Do digital logbooks count for USPA licences?
Yes — USPA allows them explicitly. The confusion is usually about what a digital log has to contain, and who has to sign it. Here is what SIM 3-1 actually says.
The short answer
USPA’s Skydiver’s Information Manual, Section 3-1, addresses digital logbooks directly:
“Applicants who use digital devices instead of traditional paper logbooks to record jumps must ensure that the digital device contains the required information, including a signature verification from a licensed skydiver, the pilot, or a USPA National or FAI Judge who witnessed the skydive. Each instructor, S&TA, examiner, or board member who verifies license requirements for a USPA license must review and verify the jumps logged in a digital device.”
So a digital logbook is not a lesser option. It has to meet the same bar as paper, and someone appropriate has to be able to review it.
The nine things every logged jump must contain
SIM 3-1 requires evidence to be “legibly recorded in chronological order” in a log containing:
- jump number
- date
- location
- exit altitude
- freefall length (time)
- type of jump (formation skydiving, freeflying, canopy formation, etc.)
- landing distance from the target
- equipment used
- verifying signature, including a legible USPA membership number, skydiving licence number, or pilot certificate number
That last one is the part people miss. A signature on its own is not enough — it needs a number attached that identifies the person who signed.
Who is allowed to sign depends on what you are claiming
This is the other common misunderstanding. There are two different bars.
For number-of-jumps requirements
A witness of the jump — who may be another licensed skydiver, a pilot, or a USPA Instructor, Examiner, S&TA or board member — must sign off jumps submitted to meet the number-of-jumps requirement.
For skill requirements
A USPA Coach, Instructor, Examiner, S&TA or board member must sign the logbook entry. Skill requirements means everything that is not purely a jump count — accuracy landings, formations, D-licence skill requirements.
For verifying the licence application itself
- A, B and C licences — a USPA Instructor, Examiner, S&TA or board member must verify the logbook entries.
- D licence — a USPA S&TA or board member must verify them.
You may not sign for your own licence application, or initial any of its verification blocks.
Your first 500 jumps matter more than the rest
SIM 3-1 is specific about this: “Skydivers pursuing licenses and ratings must clearly log their first 500 jumps so officials can easily verify them.”
This matters most if you are importing an old logbook into a digital one. Bulk-imported jumps with missing altitudes, freefall times or signatures are exactly the ones an S&TA will stop at. If you are moving your history across, the early jumps are the ones worth getting complete.
What this means in practice
A digital logbook is accepted if it records all nine fields, keeps them in chronological order, carries a real signature with an identifying number on each jump used as evidence, and can be reviewed by the official verifying your application.
What it cannot be is a jump counter. A number in an app with nobody’s name against it proves nothing at a licence application, whatever the app is.
Source
USPA Skydiver’s Information Manual, Section 3-1, “Licenses” — uspa.org/SIM/3. Requirements change; check the current SIM before submitting an application. This page is a plain-language summary, not official USPA guidance.
About Manifest
Manifest is a skydiving logbook app built around this section. It records all nine fields, and jumps are signed off in person by another licensed jumper whose name and licence number are stored on the entry — witnessed rather than self-reported. Free on iOS.