A New Surf Forecasting Device Wants To Save You From The Matrix

Swellframe features a distraction-free forecast display, and it launches on Kickstarter soon.

elsewhere // Jun 25, 2026

Words by Brendan Buckley

Reading Time: 3 minutes

You wake up.

You remember that there’s supposed to be a little wave today, and that you’ll have time to surf. You grab your phone. You check the forecast. And then you see that you have 27 new messages.

Ahhhh, that’s a pretty funny exchange in the group thread. How are you gonna get in the mix? Might as well check the work email now. Did anyone reply to that message on Slack? Shit, what was that thing you needed to buy? Should we see how much it is? How’s the weather going to be this weekend anyway? You’ve got that birthday party to go to. Any updates on that insignificant news story the algo has baited you into following? Might as well scroll IG.

You’ve now lost 15 minutes of your life, consumed more information than 99% of individuals in the history of your species could have in a week, and don’t even remember what time low tide is.

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Been there? A new company is betting that you have, and that you’d rather not go back.

Meet Swellframe, the unlikely lovechild of an experienced German software engineer, Florian Meyer, and a former pro-ish surfer and current sales rep, Tommy Ihnken. Swellframe is a small device that lives on your wall or your desk and shows you the forecast without you lifting (or doom scrolling with) a finger. That’s it. No feed, no notifications, no temptation to open six other tabs.

If it sounds simple, that’s because it is — and intentionally so. “We just want people to be able to glance over and see what the waves are doing without getting roped into any more screen time,” say Flo and Tommy.

But, how does the thing work? Well, you buy it. Then you create an account on their site and choose whatever spot you’d like it to display (ie, your local). Then you put the device wherever you want, and you’re done. After that, Swellframe goes online for about a minute every three hours, pulls the latest forecast, updates its screen, and goes back offline to preserve battery. All up, it technically only runs for roughly eight minutes a day while displaying a forecast for your wave non-stop, which means it’ll go six months between charges.

Swellframe has only one button. When you hit it, it’ll display a written overview of your spot for that day and the next, as well as the rest of the week before switching back to the seven-day chart featuring swell height, period, and direction, along with wind and tide data, water temp, and a star rating to cap it off (as seen in the header image). In other words, it gives you everything you need to know without picking up your phone.

Under the hood, Swellframe pulls data from multiple forecasting sources, including NOAA, Meteo, and UK Met. “Getting data is easy,” says Flo. “Turning that data into a forecast worth displaying is hard. We’re happy with ours, and we’re always improving it.” Long-term, they don’t want to compete with the forecaster. They just want to be the device that displays them in your home. Eventually, they hope to let you pick your source, whether that’s Surfline, Windguru, Windy, or whoever has already earned your trust.

The irony of building a device to keep you away from devices isn’t lost on Flo and Tommy, and it’ll never be able to beat the OG surf-checking platform called your retina. However, in an era of widespread addiction engineered by the richest companies in the world, it will give you one less reason to stare at a screen.

Swellframe will launch on Kickstarter on July 1 with a 30% discount and an early bird price just under $100. After the campaign, you’ll find it on their site and in surf shops for $139.

Get a heads up when the Kickstarter goes live over here.