Touchscreens, apps and AI are transforming our everyday interactions at sea as well as on land – but has this techy trend already gone too far? BOAT talks to the yacht designers switched on to the pleasure of tactility and the value of simplicity.
“Wow, this space is amazing – does anyone know how to operate the lights?” For many of us, that plaintive cry will sound all too familiar. There was a time when the height of onboard sophistication was a neatly labelled switchbank and a reassuringly weighty dimmer. Today, guests board a yacht and instinctively search for controls that aren’t quite so obvious.
In the age of app-controlled homes and AI-fluent cars, perhaps the pendulum has swung too far toward the invisible. Or are we simply entering a new era where luxury means never needing to think about controls at all?
“Clients are increasingly familiar with invisible controls in their homes, so there is an expectation for similar convenience on board,” says Victoria Primrose, senior designer at British studio Design Unlimited, a firm known for the sort of considered detailing that makes seasoned yacht owners nod in approval.
Boat owners tend to fall into two camps, she tells me: those who want to make a bold statement – a sculptural switch or an art deco callback – and those who prefer surfaces so pristine they seem untouched by human hands.
For Primrose, the choice is determined by the owner and brief. The designer also adds a point that sometimes gets lost in the hype: yachts are tactile experiences. “Touch points and tactility are some of the most engaging interactions for any user of a yacht,” she says. “Good-quality hardware contributes to a joyful experience. It creates an emotional response and enhances the connection to a space.”
Primrose believes yacht owners have begun to push back against over-designed complexity. “Owners increasingly request interfaces that are intuitive and pared back,” she says. “Simple, well-considered controls with a limited number of options are often preferred. Our goal [as designers] is to reduce decision fatigue.”
On Pink Shadow, Design Unlimited installed Berker Serie 1930 rotary switches, a direct nod to the Bauhaus Dessau building in Germany. Their deliberate mechanical click stands in contrast to the soft-touch switches prevalent today. “It feels intentional,” she says. If Design Unlimited reflects the aesthetic front line, New Zealand-based Liquid Automation lives in the technical trenches, where the nuances that differentiate guest requirements from crew are managed.
“Owner and guest interfaces need to be intuitive, elegant and extremely simple to use,” says founder Stephan Goodhue.
“The expectation is that anyone can walk into a space and understand the controls without any prior instruction. For crew, it’s quite different, they need access to deeper system functions, diagnostics and service layers. So we typically design two parallel user experiences: one refined and minimal for the client, and another more technical and functional for the crew.”
Smart keypads, such as Lutron switches, manage the basics, but advanced functions – HVAC, audiovisual, CCTV, even navigation instruments – are tucked away behind an intuitive wireless touchscreen, often mounted in a drawer or concealed location. This split-level approach keeps the yacht visually calm and the tech easy to use, while ensuring the system still offers the required sophistication.
“Technology stays out of sight until it’s needed, keeping the aesthetic clean while delivering full control when required,” Goodhue says. He adds that yacht owners are less forgiving at sea than at home. “There’s no tech support down the road. If it doesn’t work, it reflects poorly on everyone. Reliability and simplicity are non-negotiable.”
Goodhue also says there’s a shift toward systems that work with guests’ own devices – no setup, no instruction manual required.
“Guests can use their personal phone or tablet to stream music directly to any zone via AirPlay,” he says. “There’s no need to learn a new interface – it just works.” Touchscreens remain essential, but the interface is increasingly refined to mirror modern apps. Voice control is still experimental, hampered by background noise, accents and privacy, but improving steadily.
There’s prestige in innovation, but never in complexity, he says pointedly.
The next step? Context-aware systems that anticipate preferences. A cabin that lights and cools based on who walks in isn’t too far off. “The vision is for the system to disappear, not physically, but cognitively,” Goodhue predicts. “Touchscreens may still exist but they will become secondary.”
Audio specialist Lithe Audio shares much the same philosophy. Managing director Amit Ravat agrees that owners expect to control yacht audio exactly as they do at home. “People don’t want to learn a new system when they’re on holiday; they just want to connect and play instantly.”
On Ada Yacht Works’ 50-metre Legasea, Lithe’s Wi-Fi ceiling speakers have been installed throughout guest suites and crew quarters, offering just such a “home-from-home” streaming experience. Because they are Wi-Fi enabled, the speakers connect directly to the yacht’s network, eliminating the need for complex cabling. They also allow guests and crew to stream music and entertainment from smartphones or tablets. No dedicated control platform is needed; guests simply open Spotify, Apple Music or Google Cast.
“We do still see demand for tactile controls, particularly for lighting and climate. There’s a reassurance in pressing a switch or turning a dial, especially in environments where Wi-Fi or Bluetooth can occasionally fluctuate. For audiovisual, however, owners are increasingly comfortable with wireless streaming and app-based control – especially if it mirrors what they use at home,” says Ravat.
When it comes to installation, he is pragmatic: “We build everything in. There’s no need for hidden amps or hardware. That reduces installation cost and makes maintenance easier.”
