The Apple Watch is More Waterproof Than Expected

When the Apple Watch was initially unveiled, many users had questions about its water resistance. According to Apple, the Apple Watch is “splash and water resistant but not waterproof.” They go on to note that it is fine to wear “during exercise, in the rain, and while washing your hands” but not to be submerged. Ray Walker, a blogger for triathlon-related site DC Rainmaker, recently put the Apple Watch’s water resistance to the test and came out with surprisingly impressive results.

Walker released a series of videos performing tasks that the Apple Watch manual explicitly forbids. First, he took the Watch for a swim. Walker swam laps in a 50-meter pool for roughly 25 minutes, totaling about 1,200 meters. Although the heart-rate monitor was a bit inaccurate underwater, the Watch performed beautifully throughout and after the swim.

Next, Walker decided to give the pool’s high dive a shot. Once again, this action goes against the recommendations in the manual. After two five-meter jumps, and one from ten meters, the Watch worked just fine.

Finally, Walker put the Watch to the test in a waterproofing chamber that uses a compressor to simulate different depths of water. Although the Apple Watch is officially only rated for 1 meter of depth, Walker ran it through an automated test that took it twice to depths of ~40 meters (140 feet) for about eight minutes. The Watch performed absolutely fine after subjecting it to far greater depths than recommended.

While certainly none of this is recommended, the fact that the Watch functioned normally after this battery of tests should give users quite a bit of confidence in the durability of the wearable. The Apple Watch probably shouldn’t be taken scuba diving or even swimming for that matter. However, you can rest assured if your Watch takes a dunk in the bathtub, it will probably continue to work just as expected.