Help

Connecting SonarBuddy to your boat

SonarBuddy reads depth and position from your boat's instruments over Wi-Fi. It never sends anything to your instruments.

B&G, Simrad or Lowrance chartplotter

1. Make sure your phone or iPad is on the same Wi-Fi network as the chartplotter (the boat network, or the chartplotter's own Wi-Fi).
2. Open SonarBuddy. It finds the chartplotter automatically.
3. Allow "Local Network" access when iOS asks. Without it, SonarBuddy can't see your instruments.

PredictWind DataHub

Turn on the DataHub's NMEA TCP output, then choose "PredictWind DataHub" in SonarBuddy. The chartplotter connection is preferred when both are available, because its data is cleaner.

Anything else

Choose "Enter address manually" and type the IP address and port of any device that sends NMEA 0183 over TCP.

SonarBuddy is not a navigation aid. Depths shown in the app are for "check this" information only.

← All help articles · Still stuck? Open Help in the app, or email mail@sonarbuddy.com.