Yes, you can wear Apple Watch 7 swimming. The water resistant rating of Apple Watch 7 gives enough confidence to use it while swimming. We look at the key details of Apple Watch 7’s water rating and how it works while swimming. For the record, Apple Watch 7
Content in this post:
- Apple Watch 7 Swimming – Water Rating
- Pool Water Swimming – Apple Watch 7
- Open Water Swimming – Apple Watch 7
- Apple Watch 7 Screen Protection while swimming
- Summary
Apple Watch 7 Swimming – Water Rating
Apple Watch 7 comes with water rating under the ISO standard 22810:2010 and has a water rating of WR50 meters. WR50 rating is the water resistance rating given as part of the watchOS of Apple Watch 7. A water rating of WR50 meters is equivalent to saying that the watch has a water rating of 5 ATM or 5 atmospheres. Atmosphere is a unit to measure water pressure.
A watch that has a water rating of 5 ATM can be used up to 50 meters below the water surface level. It can sustain a water depth pressure up to a depth of 50 meters or 165 feet below water surface level.
Apple Watch 7 can be used for shallow water swimming. It is not fit for diving, scuba diving or snorkeling. For scuba diving, it is recommended to use smartwatches that are DIVE rated. The Descent series of Garmin smartwatches come with DIVE rating. Ideally, one should stick to pool water swimming with Apple Watch 7.
The problem with diving is that the water pressure could force water to seep into the watch body through one of the watch’s opening. The water seal on the watch may get damaged, allowing water to seep into the watch’s compact unit. Water damage could result in the watch becoming non-functional. Such water damage is not covered under standard warranty terms by most smartwatch manufacturers.
At the same time, you need to be careful of using a steel or leather strap while swimming. If you wear a steel or leather strap on Apple Watch 7, the strap will suffer damage while swimming. Silicon straps or the braided loop straps should work fine while swimming.
Pool Water Swimming – Apple Watch 7
Apple Watch 7 is suitable for shallow water or pool water swimming. When you swim in a pool, the depth of the water is generally under 3 meters. So, it is well covered under the 50 meters water rating of an Apple Watch 7.
Generally, most people would stick to pool water swimming. And, therefore, we perceive no challenges in wearing an Apple Watch 7 during such swimming sessions. Infact, Apple Watch 7 measures and tracks swimming activity all through your swimming session. At the end of the session, you would have found out the number of strokes and the calories burned while swimming.
Open Water Swimming – Apple Watch 7
Apple Watch 7 can be worn while engaged in open water swimming. Open water swimming allows you to use an Apple Watch 7 outside the pool. You can even swim wearing an Apple Watch 7 in sea water. The only caveat is that you must avoid deep water activities or dive into the open water sea or ocean.
While swimming in sea water is permitted, it is still recommended to wash the Apple Watch 7 with clean water after the swim session has ended. It is important to wipe the Apple Watch 7’s screen with clean water and a soft cloth to clear the watch’s display of any residues. Remember, the sea water is saline. You do not want any sea particles to cause damage to the watch’s display glass.
Apple Watch 7 Screen Protection while swimming
Apple Watch 7 is a robust watch. One of the best features of an Apple Watch 7 is its ability to automatically lock the screen to protect it against accidental damage. This feature is also called as the water lock on an Apple Watch 7. Screen protection, however, does not mean that the activity of swimming is not being tracked. The entire duration of the swimming activity is recorded by the Apple Watch 7 software.
Once you are done with swimming, you can disable the screen protection by rotating the crown on the watch body. That will bring the watch out of screen protection mode. At the same time, it will also eject water from the watch body.
The screen protection feature or the water lock feature of Apple Watch 7 protects the watch against accidental water leak into the watch body through one of the fitments on the watch body. Protection of the watch’s compact unit is an important safety measure.
As long as you are sticking to the basic of swimming and enabling screen protection while swimming with an Apple Watch 7, there are no issues.
Summary
Apple Watch 7 can be worn while swimming in shallow waters. It has a water rating of 50 meters under water surface level. If you use it for sea water swimming, do make sure you have cleaned the screen after completing the swim.
One should be wary of using an Apple Watch 7 for diving or deep water activities. The watch may suffer damage on account of the pressure exerted at the depths below water surface level.
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Helen Kurt is a geeky nerd who loves to cover the wearables space. She has over 5 years of experience in the smartwatch domain. You can reach her on email at [email protected].