DEVELOPER SPOTLIGHT

The App Every Surfer Needs

How Anton Bremer made the radical surfing app Dawn Patrol.

Dawn Patrol

Surf Tracking for your Watch

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‣ Company: Dawn Patrol Surf Tracking
‣ Founder: Anton Bremer
‣ Mission: To share a passion for surfing
‣ App launched: 2017
‣ Team size: 6
‣ Go-to emoji: 🤙

As a native of Holland, Dawn Patrol cofounder Anton Bremer might not be the world’s most likely surfer.

“It’s not the first sport you do as a Dutchman,” says Bremer, who admits his country’s waves leave something to be desired.

But after a few trips to surfing hotspots around the world—and a handful of memorable classes in Bali—the web-programmer-turned-iOS-developer was hooked. And he’s turned his passion into Dawn Patrol, which helps surfers track their sessions and stay up-to-date on local forecasts.

Dawn Patrol plots your exact path through the water, total waves, time in water, and so much more.

The app is named after Bremer’s favorite time: “‘Dawn patrol’ is surfing before sunrise,” he says. “That’s when nature wakes up, the birds come out, and the beach is quieter. It’s such an adrenaline kick when you ride that first wave at speed.”

We caught up with Bremer to discuss how he managed to combine his professional and personal passions into a totally gnarly app.

How did you decide to make an app for surfers?
When the Apple Watch Series 2 was released, I thought, “Maybe I can try to make an app that can measure waves while you’re in the water.” My friends were always counting waves and comparing, but I would always lose count. I thought, “Why not have the watch do it for me?”

What was the initial reaction?
Very positive! Surfers are really dedicated to their sport; they probably spend two hours in the water and get like four or five minutes of wave time. They want to know stats like speed, because the more speed you have, the higher you can go and the better the trick.

How did you approach bringing Dawn Patrol to Apple Watch?
I took it on as project to study and understand more about UX design. Dawn Patrol needed to be glanceable. Coming from the web—where your screens are big—to the iPhone and then Apple Watch, I really needed to think about what to display to the user.

How has Dawn Patrol changed the way you surf?
We plot your waves on a map, right? And if you surf, you probably notice that while the wave breaks very often in a similar place, you often drift to the left or right a little bit, and it’s quite easy to drift off the peak. Dawn Patrol has helped me stay on the peaks better. Now I catch waves in the same place much more often.

What advice would you give to someone making their first app?
We’ve had a big feedback button in the app since the beginning. Listen to that feedback and improve your app based on what your users tell you. And watch a lot of WWDC videos.

Dawn Patrol Surf Tracking is a part of the App Store Small Business Program. If you are a developer and would like to learn more about the program, follow the link below.