Is It Yacht Rock? exists to help you, the Yacht Rock enthusiast, confirm whether or not songs you hear are considered part of the genre. It’s like Shazam meets Not Hotdog (season 4, episode 4 of Silicon Valley, no? anyway…), but for Yacht Rock.

Tap the Listen tab in the bottom bar and activate the central action button. The app will then check your microphone or your Apple Music feed depending on your preferences.

Go to the Search tab. Type in any artist or song title to query the database directly without needing to play any live audio. You can also filter by Yachtski score or the year the song was released.

When you match a song that is not in the official Yacht or Nyacht database, you’ll see the message “Song not ranked” instead of a yacht or nyacht verdict and Yachtski score.

Tap the Status tab. This view displays your status and badges based on the tracks you have matched.

By default, songs in the search database do not have album art associated with them. When you match a song—either by using your microphone or via the “Use Now Playing” feature—the app will display its album art. This is a great way to keep track of which songs you’ve matched as you work to acquire badges.

Tap the Settings tab (the gear icon) to adjust your Yachtski threshold, toggle Purist Mode, manage hardware permissions, or view more information about the app.

This is the official rating system used by the Yacht or Nyacht podcast to determine how “Yacht Rock” a song is. They score tracks from 0 to 100 based on specific production styles, personnel, and musical rhythms.

High-end studio production, jazz-inflected chords, bounced rhythms, elite L.A. session musicians (like Jeff Porcaro or Michael McDonald), and a release date between 1976 and 1984.

Any song that fails to meet the Yachtski baseline threshold. This includes pure classic rock, folk, disco, or synth-pop that might sound breezy but lacks the required musical DNA.

It sets your personal baseline filter. For example, when you set it to 50, any song scoring below 50 on the Yachtski scale will be flagged as Nyacht.

A toggle that alters how strictly the app handles Steely Dan, specifically. When enabled, Steely Dan is flagged as Nyacht, regardless of the particular song’s Yachtski score.

When enabled, the app reads the metadata of whatever song is actively playing in your device’s Apple Music app. This allows you to check a track’s Yachtski score without using the microphone.

To listen to ambient music playing around you (like in a bar or cafe) so it can identify the audio track and fetch its official Yachtski score.

No. Audio captured via the microphone is converted into temporary digital fingerprints for matching and is never saved, stored, or transmitted anywhere.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, we kind of hate ads. And we just built this app for fun, so there’s no real way to compensate us for the hours of enjoyment you’re likely to get from it. You’re welcome?