AnchorQueen AppIcon
AnchorQueen
IOS REFERENCE

Troubleshooting

Fixes for the most common problems, by symptom.

App will not load past the splash

  • Force-quit and reopen. iOS keeps the splash visible for a moment while

    • the chart and services warm up.

  • If it still hangs, confirm the device has enough free storage — chart

    • tiles need room to decompress.

    Permission prompts did not appear

  • Open the iOS Settings app → AnchorQueen.
  • Set Location to Always.
  • Turn on Notifications and Background App Refresh.
  • Reopen AnchorQueen.

    • The same status is shown inside the app on the

    Captain and Settings tabs.

    The alarm did not arm

  • Drop the anchor first — tap Drop Anchor in

    • SafeAnchor → Anchor Watch. The watch arms

    itself once the anchor commits; there is no separate Arm button.

  • Confirm the scope chip reads Alarm On — tapping it to Alarm Off

    • pauses the drag alarm while keeping the anchor and rings.

  • Run Test Alarm Sound in

    • Settings → Safe Anchor to confirm the

    sound and volume.

    Drop Anchor is stuck on "Locking GPS…"

    After you tap Drop Anchor, the watch averages a few accurate fixes

    before committing the anchor position — the button reads Locking GPS…

    until it does. If it does not clear:

  • Move the device to a clear view of the sky; the gate waits for a tight

    • fix and a noisy position keeps it open.

  • Check Location precision is on (iOS *Settings → AnchorQueen →

    • Location → Precise Location*).

  • It clears on its own once the fixes converge — you do not need to retap.

    • Alarm did not fire after I closed the app

    The Anchor Watch is designed to keep guarding even after iOS terminates

    the app or you accidentally swipe it out of the multitasking switcher —

    see Force-quit safety net. If you came back

    to a dragged boat and no alarm sounded, walk through this list:

  • Always permission missing. Open iOS *Settings → AnchorQueen →

    • Location and confirm it is set to Always. While Using* is not

    enough — iOS will not relaunch the app on a geofence crossing

    without Always.

  • Notifications disabled. Settings → AnchorQueen → Notifications

    • must be on. For the strongest delivery keep Critical Alerts enabled

    there too — a Critical Alert sounds even with the phone muted, the

    ringer volume at zero, or a Focus active. With Critical Alerts off,

    keep at least the Time Sensitive Notifications toggle enabled so the

    alarm banner still pierces Focus and Sleep modes.

  • Phone muted / ringer volume down. With Critical Alerts enabled

    • (the default if you accepted the permission dialog) the drag alarm

    ignores the mute switch and ringer volume — this is the setting to

    check first if an alarm banner arrived silently. Without it, the

    notification sound follows the ringer like any other app's.

  • Focus / Do Not Disturb. Drag alarms are sent as Critical Alerts

    • (or Time Sensitive when Critical Alerts are off), which break through

    scheduled Focus and Sleep modes by default. If you have disabled both

    for AnchorQueen, add the app to your Focus mode's allowed apps

    instead. Note the siren itself is app audio — while the app is open

    in the foreground it sounds regardless of Focus, the silent switch,

    or ringer volume. With the app backgrounded or the screen locked, the

    notification (and its 30-second repeats) is the audible channel;

    opening the app resumes the siren.

  • Phone was offline / in Airplane mode. The geofence relies on

    • CoreLocation, which needs at least GPS. Airplane mode without

    Bluetooth+Wi-Fi will defeat both watch layers — leave Airplane mode

    off overnight at anchor.

  • Battery died. Check the device was on a charger; a phone that

    • shuts down cannot trigger an alarm.

    If all of the above check out, file a report with the time and the

    anchorage from the contact link below; we can pull the watch trail

    from your iCloud session.

    False alarms while properly anchored

  • The alarm radius is too small for your scope and normal swing. Increase

    • it and watch one tide cycle.

  • Switch GPS tracking to Moving Average in

    • Settings → Anchor Watch to smooth out

    GPS jitter.

    Extend gave me a smaller margin than expected

    The Extend action has two sizes depending on where you tap it:

  • The full-screen in-app alert's Extend Safe Zone grows the radius by

    • +25% (or +25 m, whichever is larger).

  • The lock-screen / banner notification's Extend is a fixed +10 m.

    • Open the app and use the on-screen control for the larger jump. See

    SafeAnchor → Drag alarm.

    Grounding alarm keeps firing in a known-safe berth

  • It's reading shallow charted/NavGrid depth for a spot that's actually

    • fine at your draft. Tap Silence on the red banner to mute it for

    30 minutes, or lower the safety margin in

    Settings → Anchor Watch.

  • Dismiss (✕) only clears the current banner — it returns if the

    • water reads shallower. Use Silence for a known thin-water berth.

  • A live depth sounder (NMEA) overrides chart estimates and is the most

    • accurate source; see [instrument feed](#instrument-feed-lost).

  • When the water deepens again the alarm clears itself — the banner

    • switches to a brief "back in safe water" notice and disappears on its own

    after about 10 seconds. A live alarm is never auto-hidden.

    A traffic-scheme (TSS) alarm keeps firing

    You are near a Traffic Separation Scheme:

  • An amber banner (approach / crossing angle) is advisory — review

    • which way the lane runs and aim to cross near a right angle. It clears once

    you are past the scheme or on a good angle.

  • A red banner (wrong way / anchored in zone) is a COLREGS Rule 10

    • violation — alter course off the lane, or weigh anchor and move clear of

    the separation zone.

  • To stop the alarms entirely (the chart layer stays on), turn off TSS

    • Alarms in Settings → Nav → Safety Alarms.

    Position looks jumpy or wrong

  • Keep the device where it has a clear view of the sky — under deck or

    • near tall structures GPS is weak.

  • Moving Average mode produces a steadier position than Real Time.

    • Boat is stuck in the wrong place

    If the vessel sits at a spot you placed by hand — or will not follow your

    real movement — Simulator Mode is probably still on. It overrides your

    GPS app-wide until you turn it off. Either tap the ✕ on the chart's

    Simulator panel, or switch it off in

    Settings → Nav → Simulator Mode. Your compass

    heading is never affected by Simulator Mode, so a correct heading with a

    frozen position is the tell-tale sign.

    Connected, but no Signal K position

    A green connection proves that the WebSocket is open; it does not prove the

    server has sent the boat's position. AnchorQueen draws the named vessel only

    after a fresh, valid Signal K self navigation.position arrives.

  • Open Settings → NMEA and compare Feed Status, Connection, and

    • Position under Live Diagnostics. A connected row with no Position

    isolates the problem to the data being published, not the network link.

  • Confirm the Signal K server's own-vessel identity (self) is set to your

    • boat and that its GPS source is publishing navigation.position.

  • Return to the chart and expand the GPS HUD. A valid fix adds the vessel

    • name, coordinate, HDG/COG/SOG, accuracy, and DEVICE↔SK separation. Tap

    that row to fly to the boat.

  • To use it as the app's live position, switch on Signal K Position under

    • Signal K Stream, then tap Apply & Connect.

    If the fix later becomes stale for 30 seconds, the app falls back to device

    GPS. LIVE SK only describes the instrument feed; REC appears separately

    and only while a Voyage is recording.

    Instrument feed lost — switched to phone GPS

    A red banner saying the instrument feed was lost means the anchor watch

    stopped receiving fixes from your NMEA gateway or Bluetooth pod for 30 seconds

    and fell back to the device's built-in GPS, so the watch keeps running. Common

    causes:

  • The boat's Wi-Fi gateway lost power or you moved out of its range.
  • A wrong host or port in

    • Settings → Anchor Watch → Instruments. Open

    that screen and check the Live Diagnostics — a Failed connection state

    names the reason.

  • NMEA over UDP is configured against a gateway that only broadcasts

    • datagrams. The app connects to a specific gateway address; use TCP if

    your gateway supports it.

  • A Signal K server that stopped or restarted, or the wrong port — a Signal

    • K server usually listens on 3000, not 10110. The Activity Log on the

    same screen names the exact event (Lost link, Connection failed, or a

    retry countdown).

  • The server needs an access token and none was supplied. Signal K version 2

    • servers have security switched on by default: the connection is accepted and

    then the data stream is refused. Create a token on the server under

    Security → Access Requests and paste it into the Access Token field.

  • Use TLS (wss) is switched on for a server that only speaks plain

    • connections — the usual case on a boat network. Turn it off.

