Frequently asked questions

guideOS is a business operations platform and marketplace built specifically for professional fishing guides and charter captains. It brings bookings, scheduling, client management, payments, waivers, weather conditions, trip reports, and client communications into one place, so you're not stitching together six different apps.

Every registered guide receives a public page they can share freely through their own website and marketing. Those pages also contribute guide, trip, location, and content signals to the guideOS marketplace, built to help customers discover guide businesses through search and emerging AI-powered discovery tools. Guides keep their own brand and customer relationships, and guideOS does not take a marketplace commission on bookings.

Most guides complete the core setup in a single focused session, typically 45 minutes to an hour. The Setup Wizard walks you through guide profile, location, boat, trip types, schedule, policies, and payment connection.

You can publish your booking link before everything is perfectly configured. Start with what you need most and fill in the rest over time.

No. Your first two months are completely free with no credit card required. You get full access to every feature, not a limited demo. At the end of month two, you'll be prompted to add a payment method to continue.

Yes. From the Clients screen, use Bulk Import to upload a CSV file with your existing client records. guideOS maps standard fields, including name, email, phone, and notes, automatically. Your data is yours from day one and you can export it at any time.

Yes. Every guideOS account includes a public booking page with a shareable link. You can link directly to it from your website, Instagram bio, or anywhere else. Clients book, pay, and sign waivers without needing an app or account of their own.

Clients visit your guideOS booking page, select a trip type and date, enter their details, pay a deposit or full amount based on your policy, and receive a confirmation automatically. The booking appears on your calendar immediately.

Clients never need to download an app. The entire experience is mobile-web based.

Fishable Days is a calendar layer that highlights dates with favorable conditions based on solunar and tide data for your location. Days with strong major or minor feeding windows and favorable tide timing are marked, giving you a visual planning tool without leaving the calendar.

This is data-driven, not AI-generated. It reflects real solunar tables and your local tide station.

From the Calendar, tap any date and use Day override to block a specific day, change its hours, or mark it as fully available. For recurring schedule changes, use Manage Schedule to edit your base template. Overrides stack on top of the base schedule.

Yes. From a booking's detail view you can reschedule to a new date, issue a refund, or cancel. Your cancellation policy determines what's communicated to clients automatically. Refunds process through Stripe based on your configured deposit rules.

AutoPilot is guideOS's automation layer: five plain-English toggles that handle client communications around every trip automatically. Deposit Reminder, Waiver Collection, Weather Advisory, Launch Instructions, and Trip Review are each simply on or off. No workflow builder, conditions, or Zapier required.

No. AutoPilot messages are delivered by email and SMS where enabled. Clients receive standard messages in their inbox or as a text, with no account or download required.

AutoPilot messages use smart templates that pull in your trip details, client name, meeting location, and weather data automatically. Templates are editable from Setup to Templates.

Weather data is sourced from NOAA and commercial weather API providers. Tide data is pulled from the nearest NOAA tide station to your configured launch location. Water temperature uses NOAA buoy and nearshore station data.

The solunar sheet shows major and minor feeding windows for the day, calculated from the positions of the sun and moon relative to your location. A timeline bar shows all windows across the day, with a time scrubber to preview any hour.

The Today screen's verdict, Fishable, Marginal, or No-Go, is a synthesized assessment based on wind speed, sea state, precipitation probability, and storm risk for your area. It is decision support, not a safety certification. You are always the final authority on acceptable conditions.

guideOS uses Stripe for payment processing. Clients pay by card at booking. Deposits and balances are collected according to your policy, and funds go directly to your Stripe balance on your payout schedule. guideOS does not hold or touch your money.

No. Never. guideOS charges a flat $75/month subscription. We do not take a percentage of your booking revenue, charge per-trip fees, or earn anything from your clients' payments. Stripe's standard processing fee applies to card transactions.

The Money to Expenses screen includes a quick-add form and a recent spend list. You can upload a receipt photo and guideOS will use OCR to pre-fill the amount, date, and vendor. Expenses are categorized and also appear on your calendar.

At the end of your second free month, you'll be prompted to add a payment method. If you add one, your subscription starts at $75/month. If you don't, your account moves to read-only access so you can view and export your data, but new bookings will be paused.

Go to Setup, then License and Accounts, then Cancel subscription. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. Your data remains available for 30 days after the period ends, during which you can export everything.

Yes. guideOS is designed, built, and hosted domestically. The team is based in the United States and accountable to the guides who use the platform.