Frequently asked questions

Beach Flags Florida is a free, no-login web app showing real-time beach flag conditions, surf hazards, and water quality for all 573 coastal beaches in Florida. Data comes from NOAA, USLA, FWC, and 8 official county scrapers (Walton, Bay, Franklin, Miami Beach, Deerfield, Pompano, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton). The remaining beaches use calculated flag predictions based on NOAA Surf Zone Forecasts. The site is operated as an information service from Palm Harbor, Florida.

Florida uses a state-mandated flag system. Green indicates low hazard with calm conditions. Yellow signals medium hazard — moderate surf or currents requiring caution. Red means high hazard with strong surf or rip currents — strong swimmers only, near lifeguards. Double red flags mean the water is closed to the public; do not enter under any circumstances. Purple indicates dangerous marine pests like jellyfish or sting rays. The system is law on guarded Florida beaches, and conditions can change throughout the day.

Open beachflags.app on any device. The map shows all 573 Florida beaches color-coded by current flag status. Tap any beach to see today’s flag, rip current risk, water temperature, tides, and red tide alerts. No app download or login required. You can also add the site to your home screen as a Progressive Web App (PWA) for one-tap access offline.

Yes. The core service — checking flag conditions for any of the 573 covered beaches — is free and will always remain free. There is no login required, no advertisements, and no email capture. Future premium features (such as AI-powered natural language search or B2B displays for hotels and rentals) may be paid, but checking beach conditions before going will never be paywalled.

Beach Flags Florida pulls data from official sources updated multiple times per hour. Eight Florida counties publish flag conditions directly through their official systems, and we mirror those in real time. The remaining beaches receive calculated flag predictions based on NOAA Surf Zone Forecasts, marked with confidence indicators. Water quality data comes from EPA BEACON, red tide alerts from FWC’s Karenia brevis monitoring, and tides from NOAA Tides & Currents. We are actively working with additional county beach safety offices to expand official data coverage.

All 573 publicly accessible coastal beaches in Florida — both Gulf Coast (Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, Lee, Collier, Hillsborough) and Atlantic Coast (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Brevard, Volusia, and beyond), plus the Panhandle Gulf (Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin). The site covers state parks, county parks, municipal beaches, and named access points. Each beach has its own page with location-specific data.

A rip current is a strong, narrow flow of water moving away from shore — formed when waves push water toward the beach and it returns to the ocean through a channel. Rip currents are the leading cause of beach drownings in the United States, responsible for over 100 deaths per year. If caught in one, do not fight the current. Swim parallel to shore until you escape the channel, then return at an angle. Always check the rip current risk on beachflags.app and the day’s flag before entering the water.

Yes. There are two ways to report from beachflags.app: when viewing a specific beach, click the "Report / Reportar" button (⚑) inside the beach card to flag that location specifically. For general feedback or to report something else, use the floating feedback button (💬) at the bottom-right of any page. Your reports help verify conditions for other users and complement the official data feeds. We are also actively working to partner with additional county beach safety offices to bring more verified flag data into the system — if you know someone at a county beach safety office, we’d love to be connected at beachflags.florida@gmail.com.