashes and doesnt save progress, so its an endless cycle of completing the tutorial and not being able to move forward . Dont waste your time with this one.
Dis app garbich becuse u hav too pay for evrything.
Good game. Would be nice if you were able to walk the twin screw vessels.
App would be great if it would let us move on to the next level. We berth the boat perfectly and when it says to move to the next level the app shuts off.
The app is crashing when selecting any other boat than motorboat. Other than that we love the controls . We wish there are more levels and real time other traffic while parking.
We dont have a boat. Ive only been on a couple. This app seems great for learning how to maneuver boats in different situations. Our concern is the bad habits it is teaching us, which we know are wrong. Im currently in Navigation 1 where Im to navigate our boat through a river and dock it. You get 3 stars if you do it in under 3 min. Our fastest time, so far, is 3:30. We know that nobody in their right mind would blaze down a river and dock it at that speed. But what is being taught here? Avoiding a couple of boats? How to race to a dock slip and get in before the coast guard catches you? In our extremely limited experience, being a faster boater like this will get you in big trouble very fast. Not to mention, most nice boats cost as much or more than a house. Thats a lot of money to be wrecking about with. SLOW DOWN.
So when we got the game we were so excited and when we had to select a boat our phone was glitching and we couldnt get of the game we had shout of our phone 7 times and switched to a new app do not ever get this app only if you believe us.
Worst game ever you litterlery cant even free play.
Fun game but resets every time you stop playing. If it would save progress would be great.
Nothing works right not at all accurate.
The tutorial does not work. Waste of time.
It's hard because your boat drifts, takes forever to park. It's fun/easy because the unlock all boats is only $2.00 we're looking forward to the Jetski! You should add a free play mode we're also looking foward to that too.
Im really happy with this little game- it could do with more customizable weather conditions and marina parking scenarios, but overall great practice. We went ahead and paid for the boat pack in hopes theyll be encouraged to add features like custom wind. Thank you for building this.
What would make this perfect in our book would be if they put you on the boat. Im not a fan of the off-boat view. But still great fun and a chance to practice your boat handling skills from home.
Great game! But jets ski and other features have been coming soon for a long time! Come on already.
The bow thrusters disappear when you are trying to dock. Not a great way to complete the task. And of course zero support or updates.
This is one of our favorite sims, from speed docking, to docking big superyahcts, a ton of fun! Please keep updating, maybe add a new port :).
Can the developer please add in the jet ski.
Perfect graphics & real control.
The boats response to the throttle inputs seems fairly accurate, and the graphics are incredible. Great for training, and fun at the same time. Our only complaint is that, since the simulator is so good, we wish there were more added to it. There are a lot of scenarios that would make great additions. Regardless, this is a great simulator and a fun game at the same time. We cant recommend it enough.
This app isnt the greatest per say and really its the best your going to get for your standard mobile phones or tablets. Im new to yachting and having duel engines and this is helping out a lot in how to maneuver it.
The only issue Ive had is that one one the in app purchase boats is mislabeled as a twin engine but it only has single engine controls.
Hi we are 8 years old but when you are older you used to it.
Hi um wean we try to go do the ad to try it it dose not work. Thanks if can fix it.
Its a good game but, its really hard to turn and to us the turning doesnt really work so please fix it.
We use this app when Im not out on our boat. Over the years Ive owned many boats but leave them in a different state. We would say certain aspects of this are quite good and realisitic however, there is some room for improvement such as, if a PWC crashes into you it should not fail your mission. In the real world, the less maneuverable vessel can hold its ground while lesser maneuverable vessels have to give way. Furthermore, winds seem to affect the boat more at the slip than in the basin. No doubt the graphics are great but some things just dont make sense. We also think it would be quite cool to add a free play section where you are able to venture off and explore an open world on your own. To make this more realistic, a first person view would be much appreciated. A cool intentioned game / sim but clearly some room for improvement and added features.
The direction of this beta app is great, but it currently does not simulate prop walk and prop wash at maneuvering speeds. The developer told us that prop walk is linked to engine speed. As most yachties know, prop wash and walk are highly useful in close quarters. Hopefully the developer will integrate these effects, because currently the simulation is unrealistic, and misleading for those unfamiliar with these effects.
You need to be able to steer with the hand of choice. Controls steering in particular is ridiculous, boats are much more responsive. The control of the Sailing Yacht in particular is not at all realistic, in the situation of loosing thruster lacks the logical option of dropping anchor while sorting out the problem. In the river navigation it would be nice to know where you are going up river or down! Also in the US we tend in close situation to pass port to port.
The docking element is fun at first, but not all that realistic. The elements (wind and current) seem to affect the vessel much more right in/near the slip than in the fairway. If planning to align to a slip and then let the wind or current to move the boat to the slip, you will sit two slips down waiting forever. But when in the slip, the wind or current is more than strong enough to push the boat quickly into the dock or the neighboring boat. The navigation element should be viewed strictly as a video game and not at all a simulation. Even when youre operating in full reverse or at a dead stop other vessels are more than happy to crash into your vesselespecially the PWCs: they not only dont hold their course, they will actively change their course into you. Overall, it is fun for the first few minutes and worth getting the free options, but after a few days of playing, Im not at all tempted to purchasing any of the options and will likely remove it from our device shortly.
It is SO hard to move the boat. It took us over five minutes and we havent even gotten it close yet! Maybe better control would be better.
You only get one boat! All the others cost money, and know were that money goes? To the studio that made the game! And the controls are impossible! This is the worse game that has ever been made and it shouldnt even exist.
After spending 1.07 on the game it says navigating is coming soon. Really.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.8.0
- Size: 224.92 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Tommy Vaux
Last updated: 4th September 2025 | Genre: Simulation, Education | Developer: Tommy Vaux