  • The phone dropped off the boat's Wi-Fi onto mobile data. The status line says

    • No answer when nothing responds inside eight seconds; check the Wi-Fi first.

    The watch is still protecting you on phone GPS. Fix the link and the

    Instruments badge returns to green on its own (auto-reconnect is on by

    default).

    Battery draining overnight

  • Use Balanced power consumption in

    • Settings → Anchor Watch.

  • Turn off the radar pulse animation in the same sheet.
  • Keep the device on a charger for long overnight watches.
  • Do not disable Background App Refresh — that stops monitoring without

    • meaningful battery savings.

    AIS ships vanish for a moment after panning

  • The feed re-subscribes to the new area each time the chart settles after a

    • pan or zoom. Ships already on screen now stay put and refresh in place, so

    you should no longer see the whole fleet blink off and reappear.

  • A brief gap is still normal the first time you move into a fresh area, or

    • when the connection re-establishes — the ships return within a second or two.

  • If the chart stays empty, check that AIS is enabled in the chart's

    • layer panel and that you have a network connection;

    the live feed needs one.

    Chart will not load offline

  • The area is outside any installed chart region.

    • Install the matching region from the Store before you sail.

  • Alternatively, cache tiles for the area in advance from the chart's

    • Cache sheet — see Chart → Offline tiles.

    Features behave oddly offline

    AnchorQueen runs the anchor watch and the chart offline. Some tabs need

    a connection:

  • Meteo — weather and tides need to be fetched; the

    • last values are kept until you reconnect.

  • Jules — new questions need a connection; Saved Reports

    • stay readable.

  • Remote and connected Store

    • features pause when offline and resume automatically when you reconnect.

  • This manual is fully offline and always available.

    • A purchase did not unlock

  • In the Store, tap Restore Purchases.
  • Confirm you are signed in with the same Apple ID used to buy.
  • If the issue persists, sign out and back in on the

    • Captain tab.

    No free trial appears at checkout

    This is expected — no plan currently carries an introductory trial, so the

    subscribe button reads Start Pro / Start Max (with Cancel anytime)

    rather than Try N days Free. See Store.

    During Active Navigation, only the Depth

    graph is free. Wind, Waves, and Tide are a PRO forecast

    feature and show a locked upsell on the free tier — unlock them in the

    Store. The same applies to the Meteogram's

    3-day and 7-day ranges.

    The Merconi fishing layer is empty

    The Merconi fishing heatmap streams live tiles:

  • It needs a configured GFW token; without one the panel shows an

    • API Key Required state.

  • With a token, check you are zoomed in to a covered area, the time window

    • is not too short, and you have a network connection.

  • The marine-life and ocean-data layers are also live services — on an

    • un-cached region with no network they come back empty.

    Jules cannot see my chart

    When you ask Jules to look at my chart, the chart

    screen must be open — the capture tool errors otherwise. Switch to the

    SeaTracker, Capt's Notebook, or Merconi tab and ask again. Route planning

    likewise needs the covering chart region installed.

    Jules stopped before finishing

    On a request that needs many steps at once — look up several places, plan a

    route, and move the chart — Jules could previously stop partway

    through without finishing his reply. This is fixed: he now completes long

    multi-step requests, and if one is genuinely enormous he wraps up with a

    short summary instead of going quiet. If a reply still ends early, it is

    almost always connectivity — check your signal and ask again (see

    [Features behave oddly offline](#offline)).

    Where is Backup & Sync?

    It is not under the Settings Data tab. Open

    Settings → Safe Anchor → Backup & Sync.

    How do I sign out?

    There is no Sign Out on the Captain's Dashboard. Tap the pencil to open

    Edit Profile; Sign Out is at the bottom. AnchorQueen has no in-app

    password change or two-factor setup — accounts use Apple, Google, or the

    sign-in screen's Forgot Password reset. See Captain.

    How do I delete a saved pin?

    The Pin Carousel pills have no delete control. Tap the count badge at

    the leading edge to open the Pin Manager, then swipe a row, or use

    Edit to multi-select and delete. The carousel also re-sorts

    nearest-first as you pan — that reordering is normal. See

    Capt's Notebook.

    Still stuck?

    Note your Version and build number from

    Settings → App Info and contact support through

    the AnchorQueen website.