 fox swim mapper alternative
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Take a look at Piscaro. It's iPhone only at the moment
My brother developed it this year and it contains the functionality to drop swim markers onto photos you take/store on your phone.
LINKY POOâ„¢ https://piscaro.app/
It's quite rich in features so it might be slightly daunting when you first look at it...but we even put in things like public venues which it will detect using GPS, so if you rock up at Linear and start a session it will add the prebuilt venue info into your session.
If you want me or my brother to knock up some example usage videos we can do that.
Oh yeah, and it's free to start with (like Swim Mapper was) then there's an option to pay to get extra features etc
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In reply to Post #30
Same disappointed it's gone
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In reply to Post #15
Just upgraded my phone and now it's saying swim mapper isn't available, got to note down all of my spots on paper before sending my old phone back to Apple.
Nightmare, I really like that App.
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In reply to Post #27
Surely though nobody uses Google Earth or Deeper Maps to measure distances for fishing? The only way to get your measurements is actually at the lake isn't it?
People actually used to 
This was where my argument of modern technology is not always better than old fashioned methods springs to mind.
YES, modern technology can be an improvement or make life easier, but there are times...
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In reply to Post #27
>>>>Surely though nobody uses Google Earth or Deeper Maps to measure distances for fishing? <<<<
It's useful as a guide to get you into the right "Ball Park" before you start fishing so taken as a pinch of salt as sometimes it can be very accurate or inaccurate.
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I use a deeper for feature finding so really don't mind a bit of Tech to help me out within reason...
Surely though nobody uses Google Earth or Deeper Maps to measure distances for fishing? The only way to get your measurements is actually at the lake isn't it?
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In reply to Post #25
I noticed the error in Google Earth a while back, I fish a swim with a bush about 34 yards away, when I'm clipped up to cast, I can drop my lead right on the edge of it constantly. The measurement on Google Earth has the distance about 47 yards, if I was to clip up at that, I would be over the bush, across the road behind it and into the pond at the other side of the road.
But, oddly enough, it has the bars which are visible in Google Earth, spot on and it does make me wonder if the error comes from how the satellite view is portrayed and a difference between East to West measurements and North to South measurements which is what I see in my case.
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In reply to Post #24
Just after Google Maps came out and started being used for fishing I picked up on distances not being totally accurate.
Someone made a comment about the distances from some of the Central Point swims to the golf course bank and was quite upset when I told them how far out their distances were. I think that they were quoting 120 to 130metres. I had actually been up and down the whole bank with a laser range finder/measure so knew the longest cast was only 108m.
Now I don't know if this was down to the joining of the satellite images, or the actual images not considering earth curvature.
I had some lovely pictures on CD of a drained Brackens Pool. The bars in there are unreal, a depth of 22feet, a bar with a vertical side, or undercuts, coming to a depth of 6feet.
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In reply to Post #21
The Deeper maps are more than influenced by variations in water depths, probably more by bad GPS signals etc, and scanning to fast.
The lake I fish has 6 large bars that go the full length of the lake and all rise up 5' from the bottom in 8' to 12' of water. There is also 3 bars that also run the length of the lake but only rise up a foot or two at the most. Not one of those bars shows up on the Deeper map on the Deeper subscription. The whole pond is unrecognizable. If it was just water level variations that cause the problem, the bars would still show but with a different depth.
The issue arises from bad upoads to the subscription service. For example I had a bad one last year. It took my Deeper about 10 minutes to get a good signal and in that time the Deeper reported that it was about 25 yards out in the pond. It also recorded depths of up to 39' which was rubbish. At the time I did not notice. Subsequently, I have now a deep spot in my own map and everytime I run the Deeper over that spot, it shows the correct depth of 9' but on the overall map, it only reduces that 39' depth by about a foot every scan which is stupid. I mentioned this issue to Deeper and they said that is the way that it works to build up accurate maps as it averages things out and smoothes out the variations.. The only proper way to sort that issue us to remove that series of scans that included that scan of 39'. But if other users do not remove bad scans, then the Deeper maps will be wrong If other users have those issues and upload " garbage" then it's no wonder the Deeper maps are "garbage" too.
A bad GPS CEP also causes issues, on one of my maps, a very distinctive feature on the lakes bed like the outspread fingers on your hand running into one channel, as its a clay pit, I believe it could be drainage channels dug so that the water flows into one place to make it easier to pump out, it appears twice on the map about 10 yards away from each other. A few other minor features around it are also duplicated. Its as if someone has used a "clone brush" to edit a picture.
Someone on this forum mentioned a good while back that the Deeper maps on the subscription service is rubbish and your better off using your own scans.
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My other issue is Farnham Angling have a habit of cutting down trees, so any written message saying 'middle tree of 3' wouldn't last long 😂😂
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In reply to Post #19
****ing hell. You've right gone in haha
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In reply to Post #12
The deeper maps have been made by other deeper users.
The differences in lake Depths is due to water levels rising and falling I believe
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In reply to Post #18
I'd take an etch a sketch, that should see you right 😂
That made me chuckle, very good.
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For years now I have used "Free Office" for Android off Google Play and well before Fox Swim mapper came out on my mobile phone and tablet to record all my fishing trips.
