WatchKeeper - Mobile App

The Background:

For yacht crew working towards maritime qualifications, logging sea time is an essential part of their training. But the process itself is anything but straightforward - passages must be recorded accurately, calculations need to account for qualifying rules, and all paperwork needs to be reviewed by certification bodies. For crew members, this means a lot of manual effort, and room for human error.

WatchKeeper approached Bad Dino with a simple brief: build something that removes the admin burden entirely. Regardless of where a crew member sits in the hierarchy, from Officer of the Watch to Master Mariner, the core functionality needed is the same. Accurate, well-organised sea time records that are easy to maintain and ready to submit to certification bodies when required.

The Solution:

We ran a discovery workshop to map out the core user journeys and define the MVP scope. From there, we designed and built WatchKeeper as a cross-platform mobile application for iOS and Android, using the .NET MAUI framework - keeping a single codebase clean and maintainable across both platforms. The interface took its cues from nautical design: familiar, purposeful, and free of clutter.

Key features we delivered:

• Passage Logging: Crew can log sea time in real time, with the app automatically applying the qualifying rules (such as watchkeeping hours thresholds).

• Dashboard & Calendar View:  A month-by-month visual overview of all logged passages, filterable by vessel or date, making it easy to spot gaps or review progress at a glance.

• Vessel Management: Users can manage multiple vessels, log joining and discharge dates, and switch between them seamlessly within the app.

• Report Area: Pre-built report templates aligned to specific maritime qualifications, letting crew compile a full summary of their sea service in just a few taps.

The App:

WatchKeeper launches as a polished, production-ready mobile app on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. The back-end infrastructure runs on Microsoft Azure with Azure SQL, giving the platform the reliability and scalability it needs as the user base grows. Campaign Monitor handles transactional emails, and the whole stack sits under our Cyber Essentials certified security practices.

What started as a paper-and-spreadsheet problem is now a genuinely useful tool that travels with crew wherever they go - on deck, in port, or between vessels. Bad Dino is proud to have taken WatchKeeper from whiteboard to the app stores, and to have built something the maritime community will actually reach for.