Getting started¶

Whenever you open GoDive while logged out, onboarding walks you through what the app offers:

1. Welcome — pick your activities¶

Choose one or more (Scuba Diving is selected by default):

Scuba Diving
Snorkeling

Tap Get Started to continue, or Already have an account? Sign in at the bottom to open the dedicated sign-in screen (skips the feature slides). Use the back chevron on that screen to return to welcome (or to the feature slides if you skipped from there). Activity picks on welcome are saved when you tap Get Started; if you sign in from welcome instead and Apple creates a new account, you’ll choose activities again in the post–sign-in setup.

2. Feature slides (personalized)¶

Slides are tailored to what you selected:

Slide	Shown when
Log every dive	Scuba diving
Track your snorkeling activities	Snorkeling
Explore sites across the world	Always
Share experiences with your friends	Always
Monitor your equipment	Always
Learn from thousands of marine species	Scuba and/or snorkeling

Swipe or tap Continue on earlier slides. On the first feature slide, Back returns to the welcome activity picker so you can change scuba or snorkeling. On later slides, Back goes to the previous slide. On the last slide, use Sign in with Apple at the bottom (Skip on earlier slides opens the dedicated sign-in screen).

Create your on-device log with Sign in with Apple — either on the last feature slide or from the dedicated sign-in screen if you skipped ahead.

New accounts then walk through setup:

Activities — only if you signed in from the dedicated sign-in screen without picking activities on welcome (Already have an account? Sign in). Choose scuba diving or snorkeling, then Continue.
Profile photo — Welcome, your name; subtitle Add a profile photo. After you crop a photo, the wizard advances automatically; or Skip for now. A back chevron on later steps returns to the previous one.
DAN insurance — only if you chose scuba diving; optional. Continue appears after you enter a member number; or Skip for now.
Certification — only if you chose scuba diving. Continue appears after agency, certification name, and number are filled in; or Skip for now.
Welcome — title Welcome, subtitle Let's Dive In, with your photo, name, optional DAN and certification, and activity interests.

Tap Let's dive in on the preview.

Contacts & Photos — explains why GoDive needs access; tap Continue and approve each iOS prompt (or deny — you can change this later in Settings).
Bring your old dives — only if you chose scuba diving. Tap Import dives for UDDF import (choose a .uddf file or open the MacDive Import guide — no back button; Skip top-right exits to celebration), or Skip for now on the offer slide to go straight to celebration.

A bubble celebration plays, then GoDive opens to Home.

Returning visits while logged out start onboarding again from the welcome screen (activity picker). Skip on a feature slide or Already have an account? Sign in on welcome opens the dedicated sign-in screen. If that Sign in with Apple creates a new account (no prior GoDive profile), you still get activities → profile photo → permissions → optional import — not a jump straight to Home.

When you open GoDive after onboarding, sign in with Sign in with Apple. GoDive uses your Apple ID to keep your dive profile tied to your account.

If Apple provides your name once, GoDive uses it for your display name.
Otherwise your name starts as Diver — you can change it anytime from Profile by tapping the blue ⋯ beside your name.
On devices signed into iCloud, your dive log can sync across your Apple devices (CloudKit) over Wi‑Fi or cellular, including in the background when iOS allows.
GoDive may also create a lightweight Firebase social profile (display name, optional photo) used for Friends — QR invites, Buddy Feed, and what you choose to share. That is separate from your private dive log. See the Privacy Policy.

First-time welcome¶

Returning sign-ins skip profile setup and open Home after the bubble celebration. Permissions for Contacts and Photos are requested during new-account onboarding (after profile setup, before the optional import slide).

Your first dive¶

You can add dives in three ways:

Import a file — Garmin .fit or UDDF .uddf (including MacDive exports). See Import dives.
Manual entry — add a dive yourself from Logbook → + → Add activity.
Use another Apple device — when signed into the same iCloud account, your dive log can sync across devices; photos stay in iCloud Photos and rematch on each phone.

After a successful import, GoDive usually opens the new dive so you can review map, tank, and media tabs.

Quick tour¶

Home¶

Your dashboard shows rotating highlights from dive photos, four lifetime stat tiles (deepest, longest, top site, top species), and Top buddies. Tap a tile to see a top-ten list. The bell (top left) opens Notifications for buddy connections, shared activities, likes, comments, and mentions. See Home.

Logbook¶

Switch Me (your log) and Buddies (Buddy Feed of friends’ shared posts — likes, comments, and tagged “with” rows). On Me, all dives and snorkels appear newest first; use the filter for all / dives / snorkels. Use + to import or add an activity. To delete, open the activity → ⋯ → Activity Settings → Delete dive / Delete snorkel. See Logbook and Friends.

Open a dive¶

Tap any dive to open dive detail with three tabs across the top:

Map — location and overview sheet
Tank — gas, cylinder, depth profile
Media — photos and videos from your library

Drag the bottom sheet up or down to change how much detail you see. When you have friends, a Share with Buddies? banner on Map lets you publish when you’re ready. See Dive detail.

Field Guide¶

Browse categories of marine life and open a species page. Tag species on dive photos from the Media tab. To find a species by name, use the Search tab and pick Marine life (or type in the search field).

Explore¶

Switch between map and list to browse dive sites. Toggle My Sites vs All Sites from the center of the top bar (map/list on the left, + on the right). Tap a site for dives logged there and tagged media. To find a site by name, use the Search tab — Sites includes both your logbook sites and the full All Sites catalog.

Search¶

Tap the Search tab (magnifying glass). Pick a category tile or type to search dives, snorkels, buddies, sites, species, tags, trips, gear, and certifications. Sites results match what you see under Explore → All Sites. See Search.

Profile¶

From Home, tap your avatar (top of the screen) to open Profile:

Buddy-style blue sheet: your tagged media in the header, photo on the seam
Name and dive count beside your avatar
Sheet Diver stats page: lifetime stat tiles (same as Home, without Top buddies or the dive-count / bottom-time summary line), plus certification tiles (name, agency, date, and a small card-front photo on the right — tap to open a card)
Tap the blue ⋯ beside your name to Edit Profile (including optional DAN insurance). Tap the menu (☰) for Trips, Certifications, Equipment locker, Buddies, and Settings. At the bottom of the menu, Invite a buddy (QR) opens a shareable invite. Buddies is your local roster plus GoDive friends — the list also has a QR button. Sign Out is under Settings → Advanced.
Change your photo by tapping the avatar on Profile

Permissions GoDive may ask for¶

Permission	Why
Photos	Attach dive photos and videos; optional auto-upload by capture time
Contacts	Optionally link a dive buddy to someone in your address book

You can decline either permission and still use most of GoDive. Photo attach and auto-upload need Photos access when you turn those features on.

Units and defaults¶

Open Profile → menu (☰) → Settings to choose:

Imperial vs metric display (depth, temperature, etc.)
Default tank size for gas calculations on new imports
Automatically renumber dives
Auto-upload media to activities

Details are in Settings.