Ultimately, Ravat believes the most satisfying yacht tech blends app control with tactile elements reserved for key systems. “A balance of convenience and sophistication,” he reasons. “Owners increasingly expect both.”
Design studio A.D.O. CEO Rod White, who also leads design for Philips TVs, has spent decades honing the user experience. He sees a direct parallel between superyacht and luxury car buyers. Both expect experiences that are immersive yet effortless.
“High-end cars combine screens with premium tactile controls; yacht owners want the same,” he says. He notes the impact of the decade-old steampunk trend on premium interior fittings (Buster + Punch being a notable example) and points to the bespoke programmes of Rolls-Royce and Aston Martin where even buttons can be personalised for feel.
“Luxury environments in yachts, cars and homes can be overt, hidden or somewhere between,” says White. “But the infrastructure and user experience must be faultless.”
White is well aware of the pitfalls of technological novelty. Gesture control in consumer electronics peaked 15 years ago but failed due to privacy concerns and awkward practicality. Television’s flirtations with 3D, curved screens and transparent panels fizzled out because they complicated the basic act of viewing.
His prediction? “The home of the future will resemble more the home of the past,” he says, a mantra he recalls Philips Design’s former head saying, and which still holds true.
Maurizio Minossi, CEO/CTO at Videoworks, acknowledges two opposing trends: total invisibility versus the emphatically tactile. Neither approach is right or wrong, he maintains, what matters is understanding a client’s comfort level, which is often shaped by their homes, previous yachts or past frustrations.
The fact that yachts charter far more than houses changes the equation. “At home, things are kept simple. On yachts there is always a team supporting the clients, but even then, systems must be robust.”
He tells me that Videoworks is seeing an upswing in voice-control requests, citing a recent 100-metre project that specified the technology. As with others, Minossi says owners typically request that onboard streaming and IPTV match their home experiences as closely as possible, “so reliable, high-speed internet remains a prerequisite”.
Yacht-control systems may push the envelope of sophistication, but Richard Whitehouse, director at Harrison Eidsgaard, believes that the real trend is a swing back towards simplicity and intuition, rather than technology for its own sake.
Owners increasingly want to “stay ahead of the curve” with advanced interfaces, but, he tells me, they’re only really interested if it is in some way intuitive. “That has to be that inherent part. It has to be intuitive because then it makes life easier, rather than harder.”
That tension is evident in products such as the multifunctional Tyba Turn dial, an advanced Wi-Fi- and Bluetooth-enabled interface that can handle everything from lighting to blinds and climate, but presents a simple face to the world, when clients still insist they “just want a button”.
Whitehouse observes a similar backlash to complexity in automotive design, with touchscreens slowly giving way again to physical controls: “Sometimes the simplest operation is absolutely a switch or a button. It’s fine. It’s not broken. Don’t fix it.”
On board, the stakes are higher because “a yacht is escapism… it’s the one time they just want things to be operating and work in the background,” so when something as basic as turning up the music requires navigating three menus, frustration quickly mounts, especially given how much these systems cost. As a result, Harrison Eidsgaard treats complexity as something to be carefully curated and often pushed into crew-only back-of-house controls, while guest-facing touchpoints are deliberately simplified.
“The Tyba Turn dial can do everything,” he notes, “but next to the bed you may just want to flick a switch to get your night light.”
The direction of travel, he suggests, is not about ever more features, but about making sure owners feel everything “just works” with the minimum of thought. PLH, the luxury electronic systems supplier, is also in the Dieter Rams’ “less, but better” philosophical camp.
“Honestly, to turn on a light, all you need is a click – not facial recognition, a page scroll or a computer course,” Paola Castelli, head of marketing and communications at PLH, tells me. “In fact, the requests we receive at PLH are increasingly focused on the presence of mechanical controls, as if there were a kind of aversion or rejection toward touch controls and, more generally, toward complicated commands.”
These should be few, intuitive and placed where they’re needed, says Castelli. “Graphical interfaces are usually centralised in a few locations to oversee macro scenarios.
“Sometimes, the integration between physical and touch controls is the winning combination, as we are pursuing through the collaboration between PLH and Tyba,” she says, referring to their new Turn 2 controller.
“PLH’s approach is to offer a universal language,” adds Castelli. “Simplicity and clarity in forms, graphics and icons; immediacy of information; speed of controls; and feedback confirming that an action has been executed.”
So, has technology really gone too far? In truth, the answer depends on your tolerance for invisible magic. Boat owners may marvel at walls that glow or blinds that rise with the sun. But the trend across the industry, at every level of integration, audio and design, is unmistakable: less friction, fewer decisions, more familiarity and above all, interfaces that feel effortless.
Luxury isn’t the absence of switches or the ubiquity of apps; it’s the ability to change the lighting, enjoy a playlist, cool a cabin or summon a movie without wondering how it all works.
First published in the March 2026 issue of BOAT International. Get this magazine sent straight to your door, or subscribe and never miss an issue.