When Fox Swim Mapper came out, I looked at it and thought, it does nothing different to what I have been doing and looked rather basic to what I do
I use the Word processing app to record my sessions, insert pictures, take pictures and edit them on my tablet placing icons for marks etc and then import them into the document, copy and paste weather info from weather reports, setup my own vocabulary in the dictionary so I don't have to type names of baits and locations etc constantly, just a short abbreviation will save me a lot of typing.
At the beginning of a New Year, I will start a new document for that year and add a lot of "catch reports" etc which are blank but all the headings are there and they just sit at the bottom of the document whilst I type in session details above them, and when I catch, then I fill in the report and it becomes part of the document in the relevant space..
And the best bit is, when I need to search for something it is simple. And, I keep a backup on my PC at home and combine the years into one document.
Another program I use a lot is a "Memory Map", and for each swim, I enter details about it, fishing marks, features, distances, sightings of any importance, depths, snags, catches etc and at the start of a session, I will consult it as it will contain all the useful info I need to know and refresh the memory if I have not fished it for a while.
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In reply to Post #17
I'd take an etch a sketch, that should see you right 😂
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In reply to Post #16
Me with phones:
My mate fell in, so I jumped in to save him (literally), and put my phone on the swim stand. As I was on the phone to emergency services, I was dripping all over it while holding him up.
Wind and rain, waves blowing straight down the reservoir into my bivvy, soaking everything including phone under my pillow on the bedchair.
Phone in combat pocket, while wearing chest waders, I got caught up in a length of line crack-off, hook caught chesties and caused a leak, which went all over phone.
There are more...
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In reply to Post #15
I start out with full intentions of keeping it in a dry bag etc, then on a wet sodden day the alarm goes when I'm writing, the pad goes on the floor and that's it, game over 😂😂😂
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In reply to Post #14
 and it saved having a notepad that ended up getting wet and ruined
I do that with phones  
I've killed a few phones due to them getting soaked.
I'm safer with paper as that, like my books I read when fishing, are kept safe and dry.
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In reply to Post #13
Swim mapper has to be worked out yourself, it wasn't for using other people's info (although you may have been able to share, I didn't). That's one of my favourite parts of fishing, working out lake.
I liked it because you'd take a photo of the swim that you could log and put marks on top of,rather than having to draw a picture, and it saved having a notepad that ended up getting wet and ruined 😂😂
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In reply to Post #1
I used to map lakes myself, hours spent with a marker rod and making a map on A3 paper, or writing swim notes in a diary, although I can remember some lakes in my head, most features, distances.
The original maps for Suffolk Water Park Traditional lake and Taverham Mills used on their websites were from my drawings.
I did a complete lake breakdown on Taverham off the top of my head, it's that ingrained in my memory.
I've not used a swim mapper app, I think it is far better to work it out for yourself, rather than expecting instant results.
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In reply to Post #11
I've also found the online Deeper maps to be inaccurate compared to being on the bank using a Deeper Chirp or a simple marker on a couple of lakes I fish.
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In reply to Post #9
I find that to be very inaccurate, my local lake said it was about 3ft right across the whole lake when it was over 6ft in the middle, other lakes have been very wrong aswell. Not saying they all are but a couple I've been to have been
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In reply to Post #9
Cheers for the info I'll have to look into this Deeper Maps
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In reply to Post #1
I'd highly recommend having the Deeper Maps subscription. Many lakes have been fully mapped, and include a ruler so you can do some quick maths and work out how many wraps and a mark to aim to on the far bank. Writing down each swim on my phone notes, you write down which rod goes where (easily done when you have a straight line from your peg to a far margin object) then get the calculator out and obviously divide the measurement in feet by 12.
Swim 1
LH Rod 4ft hump 3rd Bench 8 wraps
Middle bottom slope lifebouy 10 wraps
RH Rod top slope fallen tree 10 wraps
Simple as that. Although it's easier with park lakes due to plenty of static objects on the far side.
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I just put swim notes on my phone simple and reliable
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Like mentioned below if your phone is backed up on iCloud then it backs the app up, I still have mine from years ago and I've upgraded twice since I've had the app buddy
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Ive given up with the apps and started using a note book as the apps keep failing or i mess the whole thing up... shame as i liked the fox one but it just stops working and end up losing all the plotting stuff.
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In reply to Post #1
Also looking for an app for this and don't seem to be able to access the Fox one from my iPhone.
Have seen an app called Carpy for 89p. Anyone given it a go?
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In reply to Post #3
i did exactly that but for some reason its just the swim mapper that wont transfer . still works fine on an old ipnone 7
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In reply to Post #1
I've just had exactly the same issue, gutted as I'd transferred on phone clone and not checked, lost out on all info over 3 years 🙄🙄
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In reply to Post #1
I've just been into my App and it's working fine.
Whenever I upgrade I make sure I do an iCloud backup then transfer the info onto the new phone by restoring from that backup, works fine and I get all
my info including Fox Swim Mapper on the new phone!
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anyone got a decent alternative to fox swimmappper ? just brought a new iphone 13 and i cant get it to download or transfer the app over . just says no longer available ?
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