OCEARCH Shark Tracker Reviews

by Ladygoede

What a cool app that allows worldwide animal lovers as a community to track and comment to support these amazing animals. Oh wait- the comment feature has vanished without any note on app as to why? I don’t use shark tracker as much at all now, seeing all the great comments are no longer available? My kid and I loved tracking and reading and sending cheers to our fav sharks.
In a recent update, the popular interactive side was taken away. From what I read in a similar review, comments removed from OCEARCHSharkTracker due to the very few not deemed appropriate— why not offer to have a review filter then users post appears shortly after? Bring comments back!!

by AlphaCloud6

I got OCEARCHSharkTracker a while back and I had forgotten about it but I came back to it the other day and I have some things I want to mention. I used to love checking on certain sharks and seing the comments people left so when I checked OCEARCHSharkTracker again and saw the comment section gone I was really surprised. As far as I can tell, the comment section was a well loved feature so I don’t understand why you would remove it and would love to have it back and I am sure other people would too. Another thing I noticed is the fact that though you can search for many different types of sea creatures, The only ones you can actually see are several sharks and one single turtle. I understand that you cannot track ever animal in the ocean and that with covid-19 it is probably much harder to track animals but I would love to see at least a bit more variety. Other than these this is quite a good app and its quite enjoyable so I would love to see my recommendations added to OCEARCHSharkTracker .

by AllyTheGreatest

Cool app with interesting details about individual sharks and their paths. I’m disappointed that the comment section has been removed though. It was always fun and entertaining to check that feature. I referred several friends to OCEARCHSharkTracker because of the comment section. It was just a fun little bonus area that should be brought back.

by Pd Longhouse

I like the idea and it’s really cool, but the nearest sharks to me were last pinged in 2016 and 2018. It’s now 2020. I thought this would be more of a thing to use before I went to the beach not just to see that there have been sharks in my area. Maybe I misunderstood. Also, it would be nice if you could select an animal and have a small amount of information pop up without losing the map view. Fun, but not as practical as I’d hoped for.

EDIT: I made a mistake, the blinking dots are the recently pinged, so it does have some up-to-date info. The other suggestion still applies in my opinion.

by 174517451745

OCEARCHSharkTracker is great but one of the things I feel that would benefit OCEARCHSharkTracker and the users would be a favorite option for the animals. So if you favorite the animal there could be an extra tab where all your favorites go so you can track them individually. I would really like this feature since it would save me and a lot of other users time finding the animals we like to track.

by Jburd

If you are interested in animals, this is a really cool app! The only thing I wish is that it would update or sort by activity or something so the animals that haven’t pinged in a few years would clear out of the feed. I don’t want to lose their history, but would like the more current activity to be easier to see.

by Pcmatty

OCEARCHSharkTracker is incredible. It’s not Real-time, though, for many of the sharks shown. There are sharks that haven’t pinged for over 5 years. App could be more Real-Time if old-ping sharks could be hidden from the map without removing the shark’s data? Sharks travel long distances within days so they could be anywhere.

Thank you to OCEARCHSharkTracker developers for sharing all this info. Incredibly interesting👍🏼

by AllieGillard2012

I am a shark fanatic and this has been a really great app! It’s fun to see where the different sharks go and hang out. I enjoy waking up and checking on the different sharks. Of course, this will not show you EVERY shark in the ocean, as it is impossible to tag every single shark, but it is very exciting to see the sharks THATS re tagged and learn of their habits. I really love OCEARCHSharkTracker!’

by Ginwsanders

Growing up on the eastern coast and a surfer, we encountered sharks. The fact that Great Whites are in our waters is scary but it is the natural part of living near the ocean.

