MSW Surf Forecast

• MSW App+ — $2.99

Last verified 5 Sep 2026

4.8 14906 ratings · App Store

1. 5/5Magic Seaweed

   The app is/was easier to use/better set up than Surfline. I get they merged but would be nice to still have the option for the traditional view. I still had the MS app on this phone and was able to use it since the merge. I had no option but download the SL app on my new phone last month. The only way I could get it to work was sign up. Give my email. I had already signed up years ago but didn’t like the SL app and went back to MS. I had forgot the password and used the reset. The feature was buggy and took 4 times to get it to work. Sorry for the long winded review but what it comes down to. The free Magic Seaweed app was far better than tge free Surfline app and you didn’t have to sign up to use it. Hopefully the SL app will improve with time but for now it’s a 1 star app in my opinion.

   TGCS101 · 5 Sep 2026

2. 5/5Go to app for free surf forecasts

   I’ve been using Magicseaweed’s website since I lived in Oregon and surfed Pacific City back in 08’, probably before that but can’t remember when I started using surf forecasting (yes I was alive and surfing in the days before internet forecasting, back then the newspaper-I am from Cape Fear region of North Carolina-was the source for a forecast, though then, as now, the most accurate forecast is still on sight forecasting), but its always been spot on in terms of predicting groundswell, there isn’t a surf forecasting program alive that I know of that accurately predicts wave height, which is a fickle thing depending as it is on so many factors including shifting sandbars in both NC and Oregon. When I say spot on I mean accurate for groundswells days in advance in my experience...it also has useful information about the various surf spots in your area and includes historical data, all for free. The historical data is quite interesting as it gives you the statistical average percentage of rideable wave each month going back to like 2007 for some spots, along with percentages of ground swell vs. windswell, average height of swell/wave for that month and average height for each day and maximum height each day. This is free!! Other forecasting sites don’t even do this at all. It’s not my go to for general weather forecasting, for that I use Windy, but for it niche, its the best you can find.

   thisisnicknamefascism · 5 Sep 2026

3. 4/5Good presentation of mostly accurate data

   No an easy feat to provide perfectly accurate surf forecasting for my area (NJ), however MSW seems to do a good enough job getting the gist across. The charts are high quality and they give you a good idea of what’s going on out there. wind is tough to forecast around here sometimes so I don’t want to blame them when their forecast is wrong but some real-time updates would be nice. like when it says it should be blowing 9mph SW but it’s actually blowing 30 mph ESE. Pretty frustrating. All the forecast tables are very user friendly and In depth however I really dislike the 6am 12pm 6pm layout. I think it would just make so much more sense to have 12am in there. even though you might not want to get out there and surf at 12am it’s still important to know what’s going on, I also think it just makes more sense report on even six hour intervals. Food for thought. Great app overall. Just wanna see some waze type of interactive live forecasting and a slightly more sensible forecasting table.

   surfergirlx69 · 5 Sep 2026

4. 4/5Basic accurate surf report app

   I live a couple hours from the beach these days, so I pay for the premium 14 day report. For 3 bucks, it’s fully worth it. I’m busy, so it’s hard to plan surf trips. This app makes it much easier. It’s accurate most of the time, as accurate as a 14 day report can be. The only complaints are small and won’t matter for most. I do wish the app said which way the wind is blowing in relationship to the shore. It says the direction, but in Cali, not all beaches face west, so it would be nice to get a better description. That said, I’m sure if I weren’t so bad with a compass, I could figure it out. Many will scoff at this gripe, I’m sure. The other thing is the “nearby” feature. There’s straight up nothing there for any beach I’ve been too. Now perhaps it’s up to a business to add their info, which I understand. But if businesses don’t want to participate, perhaps just ditch the feature all together. All around, this app does what it’s supposed to do. I’m definitely pleased with the service at this price point. Bottom line: I recommend the premium version of this app. The free one is good too if all you need is a week.

   RegularJames · 5 Sep 2026

5. 3/5Great way to plan my weekends….for most spots

   Since I live in Seattle, every time I go surfing, I have a choice to surf the straight (northern coast of the Olympic peninsula) or go to the ocean just south of the peninsula. When this app says that Crescent Beach or Twin Rivers is having a 5 star day, it’s a little shorter of a hike for us to get some good waves. There have been a handful of times that we have been skunked just taking this apps ratings heading there. Because the difference is about a 4 hour drive, if we make a wrong decision due to an inaccurate prediction, the day is spent. I understand that it’s hard to predict but it seems like there is information that’s being taken from the coast and applied to the spots on the straight of Juan De Fuca. It can be firing on the coast and dead on the straight depending on swell direction. If more attention could be paid to that, this app would have a 5 star review from me.

   183)() · 5 Sep 2026

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