HofWave · Support

Help & data guide

HofWave shows official bathing closures and sea conditions for beaches in Israel. It needs iOS 17 or later; the Apple Watch app needs watchOS 10 or later. It is free, with no account, purchases or ads. HofWave is an independent app, not a Ministry of Health service; official status is taken from the Ministry’s public beach map and credited to it.

What do the statuses mean?

Official warning (red): the Ministry of Health reports that bathing is prohibited at a sampling station on this beach. The app shows the station and the reason the Ministry gives.
Official check clear (green): the latest official check reported the beach open and it was sampled recently. This is not a guarantee of water quality.
Status unknown (grey): there is no current official information for this beach. A missing notice does not mean swimming is safe.

How do closure alerts work?

Add beaches to Favourites, then turn on Alerts in Settings and allow notifications. Our server checks the Ministry of Health map every 30 minutes and sends a notification when a favourite beach is closed or reopened. Alerts can arrive late and do not replace lifeguards or local notices. Turning Alerts off deletes your registration from our server.

Where do the sea values come from?

Water temperature, waves and currents come from the Copernicus Marine Service Mediterranean forecast (a model grid about 4 km wide, hourly, three days ahead). Wind comes from MET Norway. Each value is taken from the nearest sea cell, so shallow water, breakwaters and local conditions can differ. HofWave is not a navigation tool or rip-current detector.

What is “At the shore”?

An estimate of the height of breaking waves near the beach, calculated from the offshore wave height and period. The bottom shape and local wind change it. “Up to” shows the higher individual waves you can expect over an hour.

Why is the sea forecast missing or partial for my beach?

Full sea forecasts are available for Mediterranean beaches; the Mediterranean model does not reach the Red Sea. In Eilat the app shows the water temperature from the Copernicus OSTIA daily satellite analysis (about 5 km resolution, updated once a day) and the MET Norway wind forecast; there is no wave or current forecast yet. The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea currently show official status only. If the server has no fresh forecast, the app says so instead of showing old values.

What about jellyfish?

The app shows the usual jellyfish season for the area, based on historical reports in the Meduzot Ba’am citizen-science archive. It is not a live sighting report.

Favourites, nearby beaches, widgets and Watch

Favourites are saved on your devices. Nearby sorting uses optional location permission; your location stays on the device. Choose a beach in the app for the widget and Watch complication. Widgets refresh on the system’s schedule, so a widget can be older than the app.

Language

The app follows your device language: English, Russian or Hebrew. To change it for HofWave only, open iOS Settings → Apps → HofWave → Language.

Sources

Israel Ministry of Health — public beach bathing-status map.
Copernicus Marine Service — sea temperature, currents and waves (generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information; doi:10.48670/mds-00359, doi:10.48670/mds-00373), and for the Red Sea the OSTIA daily sea-surface temperature analysis (doi:10.48670/moi-00165).
MET Norway — wind forecasts (CC BY 4.0).
Meduzot Ba’am citizen-science archive — historical jellyfish seasonality (Edelist, Angel & Nakar, CC BY 4.0).
Ministry of Interior declared-beach list — beach catalogue.

Contact support

Send the app version, device model, selected beach, approximate time and a short description. A screenshot can help; remove personal information first.

Email support

Support is not an emergency or beach-rescue service. In an emergency at sea call 101 or 100.