At one point while our daughter and son was being pulled on an inner tube, we saw a shark surface that was long as our boat. Needless to say we gently pulled our kids to the boat. And that was the end of inner tube riding in the waters near FRIPP ISLAND AND Beaufort SC.

by Luna3433

OCEARCHSharkTracker is so cool, I love all the sharks names and the comments people leave on their profiles. I’ve been putting so many people onto it and go on it all the time. I do with OCEARCHSharkTracker had a favoriting system so I could have a list of all my favorite sharks and maybe even get alerts when they ping. It would be nice if people could donate money to name some of the sharks or fund an expedition. I also really like how there are other animals like swordfish and turtles but I wish they were more recent. I think opening OCEARCHSharkTracker up to other aquatic animals and research groups could be a good way to adapt OCEARCHSharkTracker further, whales in particular would be cool. All in all, I love OCEARCHSharkTracker and am so glad I found it!

by Brunswick Fisher

WeSo fortunate to have the technology to do what we can do in tracking the sharks. They are a vital part of our ecosystem. Educating people about their movement’s helps us be a part of their lives in a good sort of way we’re not invading their privacy or changing their behavior but understanding them is important for all

by Justanothergirlwi

It’s real research on living beings in the ocean. To be able to see where Greats track for a year to me is the bees knees. Add on the turtles and porpoises there’s always something pinging to see.
A great educational tool and a great cause to support. Maybe if more people knew about this they would care a little more saving the sea life…

by Scrimshandermaster

I have been tracking Katherine a massive great white shark, since she was tagged about 7 years ago. Exciting to see she is still out there with last ping in May 2020. I sit here and Katherine swims on and on. Only on Ocearch. OCEARCHSharkTracker is regularly up-dated and runs quickly. Find a favorite and stay in touch. Ocearch connect me to the adventure of a majestic creature.

by Acience 1

I absolutely love OCEARCHSharkTracker. It’s great and I completely understand on why some pings are all the way back in 2017. Honestly there is no complaints about OCEARCHSharkTracker. The only thing I would like to add is that when there is a new ping I can get a notification. Other than that I love this because it brings out my shark lovingness.

by Bumbl3beebs

like many others I love checking my shark tracker app, it’s super cool and interesting to see their movement! I miss the comments a lot though. I love sharks & their one of the things I hyper fixated on learning about, and it was awesome to see other people comment on the shark pages so I knew other people liked looking at this kind of things too :) I miss the comments, please bring them back if you can

by Ashreyn

OCEARCHSharkTracker is literally so amazing. I love being able to learn more about my favorite sharks and also about other new sharks that pop up. They also have turtles and this is just such an amazing app to have. Weather you are a animal nerd like me or just want to find something different and fun I HIGHLY suggest getting OCEARCHSharkTracker. If I could give more stars I absolutely would.

by Marcella W.

I have been drawn to sharks since the movie,”Jaws” came out, I guess instead of fear I found curiosity in these beautiful creatures. OCEARCHSharkTracker allows me to take in information and believe it or not,… the personalities each project in the photos taken. I would love to know if the crew ever retags after the shark ping is lost, hoping Mary Lee will be back on a current list.
Wishing all the best!

by A Sharky Person

OCEARCHSharkTracker is great for marine animal lovers. You get to see so many animals like sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, and seals/sea lions! All the animals have names. Just one thing I would change about OCEARCHSharkTracker . I wish there was a way to favorite specific animals so that you can easily check back in on them later. Over all I think it’s a great app for ocean lovers. Highly recommend if you are into that kind of stuff.

by Jero0607

I love OCEARCHSharkTracker because it has educational features that help my daughter and I learn about our
favorite ocean creatures. When my financial situation is better I will definitely donate to Ocean Research! We the people need to fight for the life of the ocean because if we selfishly keep abusing it we will loose everything that we need to survive. God bless the men and women who dedicate they’re lives and time to help preserve theses beautiful animals!

