Surf Life Saving Australia
Beachsafe
Stakeholders Report
A data-driven analysis of Australia's beach safety platform — growth, engagement, safety impact, and strategic direction.
A data-driven analysis of Australia's beach safety platform — growth, engagement, safety impact, and strategic direction.
Beachsafe connects 128,723 monthly active users to 12,416 beaches across every Australian state and territory.
Organic user growth accelerating every year, with 2025 as the breakout year.
88.6% of registrations happen in summer (Oct–Mar). Winter is essentially dormant.
From anonymous visitor to fully engaged advocate — where users drop off and where the opportunities are.
A mobile-first audience that checks beach conditions in the evening and follows local beaches.
12,416 beaches catalogued. NSW dominates engagement, but SA leads per capita.
| State | Beaches | Follows | Follows/Beach | Swimmers | Per Capita* | Engagement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 1,400 | 31,025 | 22.2 | 7.19M | 369 | Dominant |
| VIC | 750 | 8,242 | 11.0 | 12K | 123 | Strong |
| SA | 1,796 | 9,630 | 5.4 | 424K | 535 | #1 Per Capita |
| QLD | 1,794 | 6,731 | 3.8 | 31K | 125 | Data Gap |
| WA | 3,512 | 3,266 | 0.9 | 4.11M | 117 | Low Digital |
| TAS | 1,617 | 887 | 0.5 | 55K | 156 | Niche |
| NT | 1,495 | 99 | 0.07 | 352K | 40 | Minimal |
12.17 million swimmers tracked. 4.97 million swam outside the flags.
41,510 search clicks per month, growing 17% year-over-year.
Notifications are the platform's most powerful tool — and its biggest threat.
"Churn" = users who disable push notifications or delete the app after receiving alerts. A high churn rate means the notification experience is driving users away.
| Segment | With Notifications | Without | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 82.8% churn | 7.5% | 11x worse |
| SA (all) | 53.4% | 30.6% | 1.7x worse |
| SA (2025 surge) | 14.3% churn | 31.7% | 0.5x BETTER |
60 releases over 4.3 years. Consistent delivery with measurable impact.
99.95% API uptime across 1.16M calls. Connected to 902 BOM weather stations. Every beach has tide, UV, and radar data.
How a single feature + government partnership transformed a region.
The busiest, most followed, and most dangerous beaches in Australia.
Data reveals three distinct user types with different needs and behaviours.
Opens app, checks map or beach, leaves. 2.14 pages/session. 56% of app sessions are map-only. Checks weather (88%) and patrols (91%) but rarely follows (2.1%).
Follows 2–5 beaches (10,204 users). Receives ~209 notifications each. Spends 50–139s per page. 85% have device. SA users overrepresented.
Follows 11+ beaches (378 users). 1,288 follow 2+ states. Avg 5.2 follows. Top user: 157 beaches across 5 states.
The mobile app and web user journeys revealed through API call analysis.
Which beaches retain users and which drive them away.
Five distinct beach personalities from the data.
5,445 followers
2.18M beachgoers
12% swim rate
125K notifications
29% retention
Score: 6/9
151 followers
4.28M beachgoers
28% swim rate
519K outside flags
48 patrols
Score: 6/9
714 followers
67K beachgoers
252 algal reports
61 posts/1K swimmers
65% retention
Score: 7/9
586 followers
269K beachgoers
257 algal reports
Video webcam
68% retention
Score: 9/9
102 followers
1.30M beachgoers
Busiest May–Aug
24% swim rate
39 patrols
Score: 6/9
Australia runs two parallel systems for beach safety — Beachsafe connects both.
11 data services feeding the platform. 68.4 million data points across 62 tables.
Users, sessions, pages, geo, events, retention
Queries, clicks, impressions, CTR, rankings
Downloads, ratings, reviews, performance
Push delivery rates, iOS + Android
Releases, commits, contributors, MRs
Stability trends, errors, release health
Request volume, error rates, endpoints
Patrols, hazards, beach data, entities
Weather, water temp, UV, command logs from monthly backups
Historical nginx logs from Nov 2021. 620 daily snapshots.
Android reviews, ratings, crash/ANR rates
From v3 launch to breakout — 4.3 years of continuous development.
| Era | Period | Releases | Theme | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | Nov 2021 | v3.0.0 | V3 launch + v2 migration | 9K users migrated |
| Stabilisation | 2022 | v3.0.1–3.0.17 | Bug fixes, Facebook login, security | 3,625 organic users |
| Foundation | 2023 | v3.0.18–3.0.30 | iOS fixes, code quality, stability | 4,551 users (+26%) |
| Infrastructure | 2024 H1 | v3.0.31–3.1.0 | Laravel 10, Firebase APIs | Modernisation |
| Growth Setup | 2024 H2 | v3.2.0–3.4.0 | API v2, beach patrols | 5,021 users (+10%) |
| Modernisation | 2025 H1 | v3.5.0–3.7.0 | Laravel 11, hazard ratings, UI | Framework upgrade |
| Breakout | 2025 H2 | v3.8.0–3.9.8 | Push fix + Algal Bloom | 9,728 users (+94%) |
| Refinement | 2026 | v3.9.9–3.9.14 | Predictions, dashboard, tooling | Maturing ecosystem |
3 active contributors over the last 180 days, building on 4.3 years of development.
Automated data synchronisation keeping beach conditions always fresh.
iOS-dominant, with Apple Sign-In replacing Facebook as the primary social login.
Data-backed priorities ranked by impact.
NSW notifications cause 83% churn. Implement daily digest, severity thresholds, user-controlled frequency. Save 700–1,600 users.
128K active vs 33K registered. Registration prompt on beach pages. Even 5% = 4,800 new users.
Feature + government partnership = 85% app adoption. Priority: QLD (2,964 users, no data) and WA (4.28M swimmers, 151 followers).
Patrolled beaches get 93x more followers. QLD uses Limsoc, not Operations App. Integrating unlocks data for 1,794 beaches.
4,065 users have app + push but follow zero beaches. 8,039 have push enabled but notifications OFF. Quick prompts could activate both groups.
Biggest untapped segment: follow beaches but never installed the app. Targeted email campaign could convert a significant portion.
Data-informed priorities for the next phase of Beachsafe development.
Daily digest mode, severity thresholds, per-beach frequency settings. Expected to reduce NSW churn from 83% to <50%. Save 700–1,600 users.
Connect QLD's operational software to unlock attendance and patrol data for 1,794 beaches. QLD already has 2,964 engaged users waiting for this data. Requires stakeholder approval.
Replicate the SA model (algalbloom.sa.gov.au → 85% app adoption) in VIC, QLD, and WA through state-specific features and EPA partnerships.
Only 10 beaches have video (all SA). 37 video starts per beach, 41% completion. Expanding webcams to top NSW/WA beaches could significantly boost engagement.
Add custom events for beach page tab switches (weather, tide, UV, radar). Currently cannot measure which features users value most.
Not currently offered. Adding it could improve Android user onboarding (30% of devices, only 9.4% use social login via Facebook).
Essential framework upgrade for continued security patches, performance improvements, and ecosystem compatibility. Ensures the platform remains maintainable and secure for years to come.
Vue 2 reached end-of-life. Migrating to Vue 3 is required for security updates, modern tooling (Vite), improved performance with the Composition API, and access to the latest component libraries.
Moving from Bootstrap 4 to Quasar provides a modern, responsive component library with built-in mobile optimisation, dark mode, and accessibility — essential for the 79.5% mobile user base.
Beachsafe continues to grow, keeping Australian beachgoers safe through data-driven innovation.