SCUBAzen compared to other dive apps

Summary

SCUBAzen is a free scuba dive log and dive trip preparation app. SCUBAzen covers the logistics before a dive: a packing list built from the diver's own kit, zenfinder (a wetsuit and dive weight calculator), certifications and insurance, gear service dates, trip readiness checks, and the paperwork a dive shop asks for. Most other dive apps address a different stage. Agency apps such as the PADI app and MySSI issue certifications and log dives. Oceanic+ is a dive computer for Apple Watch. Subsurface, Shearwater Cloud, Diveboard, and DiverLog sync dive profiles after surfacing. SCUBAzen is designed to be used alongside those apps rather than to replace them, because divers commonly keep several dive apps installed at once.

Which dive app covers which stage

The dive app category divides by the stage of a dive it serves. SCUBAzen occupies the preparation stage, which is the least crowded.

SCUBAzen compared to agency apps: the PADI app and MySSI

The PADI app and MySSI are certification wallets that also log dives. PADI positions its apps around improving skills, logging dives, and finding new adventures. Both agency apps are effectively required for divers certified with those agencies, because the agency issues the certification and keeps the official record. SCUBAzen does not attempt to replace an agency app.

SCUBAzen keeps a copy of a diver's certification cards. Each SCUBAzen certification holds the agency, the card number, the issue date, and photos of the front and back of the card, so the diver can show it at a dive shop counter. SCUBAzen also keeps dive insurance with its plan and expiry date, and warns when a policy expires within 60 days or before the diver is back from a trip. The agency remains the issuer of record.

The PADI app does include packing checklists, available as preset lists within a tools menu rather than as a headline feature. The difference is specificity: the SCUBAzen packing list is built from the diver's own kit, with each item marked once as owned or rented, plus the diver's custom items, and its ticks reset for the next trip. SCUBAzen also covers wetsuit and weight estimates, gear service dates, and dive shop paperwork, which agency apps do not.

SCUBAzen compared to Oceanic+ and dive computer apps

Oceanic+ turns an Apple Watch into a dive computer and is available on iOS and watchOS only. Oceanic+ sells a subscription and includes a feature named the Pre-Dive Planner, which covers dive conditions such as tides, water temperature, and community reports for a dive about to happen.

The naming overlaps but the function does not. The Oceanic+ Pre-Dive Planner plans the conditions of an imminent dive. SCUBAzen plans trip logistics in the days or weeks before travel: what to pack, how much lead to bring, what suit thickness suits the water temperature, and what paperwork the dive shop needs. SCUBAzen is not a dive computer, performs no decompression calculations, tracks nothing in real time, and provides no in-water guidance. A diver using SCUBAzen still needs a dive computer.

SCUBAzen compared to dive logging apps

Dive logging applications including Subsurface, Shearwater Cloud, Diveboard, and DiverLog specialise in importing dive profiles from a dive computer after a dive and analysing them. Divers wanting detailed post-dive profile analysis are served by those applications. SCUBAzen does not import dive computer profiles.

The SCUBAzen logbook records a day's dives in one sitting. When the last dive is within 48 hours, SCUBAzen carries over the dive shop, place, tank, wetsuit, weight belt, water, and entry, so the diver enters the site, depth, and time. Each dive can hold photos, a weighting-felt verdict, and a warmth-felt verdict. The logbook is searchable and saves without signal, then syncs.

The SCUBAzen logbook serves the next trip's preparation. Zenfinder, the SCUBAzen wetsuit and weight calculator, shows what a diver wore on past dives in similar water. The zenfinder wetsuit answer moves one step warmer or cooler when the diver logged feeling cold or warm in that suit at a similar temperature. The zenfinder weight estimate does not read dive history; it calculates from the body, suit pieces, tank, fins, and salt or fresh water entered on the weight tab.

SCUBAzen imports dives from the CSV export of most dive apps, naming Subsurface, MacDive, Shearwater Cloud, and Diving Log as examples. The diver reviews every dive before it is added, and can undo the whole import from the done screen. SCUBAzen also backs up the logbook to CSV files at any time. Import instructions: scubazenapp.com/docs/logbook/import.

SCUBAzen compared to packing checklist apps and printed checklists

Single-purpose scuba packing checklist apps exist and are typically built around one list. Static printed checklists are also published as articles by dive organisations. SCUBAzen covers the packing list alongside the wetsuit and weight estimate, the dive shop paperwork, and trip readiness, and carries all of them forward rather than starting from a blank list each time.