by Avari Fisher

OCEARCHSharkTracker pretty good, pretty good. Was it amazing? Not really. I understand that you really cannot track every shark in the ocean. But I downloaded OCEARCHSharkTracker as a worried individual, looking for a way to feel aware of the sharks in my area before I hit the sand. And you know what, I saw the sharks on the map... but they were from like 2017. Now, I did see that you are able to see “pinged” sharks. Those sharks were updated only a phew days ago. That was helpful. And as I started to become less worried, then I looked at the entire map. And what did I see... NO SHARKS IN HAWAII. Concerning? Yes. Again I know that you can’t track every shark in the ocean, but like... common. I’m no marine biologist, but I know that sharks ARE in Hawaii.👁👄👁

by Ronjamin

When i tried to zoom into a shark you can get some data but then when you try to zoom out or go to another shark you can't. Sometimes it does allow you to zoom out but it doesn't take you back to the shark that you were looking at, it zooms all the way out which isn't what I want. You have to restart OCEARCHSharkTracker when you're stuck on a shark. Dates are all incorrect . There is no history on the where have I been tag. Maybe you should put an animation that shows the progress over time and where the shark goes as an animation for each shark. OCEARCHSharkTracker also has a very clunky and amateurish feel to it.

Finally if I'm a fisherman aren't you concerned that people use OCEARCHSharkTracker to track and capture the fish?

by Reallyy Angry Pperson

This is a really freaking great idea for an app but it's done all wrong. Why would I want to know where random sharks are in the ocean. I want to get to know the sharks. I want to know where they have been, I want to know their history, who tagged them, what type of shark they are, how big they are. All this info or at least as much info as is know about these sharks, which must be a decent amount if they were tagged needs to be available when you click on the shark. Also I am trying to see who the two shark near Naples Florida right now are, and I can't because you can tap a shark on a map and be told where who they are. In order to figure out who those sharks are I would have to click on EVERY SINGLE SHARK one shark at a time just just to figure out who they are. This is a simple and obvious feature that anybody would know is necessary on an app like this. PLEASE FIX IT NOW. OMG

by Wascurious

No mention of no North American west coast data!

by Minkette6

I downloaded OCEARCHSharkTracker because I was having trouble accessing all the features of the browser site on my iPad. Turns out that they're basically just the same thing--no adjustments or improvements have been made to make OCEARCHSharkTracker more mobile-compatible and user-friendly than the website. I still have lots of trouble scrolling, still can't view full shark profiles, still find it irksome to zoom in and out, still find the whole thing a pain to navigate. I feel a bit cheated--there really is hardly any difference at all between the mobile site and OCEARCHSharkTracker , so why did I even download it? Nonetheless, I'm leaving on another star because the idea of engaging the public with shark science and conservation in this manner is a great idea. I hope the developers tinker with it some more to make that kind of knowledge even more accessible.

by Mama/Hunni Maria

My Children, grandchildren and I have enjoyed tracking sharks, turtles & sea lions all summer. We’ve loved learning about your work and all you are doing for our oceans.. However it’s disappointing when we want to see who’s popped up & where but can’t and are subject to a host of problems. We use a simple iPad. Your App has been a great learning tool for the little ones. They’ve picked out their favorite animals but are very disappointed when they can’t “check on them”! I installed google earth as advised to help with this problem.. it’s a best a hit or miss. I’d be glad to pay a small fee for a working app because our family have found it to be so interesting. Again thanks for all you are doing for our oceans creatures. Looking forward to fixes ;)

by Prezi5

This is a great idea but poor execution. OCEARCHSharkTracker needs to be more user friendly. Make it easier to navigate through OCEARCHSharkTracker , and easier to search for sharks. It would be cool to be able to search for sharks that have traveled to a specific area, for example you cold search Sydney, Australia and it would pull up a list of sharks that have swam near there. You should also be able to save sharks and get notified when they ping and have a map that shows only the saved sharks. Please make these changes and I will give it 5 stars no problem.

by Mellowtothecore

I used to check OCEARCHSharkTracker every day and track my favorite sharks. I have been obsessed! But as time progresses and still no update to OCEARCHSharkTracker, it loses more and more functionality and becomes very challenging to use. The web site is not designed to be easy to use on a mobile device, so I feel like I am getting pushed out. I have great interest in your research and in getting my friends and family into it, but your use of technology to share your work is a barrier. Please give this more attention! It's time to redesign!

by Tlth468

I loved the quantity of information that was available for each shark. The icons on the tracker would correspond to a particular shark and then when clicking on that shark profile, you would learn specifics. That is no longer the case, now after clicking on the name of the shark, it returns you to the icon on the map. The information is not available in the manner it was previously. I miss the ability to learn the details of each shark, such as type, size, etc. Please fix this glitch as the previous version was much appreciated..
Thank you!

by Teacher321

Can you please update your APP to be as informative as your web page?

