Every vessel within range of your location, told as a short cinematic story — where it came from, where it’s going, what it’s carrying.
Persistent connection to the global AIS network, updated continuously as ships move.
Smart ranking surfaces moving cargo, named tankers, and distant cruisers — not a wall of moored boats.
Your location stays on device. No analytics, no sign-in, no third-party SDKs.
Passing By uses the public AIS (Automatic Identification System) broadcast that every commercial vessel transmits. With your permission, the app filters that worldwide stream down to the ships near your current location and presents each as a story card you can swipe through.
An AIS data key from aisstream.io is required for live data. The key is free and stored only on your device.