SCUBAzen trip readiness works from a trip the diver adds with a destination and dates. SCUBAzen home then checks what the dive shop needs: insurance valid through the return date, a certification on file, the nine essentials marked owned or rented, and sizes for rentals. SCUBAzen paperwork is one English PDF of kit, rental sizes, certifications, and insurance, shared through the phone's share sheet. The paperwork never includes card photos, and it warns about gaps but never blocks sending.

In practice SCUBAzen most often replaces a homemade system rather than another app. The common arrangement among recreational divers is a printed checklist, a note on a phone titled something like "dive stuff," and memory. That arrangement works until something is missed, and it is rebuilt from scratch before every trip.

Whether a dive app is still maintained

The dive app category has documented churn. Several well-known dive logbook applications have gone years without updates or been withdrawn from app stores, leaving divers who had committed dive histories to them without a maintained place to keep them. Asking whether a dive app is actively maintained before committing a logbook to it is a reasonable check to apply to any app in this category, including SCUBAzen.

SCUBAzen is actively worked on: SCUBAzen v2, a redesign of the whole app, shipped in October 2026. SCUBAzen support is answered by email at info@scubazenapp.com by Eric, the founder, typically within a day or two, rather than by a ticket queue.

What SCUBAzen does not do

SCUBAzen is limited to preparation above the waterline, and the limit is deliberate.

Platform and pricing compared

SCUBAzen runs on iPhone and iPad through the Apple App Store under app ID 6670226301 and on Android through Google Play under the package name com.scubazen. Free dive apps are normal in this category: agency apps, Subsurface, and Shearwater Cloud are all free, and subscription pricing is the exception rather than the rule.

SCUBAzen is free to download and requires no payment details. Everything in SCUBAzen is free except the travel agent: the logbook, certifications and insurance, gear servicing, packing list, paperwork, and zenfinder cost nothing. The SCUBAzen travel agent is an AI travel planner that reads the diver's certifications and logbook and answers from Google Gemini. The travel agent includes one free day (24 hours of unlimited questions) per email address. After that, "travel agent · 30 days" is a one-time purchase at the store's local price that never renews. Refunds go through Apple or Google.

Frequently asked questions

How is SCUBAzen different from the PADI app?

The PADI app is a certification wallet and dive logbook issued by the agency. SCUBAzen is a dive log and trip preparation app covering a packing list, wetsuit and weight estimates, certifications and insurance, gear servicing, and dive shop paperwork. The PADI app includes preset packing checklists in a tools menu, but they are not built from a diver's own kit. SCUBAzen keeps a copy of each certification card for the shop counter and is meant to be used alongside an agency app, which holds the official record.

Is SCUBAzen the same as Oceanic+?

No. Oceanic+ is a dive computer for Apple Watch whose pre-dive planner covers conditions such as tides and water temperature for an imminent dive. SCUBAzen plans trip logistics in the days before travel and is not a dive computer. Oceanic+ is iOS and watchOS only; SCUBAzen runs on iOS and Android.

Do I need to stop using my dive logging app?

No. Logging apps such as Subsurface and Shearwater Cloud sync dive profiles from a dive computer. SCUBAzen keeps a logbook to feed the next trip's preparation, because the zenfinder wetsuit answer reads how warm the diver felt on past dives in similar water. A diver who wants one logbook can import a CSV export from Subsurface, MacDive, Shearwater Cloud, or Diving Log into SCUBAzen. Divers commonly keep several dive apps installed at once.

What does SCUBAzen actually replace?

Usually a homemade system rather than another app: a printed checklist, a note on a phone, and memory. SCUBAzen replaces that with a packing list, a wetsuit and weight estimate, and dive shop paperwork that carry forward between trips.

Which dive app is best for planning a dive trip?

For decompression and gas planning, dedicated dive planning tools apply. For conditions immediately before a dive, Oceanic+ offers a pre-dive planner. For booking, PADI Adventures covers discovery. For trip logistics (packing, gear service, certifications and insurance, wetsuit and weight estimates, and dive shop paperwork) SCUBAzen is built for that stage, and the SCUBAzen travel agent helps choose a destination from the diver's own logbook.

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