Simple or Complex - Make Tidesy Your Own

Simple or Complex - Make Tidesy Your Own

Some people want a tide clock: one look from across the room, and they know whether the water is coming or going. Others want the whole picture — waves, water temperature, surge, sunset, the alert that runs until three o’clock. A Tidesy can be either, because everything beyond the tide itself is a switch you control.

Each layer has its own switch in Edit Settings, so you don’t have to pick one extreme. Turn on only what matters to you.

Set It Up for What You Do

Which switches to use, by how you use the water

You just want to know the tide

Set Display Mode to Large only and turn the Environment switches off. You get today’s highs and lows in digits big enough to read from the kitchen.

You walk the beach or explore tide pools

Turn on Daylight & Moon to see whether the low tide falls in daylight, and Rain Forecast to see whether you will stay dry. Set your preferred tide range and the graph shades the hours that work for you.

You surf, swim or paddle

Turn on Ocean & Air Conditions for water temperature, wave height, UV index and air quality, with wave and UV strips across the day.

You live on the water or keep a boat

Turn on Flood Risk and Alert Graph Overlay to compare the measured water level with the prediction, see the surge and the flood threshold, and see which hours each weather alert covers. Flood Risk needs a station with a live water-level gauge; not every station has one.

You dig razor clams

Turn on Clamming Overlay to see dig windows at stations near a clamming beach in Washington, Oregon or California.

You want all of it

Leave everything on and set Display Mode to Both. Tidesy alternates between the graph and the big numbers, and View Cycle sets how often it changes: every 1, 2, 3 or 6 minutes.

Detail View: Simple and Detailed

The 24-hour tide graph, same station, four minutes apart

These screenshots are from a 7-inch Tidesy showing Los Angeles on October 6, 2026, a day with three active weather alerts.

Simpleall optional layers off
Detail view of Los Angeles with all optional layers off: tide curve, current level, temperature and wind, and the alert banner
Detailedall optional layers on
Detail view of Los Angeles with all optional layers on: alert bars, observed water levels, flood threshold, moon phase, sunrise and sunset markers, and rain, wave and UV strips 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

What the detailed screen adds

1
Ocean and air readings. Water temperature, wave height, UV index and air quality join temperature and wind in the status line. Water temperature and wave height are repeated in the left column. Environment › Ocean & Air Conditions
2
Alert bars. One bar for each active weather alert, drawn across the hours it is in effect and labelled with its name and severity. Here: a Coastal Flood Advisory and a Beach Hazards Statement until mid-afternoon, and an Extreme Heat Warning all day. Alerts › Alert Graph Overlay
3
Observed water level. Each dot is what the NOAA gauge actually measured that hour, with the difference from the prediction next to it (+1.1 means 1.1 ft higher than predicted). The dashed line carries that difference forward as a forecast for the rest of the day. Environment › Flood Risk
4
Flood threshold. The red dashed line marks NOAA’s flood level for the station. The graph’s scale grows to make room for it and for the forecast line. Environment › Flood Risk
5
Moon phase. Tonight’s moon and how much of it is lit. Environment › Daylight & Moon
6
Surge. How far the water is running above or below the prediction right now. Environment › Flood Risk
7
Sun and moon on the time axis. Markers for sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset, and a daylight strip under the graph showing night, twilight and day. Environment › Daylight & Moon
8
Rain strip. The rain forecast, hour by hour. Environment › Rain Forecast
9
Wave and UV strips. Forecast wave height in feet and the UV index for each hour, colour-coded. Environment › Ocean & Air Conditions

Large View: Simple and Detailed

Big numbers for today’s highs and lows

Simpleall optional layers off
Large view of Los Angeles with all optional layers off: four tide values, current level, and a conditions box with temperature and wind
Detailedall optional layers on
Large view of Los Angeles with all optional layers on: a surge marker on the bar chart and a conditions box with seven rows 1 2

The large view changes much less: the big numbers stay exactly where they are, and the extra data goes into two places.

1
Surge marker. A marker on the bar chart shows how far the water is running above or below the prediction. Environment › Flood Risk
2
Conditions box. It grows from two rows to seven. Each row belongs to one setting:
Row Shows Setting
Temp, Wind Air temperature, wind speed and direction Always shown
Rain Rain in the current hour Environment › Rain Forecast
Water, Waves
UV, AQI		 Water temperature, wave height, UV index, air quality Environment › Ocean & Air Conditions
Surge Water level above or below the prediction Environment › Flood Risk
Moon Moon phase and illumination Environment › Daylight & Moon

The Settings

Each one is an on/off switch in Edit Settings

Setting Section Adds to the detail view Adds to the large view Default
Rain Forecast Environment Hourly rain strip under the graph Rain row in the conditions box On
Daylight & Moon Environment Sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset markers; daylight strip; moon phase box Moon row in the conditions box On
Ocean & Air Conditions Environment Water temperature, wave height, UV index and air quality in the status line; wave and UV strips under the graph Water, Waves, UV and AQI rows in the conditions box On
Flood Risk Environment Observed water level dots, surge forecast line, flood threshold line, surge readout Surge marker on the bar chart; Surge row in the conditions box On
Alert Graph Overlay Alerts A bar on the graph for each active alert Nothing On
Clamming Overlay Environment Razor clam dig windows, at stations near a clamming beach in Washington, Oregon or California. It was switched on for the detailed screenshots, but Los Angeles has no clamming beach, so nothing appears. Off

What Stays the Same

These are on the screen whichever way you set the switches above:

  • The tide curve, today’s highs and lows, and the current level with its rate of change
  • Your warning level (red) and preferred tide range (orange)
  • Air temperature and wind
  • The alert banner at the top right
About the alert banner. The banner has its own switch, Alerts › Show Alerts, which was left on for both sets of screenshots. Turn it off and Tidesy shows no weather alerts at all — no banner, no alert pages and no alert bars.
To change a setting: open your Tidesy’s dashboard in a browser on the same WiFi, choose Edit Settings, flip the switches under Display, Alerts and Environment, and press Save & Restart. You can change your mind as often as you like.

These layers are available on every Tidesy except the smallest, 2.8-inch model, which always uses the simple layout.

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