Mariner's Desk keeps your certificates, sea service, rest hours and roster in one place, on your phone. It works offline, it's free, and the record belongs to you. This manual goes through every part of the app in the order you'll meet it, and it says plainly where the app stops.
A few things worth knowing before you put your records in.
Mariner's Desk is a personal record app for seafarers. You put in your certificates, your voyages, your rest hours and your leave, and the app keeps them up to date and tells you when something needs attention.
Some things about how it works:
An account keeps your records safe if you lose or change your phone.
You can keep using the app without an account, but records you add that way stay on that device only. Creating an account later copies them across.
Sign in with the same email and password. Your records download to the new device. Your PIN is set per device, so you'll set it again.
Five minutes now saves a lot of searching later.
Home shows you what needs attention, and nothing else you don't need today.
Everything on Home is live. If a number looks wrong, the quickest check is the record it comes from. Sections 3 to 5 cover those screens.
Your certificate wallet: the cards you carry, plus the scans behind them.
PDF scans are backed up to your cloud account the same as images. If you reinstall the app or lose the phone, your scans come back with the rest of your records.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Valid | In date, with more than 90 days to run. |
| Expiring | Expires within 90 days. You'll get a push alert if notifications are on. |
| Expired | The expiry date has passed. |
Search works across your certificates by name, type or number. For a printed or shared summary, use the summary option on the Certificates screen. It lists your certificates and their expiry dates on one page, which is useful at a port inspection or when your company asks for a quick list.
If your company wants to add a certificate to your record, or change one you have, the proposal appears on Home and in Certificates. It shows what's being proposed and who proposed it.
In Settings, turn on notifications. You'll get a push notification once a day for any certificate that is expiring within 90 days.
Your voyage log, your sea-time total and your progress toward the next ticket.
Overlapping dates are merged, so the same days are never counted twice.
The progress view shows how many months of sea service you have toward your next Certificate of Competency, and what's still missing. It depends on the rank you hold and the sea-time rules for your flag state. Set your flag state on the Sea service screen to see any extra notes your administration asks for.
Each voyage has two parts: your own declaration, and your company's sign-off. A voyage shows as Verified only when both are done.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Verified | You have declared it and your company has signed it off. |
| Awaiting company sign-off | You have declared it. Your company hasn't signed it yet. This is honest, not a fault. |
Rest hours are where most seafarers need the most help, so this section goes into the most detail.
The app applies the STCW rules on hours of rest, using a rolling window rather than calendar days. For each day it checks:
When a day falls short, the app lists the problem under that day, with the exact number of hours it found. A day with no problems shows as compliant.
Nothing needs to be added in real time. You can fill the month in later, as long as the times are right.
At the end of a period, you sign the record. If your company countersigns it, the record is marked as countersigned, and the company's name and role appear on it. Countersigned records are what your company keeps on its own side.
Use Export CSV to take a copy of any period. The file opens in any spreadsheet and is useful for your own file or for an audit.
Rest hours work fully offline. Records you add or sign are stored on the phone and sent to your company when you next have a connection.
This is where your company's schedule and your own leave meet.
The Roster tab lists every assignment your company has recorded for you, with the vessel, the rank and the dates. An assignment with no end date is ongoing.
Leave is approved in the way your company has set up. Some companies approve it with the Master or Chief Engineer first, then shore staff sign it off. Others use one step. You'll see who has responded to your request, and when.
When leave is finally approved, it goes onto the company's roster automatically. You don't need to do anything else.
If your company tracks a leave balance, it shows on this screen.
If a planned maintenance job on your vessel is assigned to you, it appears on Roster and on Home when it's due soon or overdue. To sign it off, open the job, add a comment, and record any parts you used. Your company sees the update straight away.
Reference material for work and for study, all in the app.
Tools holds reference material you can read on the ship without a connection:
Search helps you find a topic quickly across the reference tabs.
You can put your records in your phone's calendar. Use Export all to calendar for a one-time copy (an .ics file), or live subscription to have your calendar app update as your records change. Keep the subscription link private, because it gives access to your dates.
The tax counter adds up the days from your voyage log for the period you choose, so you don't have to type the same dates twice. It's a counter. Your tax filing and any tax rule that applies to you come from your own advisor or tax authority.
The emergency card holds your next-of-kin details and any medical information you choose to add. It's saved to your account and visible only to you. Your company can't see it.
Everything about your account, your privacy and the app itself.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name, rank, department | Your details. Rank drives sea-service progress. |
| Company link | Enter or change the joining code that connects you to a company. |
| PIN and biometric unlock | Lock the app on this device. The PIN is always the fallback. |
| Notifications | Push alerts for certificates expiring within 90 days. |
| Language | English, or Tagalog (welcome screen and main navigation only, machine-translated). |
| Appearance | Light, Dark, or match your phone's setting. |
| Backup and restore | Export a copy of your data, or restore from one. |
| Clear local data | Removes records stored on this device. Records in your cloud account are not affected. |
| Delete account | Permanently deletes your account and cloud data. See below. |
Deleting your account removes your records from Mariner's Desk, including your certificates, sea service, rest logs and your company link. It can't be undone, so export a backup first if you want a copy.
Your records are stored in your own account. Your company can see only what you've linked and what's relevant to it. It can't see your emergency card, and it can't see anything outside the parts of the app it's been linked to. The app's privacy statement sets out the details.
Your phone can be lost or broken. Your records shouldn't be.
Go to Settings, then Backup, and export. You get a single file with your records. Keep it somewhere safe. A backup is the only copy that doesn't depend on the app or your account.
On a new phone, sign in and your records sync down. If you're restoring from a file, choose Restore in Settings and pick the file. Records already on the phone are merged, not duplicated.
Offline, you can add and edit certificates, sea service, rest hours and notes. The app sends changes once you're back online. If you use the app on a shared device, such as a bridge terminal, the PIN and sign-in still protect your records.
Reference points for the most common flag states. Confirm everything with your administration.
Each flag state has its own rules for certificates of competency. The notes below summarise what the current guidance we reviewed says for each one. They're a starting point, and the current rules come from your flag state.
| Flag state | Note from the guidance reviewed |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | MCA. An online exam (Part A), then an oral exam (Part B) for most certificates. An oral pass is valid for three years. |
| Philippines | MARINA. Competency assessment under its Competency Assessment System, with oral, theoretical and practical elements. Practical assessment was being piloted in 2026. |
| Panama | An endorsement of your certificate is needed within 90 days of joining a Panama-flag ship. |
| Marshall Islands | A three-day written examination, with a 70% pass mark in each part. |
| Liberia | Written platform and criteria exams, with a 70% pass mark. A medical examination is needed within 12 months of applying. |
| India | DG Shipping. Examinations are held in phases. |
| New Zealand | Maritime New Zealand. The final examination is an oral exam, arranged through your training provider. |
| Australia | AMSA. An oral exam for STCW certificates of competency. A GMDSS certificate is needed for the unlimited Master certificate and for other officer-level certificates. |
Short answers to the questions we hear most.
Yes. Your certificates and sea service belong to your account. Your company sees what you've linked it to see, and no more.
Unlink the old company and link the new one with its joining code. Your records stay with you.
No. It can propose a change. You accept or reject it, and only accepted changes go into your record.
Check that notifications are turned on in Settings, and that your phone allows notifications from the app. The section on troubleshooting in the Troubleshooting Guide covers the usual causes.
Sign in again with your email and password. Your records on the device are kept until you sync.
No. Changes are kept on the phone and sent when you're back online.
Start with the Troubleshooting Guide. If the answer isn't there, email [email protected] with what you were doing and what you saw.