My students are greatly interested in keeping up with your studies of the ocean's top predator. Using OCEARCHSharkTracker is easier for us to use but needs a big update.

There are many mistakes in OCEARCHSharkTracker . For instance, Marylee and Katherine among a few, were not both tagged Jan 1, 1715. "The Ocearch Vessel "did not surface long enough to get an accurate position." would always be incorrect.

Can you add in OCEARCHSharkTracker a way to search by type of shark and a create a favorites list with their data? Can this be printable?

In OCEARCHSharkTracker can the tracks of sharks be easier to read? Such as position of capture, where they spent their time by season, any correlation to be in certain places?

Can there be regular updates or yearly summaries of what you've learned about each shark?

Do you have enough data to predict future movements?

Did tropical storm Anna cause several Great Whites to swim away from the Ga to NC areas or were they following prey that were fleeing the storm?

by Ly Shark Enthusiast

So I have had OCEARCHSharkTracker downloaded for a long time and when I first downloaded it I could click on each individual ping and view the sharks profile. Now, after a recent update, I am no longer able to. I have to go on the website now to view the sharks information, such as pictures, initial tracking date, weight, stage of life, and the type of shark. I find that not having this is kind of an inconvenience... I would simply like to know more about the sharks without having to pull them up on the website. Thank you, Ly.

by DMBFOhio

I love the ability to track my favorite species, but there are definitely still some bugs that need to be worked out. I tried to find a way to contact the developer directly, but no contact information seems to be listed anywhere. I have set my app to track all species of sharks, but when I click on some of the pings, it will show a picture of a shark with turtle information underneath. Annoying, but the pros outweigh the cons. I love knowing where sharks have pinged and what species are currently in certain waters.

by Pauly Bigs

First, I love what Ocearch is doing and I enjoy OCEARCHSharkTracker a lot. I live in the Beaufort/Port Royal area and Ocearch has been in this area tagging sharks quite a few times, which I love following local sharks. However, I have been experiencing a lot of issues with OCEARCHSharkTracker as of late, continuously receiving an error message stating “issues connecting to the server,” making it so I cannot see any updated pings or information?

by Legit Monkey

OCEARCHSharkTracker is one of the most entertaining things I have laid my eyes upon. Not only did I enjoy seeing all of the paths the shark took, but I also zoomed in and was surprised to find out that I could find my house. I will never be lost again with OCEARCHSharkTracker as I can always find my way back home :') I strongly recommend OCEARCHSharkTracker to everyone who reads this and is debating on whether they want to see where my boy Pablo goes or not. 10/10

by Mikegoodman

This is a great app, I thoroughly enjoy being able to track my favorite sharks (shout out to Wyatt and lamanga) and share with friends! However I do have one small problem, to get back to the full map of sharks from one specific shark's information, I find myself having to refresh OCEARCHSharkTracker to get back to it. Otherwise I am completely satisfied with OCEARCHSharkTracker. One other suggestion would be notifications of specific sharks, I would love to be able to know where my faves are in real time. Thank you so much for listening and have a good day!!!

by MelindaMcElveen

I live off the Atlantic coast and the local raged sharks are updated about every few hours... Sharks do go upstream in rivers with brackish water to those who doubt this. And also.. Sharks that don't move may have damaged or list their tracking devices. But on our coast it's been very interesting and reliable... And remember... The tagged sharks are only a few of the many many many sharks out there ❤️