Subsurface-mobile is an extension of Subsurface which runs on Android smartphone and tablet devices and is a tool for viewing or sharing dive information at dive sites where a larger computer is not useful. Subsurface-mobile for Android also allows the gathering of GPS locations where dives are performed (Subsurface-mobile for iOS currently does not support GPS functionality).

Subsurface-mobile allows you to enter and save dive information using a mobile device. Most users of Subsurface-mobile typically use the mobile app as an extension to the laptop/desktop version of Subsurface. This allows the storage of dive logs on the Internet sharing them between the mobile and the desktop versions. But Subsurface-mobile can be used independently of Subsurface and does not require the use of cloud storage. While the desktop version of Subsurface shows much more detailed information for each dive, the mobile version allows a more accessible dive log on a dive trip, useful for proving dive experience to dive shops or to review previous dives.

Subsurface-mobile allows you to:

These items are discussed in greater detail in the following text. What Subsurface-mobile does not support (at this time) is downloading dive data directly from a dive computer. That still needs to be done using Subsurface on a desktop or laptop computer. We are investigating ways to support downloading from a subset of the supported dive computers on Android devices, but this is not yet ready for testing.

Find Subsurface-mobile in the Google Play Store or the iTunes Store and install it.

Upon starting Subsurface-mobile for the first time, a Subsurface splash screen is shown while the program loads. On some devices this may take several seconds. After loading, the Cloud Credentials screen appears (see image below on left).

Select whether Subsurface-mobile should access the Internet for dive log information.

At the bottom of many Subsurface-mobile screens is a round button that provides for several actions and which allows the selection of the main affirmative action (see image above and image below). On Android devices, use the Android Back button for "cancel", "discard" or "back" actions. For example, when editing dive information, tapping the action button saves the changes while the Android back button can be used to cancel the edit without saving changes.

On iOS devices, on screens where a "back" action is enabled, a back arrow is shown in the top left corner of the screen.

In order to have a consistent experience between iOS and Android, Subsurface-mobile on Android does not use the traditional "hamburger" menu button in the top left or right corner of the screen to open menus. Instead, Subsurface-mobile uses a different user interaction philosophy based on the Kirigami framework developed by the Plasma developers. There are three ways to open the main menu:

The images above indicate some of the important features of the menu system. On the left is the main menu that is activated as described above. In the middle is the menu that opens if you tap the GPS option on the main menu. On the right is the menu that opens if you tap the Manage Dives option on the main menu.

All screenshots in this user manual are currently from the Android version. As indicated earlier, the iOS version currently doesn’t support GPS features.

Most of the actions of Subsurface-mobile center around the dives on the dive list. While the dive list is loading from the cloud, a message appears at the bottom of the screen, indicating that the cloud is being accessed (see image on left, below). Once the list is loaded you can scroll up and down. Tapping a dive on the list brings up a display of Details View for that dive (see image on right below). This includes the dive profile as well as additional information and notes.

You can view other dives by swiping the Details view to the right (for the previous dive) or to the left (following dive). Using the Action Bar, it is also possible to delete the dive (tap the dustbin on the Action Bar) or to view the dive location on a map viewer (Google Maps on Android, the Google Maps web site on iOS; tap the GPS icon on the Action Bar.).

At the bottom of the dive details screen the Action Button contains a pencil (image on right, above). Tapping the pencil button brings up a panel with edit boxes that allows you to change the existing dive information, e.g. adding text to the dive notes or changing the names or values of some of the information (see image below). It may be necessary to scroll the window to access all the information. At the bottom of the edit screen is a Save action button. Tap this to save the new information. Having saved the data, the dive list screen is updated and shown. To cancel any edits, tap the Android Back Button or swipe the edit screen up (fling it away).

You can manually add a dive to the existing dive list. On the dive list tap the "plus" sign in the Action Button, or use the main menu and tap Manage dives → Add dive manually. This opens a screen that is identical to the editing screen discussed above. When a dive is added manually, you cannot directly add a dive profile from a dive computer. However, if you do not use a dive computer, the duration, depth and several other bits of information about the new dive can be entered. The Action button at the bottom of the screen contains a disk symbol. Tap this to save the new dive. To cancel any edits, tap the Android Back Button. The left-hand image below shows a screenshot of a dive being created and the right-hand image shows the same dive in Details View.

The Details View of a dive has an Action Bar, including a dustbin. If this is tapped, the dive shown in the Details View is deleted. You have a brief opportunity to undo the delete by tapping the grey Undo button in the message that appears at the bottom of the screen (see image below).

You can also delete a dive from the dive list by long-pressing a specific dive until a red dustbin appears on the right-hand side (see image below). Tap the dustbin. The dive is deleted without asking any confirmation because Subsurface-mobile assumes that the combination of a long tap on the dive with another tap on the red dustbin is an unambiguous instruction to delete the dive.

A central part of Subsurface-mobile is the ability to store the dive log using the Subsurface cloud storage. This provides security against loss or damage to the dive information contained in a local copy of the dive log and allows the desktop version of Subsurface to access changes made using the mobile device. This ability is accessed through the main menu (by dragging the Action Button to the right, or alternatively tappping the "Hamburger" icon at the bottom left of the screen). Tap the option Manage dives, enabling a number of options:

The fact that most smartphones have GPS facilities allows Subsurface-mobile on Android to record the locations of dives. You can take the smartphone on the dive boat during a dive and locations will be automatically recorded at regular intervals. These locations can then be applied to dives in the dive list. Here is how it’s done: