CarPlay Hits the Water as Built-In Nav Comes to MasterCraft Pontoons
MasterCraft Boat Holdings
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Earlier this year, we saw a report that Sea-Doo was working on Apple CarPlay — a novel concept that would have brought Apple’s dashboard interface into the water. While there’s been no further word on what’s happening on that front, it looks like another watercraft company has beat it to the punch.
In a press release this morning, MasterCraft Boat Holdings announced that its premier pontoon brands, Crest and Balise, will be integrating Apple CarPlay into their boats as part of a new partnership with Savvy Navvy — a navigation app described as “Google Maps for boats.”
The CarPlay integration will be available on 2027 Balise and Crest Conquest and Caribbean models, where it will operate much like it already does in a car. However, since Apple Maps isn’t particularly useful on the waterways, Savvy Navvy is filling that gap with a new update that makes it the first marine app built for CarPlay.
There doesn’t appear to be anything boat-specific about the CarPlay side of things. In fact, you can install and fire up Savvy Navvy in your car, although it won’t do you much good unless you plan to go amphibious. The app is explicitly designed to provide nautical charts, GPS tracking, smart routing, tidal data, and live weather forecasts geared toward mariners.
“Boaters have been asking for a modern infotainment system for years,” says Jelte Liebrand, Founder and CEO of Savvy Navvy. “Plan your trip on the couch, step aboard, and it is already at the helm. No complicated ways to synchronise things; it just works. Savvy Navvy for CarPlay works on iOS and Android with any compatible display. I’m thrilled to see Crest and Balise put CarPlay in front of their boaters.”
The partnership was announced during Crest Marine’s annual dealer meeting on Lake Lansing, with on-water demos in which attendees were given a chance to try out the new integration for themselves.
However, while the built-in CarPlay integration is unique to MasterCraft’s pontoons, there’s already a rich selection of aftermarket marine head units that work with CarPlay. This makes Savvy Navvy’s update valuable for boaters of all kinds.
As we’d expect, the Savvy Navvy app uses the same CarPlay navigation frameworks as other third-party apps like Google Maps, meaning it can effectively replace Apple Maps, taking over the map portion of the CarPlay Dashboard screen to appear alongside playback controls and Live Activities.
While Savvy Navvy is a free download from the App Store, the CarPlay integration requires a paid subscription. Annual pricing in the US starts at $129 for Premium, which includes offline charts and weather, 14-day trip planning, ECMWF mixed weather forecasting, and NMEA Connect to provide boat instrument data directly in the app. There’s also a $169 Premium+ plan which adds global chart coverage. Crest and Balise owners will also get access to Premium included with their boat, with one month for Crest owners and 12 months for Balise owners.
Not all Savvy Navvy features will be available through the CarPlay user interface, which seems to be more focused on navigation, including features like Savvy Charts in day, night, or satellite view, 2D and 3D chart views, smart routing, a search interface for finding marines, harbors, and anchorages, saved markers, nav mode, nearby boat traffic, live location sharing, and bathymetry.
