Choose the section that matches what you are seeing. For a missing or stationary vessel, start with when she was last heard on her panel; the position and speed describe that report, not necessarily where she is now.

I cannot sign in

• The code has not arrived. Give it a minute, then look in spam or junk; it comes from [email protected].
• The code says it is not valid. Use the newest e-mail: a code lasts ten minutes, and asking for a new one retires the old one. After five unsuccessful attempts, request a fresh code.
• You have asked several times and nothing is coming. We stop sending after a few in quick succession, which is what stops somebody filling your inbox by typing your address. Wait a quarter of an hour and ask once more.
• You closed this account before. That address cannot sign in and cannot sign up again either. Write to [email protected]; if it is inside thirty days we can bring it back. Closing your account

Still nothing? Write to [email protected] from the address you are trying to use.

I cannot find a vessel

• "No boats match that." The name she broadcasts is often written differently from how you would write it: run together, shortened, or without punctuation. Try a shorter, distinctive part of the name. Her nine-digit MMSI settles it either way.
• The search box will not search. It needs at least three characters.
• "We are not tracking MMSI ... yet." The number is valid and we have never had a report for it. Check the nine digits first, since a typo looks exactly like a vessel nobody has heard. Follow it anyway asks the network to watch for her; come back and follow her once she appears.
• A search on a call sign or IMO number came back empty. Both are reported by a minority of vessels. Search her name instead.
• Search says it is busy. That is us asking you to slow down, not a verdict about the vessel. Wait a moment and try the same words again.
• She has no AIS transponder. Many small craft do not report to this network. Some Saillogger boats also share positions directly, but search can only return vessels AIS Fleet knows.

I cannot see a vessel on the map

In the order they are likely:

1. Reports may have stopped reaching us. Offshore and sparsely covered coasts often have gaps. A new position appears when another report arrives. Where the positions come from
2. You are zoomed too far out for a vessel her size to be drawn. At ocean scale only the larger ships appear.
3. You have her type switched off in the Types filter, or Traffic switched off. A list you have switched on while she is on it makes that impossible, and so does a fleet you have switched on while she is in it.
4. Her list is switched off, or she is beyond your plan on a list you subscribe to: listed under Beyond your plan in that list, not drawn.
5. Her transponder is off, in port or otherwise. Nothing is being broadcast to hear.
6. Your stations have not heard her for a while. The Local AIS layer draws only what they are hearing now, so a boat that left your range drops out of it while she may still be on the chart as ordinary traffic.
7. She has never been heard. We know some vessels by MMSI without ever having had a position for them. There is nothing to draw, so she appears on her list rather than on the chart.

If she is a boat you follow, her row under Lists tells you which of these it is faster than the chart will.

Her position is hours old

That is a different question from a vessel who has vanished, and it usually has a simpler answer: nobody has heard her since. A boat at anchor with her instruments off, a boat out of range, and a boat with her transponder switched off all look the same from here.

The panel says how long ago it was, and that is the honest answer we have. Nothing on the page is a promise about where she is now. Where the positions come from

Her journal or her track has gone

If a journal, logged voyage or owner photograph disappears, the owner may have changed their sharing settings or access password. That change alone tells you nothing about the boat's condition. AIS positions can still appear when reports arrive. Boats that log with Saillogger

I am not getting notices

• Check the boat's own row under Boats you follow in Notification settings. A boat can be quieter than the row above it.
• Check the master row. Followed boats turned off for a column stops that whole column, whatever an individual boat says.
• Check the list's notice switches. Favorites starts with notices on; custom and subscribed lists start with them off. Turning a list on for the map does not turn its notices on.
• Check you followed her rather than following it anyway. Asking the network to watch for an MMSI is not a follow, and it starts no notices.
• Check she is not beyond your plan. Follows past your limit are listed and not announced.
• She may simply not have moved. A boat at a berth for a fortnight generates nothing, and that is correct.
• She may be out of range. A departure worked out from movement needs reports to work from.
• Nothing appears on your phone. If Push is available in the iPhone app's Notification settings, check that it is enabled on this phone and allowed in iOS Settings. Check the type and boat switches too. Departure and arrival pushes are quiet and appear in Notification Center; quiet hours also silence other pushes overnight. If Push is not offered, keep E-mail on for notices while AIS Fleet is closed. Departures and arrivals
• The app says you have reached your push device limit. Turn off Push in AIS Fleet on a device you no longer use, then try enabling it on this phone again. If you no longer have that device, contact support. Your other registered phones can keep receiving notices.

I am getting too many

Turn the boat's E-mail off: she stops arriving in your inbox and stays somewhere you can look her up. The ... on a notice about a boat you follow does the same in one tap, with Mute her. Muting is not unfollowing. Choosing what reaches you

A notice that came through a list you subscribe to has no mute of its own: the list's own switches are its volume control. Lists

A photo will not upload

Vessel photos

My station stays quiet

• The host and port must be entered exactly as shown, and the output must be UDP rather than TCP.
• The receiver has to be hearing traffic. A receiver on a bench with no antenna has nothing to forward.
• Live with a vessel count of zero means data is arriving but no vessel positions have been counted. If vessels are nearby, check that the feed includes AIS, rather than only GPS sentences.
• A phone station pauses when the phone is locked or the app is closed.

Share your AIS receiver

Something says I need a different plan

It is a limit rather than a fault, and nothing has been deleted. Follows, lists and fleets past your plan stay listed and go quiet; a track window you do not have says which plan has it. Plans and billing

Something is missing in the app

Adding a receiver that is not your phone, station statistics, and starting or managing a fleet are on the website. Sign in there with the same e-mail address. AIS Fleet on your phone

The page is blank or will not load

Check your internet connection, then reload the page. If it still fails, try a current browser and check whether a content blocker is preventing scripts from loading. The map needs JavaScript; the guide can also be read as plain Markdown. In the iPhone app, check TestFlight for an update and reopen the app. If the problem continues, contact us with your device and browser or app version.

None of this is it

Write to [email protected], or reply to any AIS Fleet e-mail. Tell us the vessel's MMSI if it is about one particular boat, which screen you were on, what you expected and what happened. That is usually enough for us to see it from here.