Frequently asked questions
theONE Vessel Command Center · JEMS Marine, LLC
Straight answers to what people ask before they have the app. Once you do, the Help Center inside it goes further.
The app
What is theONE?
An iOS app that keeps everything about your vessel in one place — trips and legs on NOAA charts, maintenance and work orders, playbooks, documents, stowage and crew — built for power vessels 40 feet and up, and built to keep working with no signal. It is made by JEMS Marine, LLC. Every feature, in depth.
What does it run on?
iPhone and iPad — one app, with no separate iPad version. A boat’s owner or manager (or a captain the owner has also made manager) can also sign in on this website to read her record and add documents. That web version is not the whole app.
Can I get it now?
theONE is in private beta through Apple’s TestFlight, and is coming soon to the App Store. To ask for early access, request a Founding Captain spot.
Does it work outside US waters?
Charts, routing, tide predictions and weather forecasts are NOAA-backed and cover US coastal waters. Outside that coverage theONE shows no forecast rather than one from somewhere else, and charts, routing and tides do not cover it either. The record you keep on the boat — maintenance, logs, documents, crew — lives on your device wherever she is.
Does it connect to my boat’s electronics?
Yes: through a Wi-Fi gateway on the boat’s own network, connected to your NMEA 2000 or 0183 network. Depth, temperatures, voltages, tank levels and engine data then reach theONE with no internet involved. Engine hours can also be logged by hand.
Offline, and your data
Does it work offline?
Yes. Every critical feature was built to work with no connection at all — the logbook, maintenance records, stowage search, crew roles and access, the Document Vault and the emergency tools. Everything you enter is saved on the device the moment you enter it. How offline-first works.
What needs an internet connection?
Only the things that are by nature a conversation with the shore: refreshing weather, tides, radar and charted depth; place names and the map under the chart; downloading chart regions; sending a float plan; and, if you sign in, carrying the boat’s changes to your other devices and your crew. With no signal, theONE shows no forecast rather than a guess, and everything already on the device keeps working.
Where is my data kept?
On your device, in the app’s own storage, and in your device’s backup if you make one. If you never sign in, we have no copy of your vessel data: it stays on the device, in that backup, and in your calendar if you let theONE add trips and maintenance dates to it. If you sign in and put a boat in the cloud, her changes and the files attached to her records travel through our own server at api.theonevcc.com, which runs on Cloudflare, so your other devices and your crew receive them — and each device still keeps its own copy aboard. The Privacy Policy sets out exactly what we hold.
Does my location leave the phone?
A position does, whether or not you sign in: to fetch weather, radar and charted depth, and to put a name to a place and draw the map under the chart. It goes straight from your device to NOAA, Iowa State University (radar), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (channel data) and Apple (place names and the map) — never through our server, and with nothing about you attached. Tides and buoy readings are asked for by station number, so no position is sent for those. If you sign in, a finished track is sent once, when its recording ends, as part of the boat’s record; your position is not streamed to us while it records. Turn Location off for theONE in iOS Settings and weather falls back to your homeport; tracks, anchor watch, a man-overboard pin and following your position on the chart need it, and the rest of the app works without it.
Do you sell my data or show ads?
No. We do not sell or rent your information, the app has no advertising and no advertising SDK, and we build no profile of you. Crash reporting and analytics are both off unless you turn them on.
Accounts and crew
Can I use it without an account?
Yes, and that is the ordinary way to use it: open the app, accept the Terms and the Privacy Policy, enter your name and your boat, and go. Signing in is optional. It is what lets a second device of yours, and your crew, reach the same boat.
How do I invite crew?
Sign in and put your boat in the cloud (Menu (☰) → Settings → Account), then Menu (☰) → Settings → Member Users → + Invite member. Pick the role, send, and give the person the code: it looks like XXXX-XXXX, works once, and lasts 7 days unless you choose up to 30. On their own phone they tap Have an invite code? on the Welcome screen, or enter it in Account if theONE is already set up. During the beta, putting a boat in the cloud is open only to addresses we have set up; anyone can join a boat with a code. The roles are owner, manager, captain, crew, vendor and guest, and each sees what its role allows.
Who can see my crew’s health notes?
On a signed-in boat, a crew or guest card — allergies, dietary and medical notes and the card photo included — reaches the boat’s owner, captain and manager, and the person the card is about. Never any other crew member, guest or vendor. That is decided on our server, so the card never reaches anyone else’s phone at all. Each person can see and edit their own card. A boat that is not signed in lives on one device, and every card is on that device.
Help, and your account
How do I get help?
In the app: Menu (☰) → Help Center. It works offline, at sea, with no signal. To reach a person, email ops@jems-marine.com, or use Menu (☰) → Settings → Send Feedback. More on the Support page.
How do I delete my account?
In the app, while you are signed in: Menu (☰) → Settings → Account → Delete my account. Your sign-in, your sessions, your access to every boat and your own crew card go; the records of work done aboard stay with the boat. If you cannot open the app, write to ops@jems-marine.com. What deletion erases, what it keeps, and what happens to a boat you own.