Is Apple Watch Ultra A Better Option To Dive Computer?

Apple’s smartwatches, along with the Apple Watch Series 8, have indeed been water-resistant for years, up to 164 feet (50 meters). It’s perfect for swimming laps and snorkeling.

Introduction

Apple’s gadgets, along with the Apple Watch Series 8, have had a water-resistance rating for a while now, ensuring its survival in water up to 164 ft (50 meters) deep. Because of this, you may use it to keep track of your laps in a swimming pool and even go snorkeling with it on occasion.

The hardware isn’t built to withstand the forces placed on it at recreational diving levels (between 10 and 130 feet), thus wearing an Apple Watch scuba diving was a particular way to guarantee that you’d emerge to the surface with a pricey paperweight strapped to your wrist.

Apple’s Ultra Watch, on the other hand, is. The Ultra is certified for use to a depth of 328 feet (100 meters). Apple was so confident in the water resistance of the new watch that they collaborated with a leader in undersea technology, Oceanic, to turn the $799 wristwatch into a fully functional dive computer.

What is Oceanic+?

In spite of its rugged construction, the Ultra is not yet ready for use as a dive computer.

You’ll need to install Oceanic’s app, Oceanic+, on your iPhone before you can use it as your dive buddy. To access all of the features of the app, a paid subscription is necessary. (More on that later.) First, I’d like to explain why the involvement of Oceanic in converting the Apple Watch Ultra into the a fully functional dive computer is so significant.

With years of experience under their belts, Oceanic has earned a good reputation among scuba divers for manufacturing durable, dependable dive computers.

Advantages

• The Cool Straps

Dive gear must be robust, adaptable, and comfortable—a difficult combination. Apple Watch Ultra meets these requirements (and is a good-looking watch, too). Ocean Band, the Ultra’s most underrated feature, is our favorite.

This rubber dive strap’s clever clasp system lets divers customize the band’s hardware for exposed skin, a bodysuit for comfort, or a chest waders and undergarment. The strap’s hardware adjusts easily and remains set.

• Automated Dive Logs

The Ultra’s automatic recording capability is appealing for those who struggles to retain dive logs, which are necessary for extra training or showing experience for more difficult dive sites. After diving, I don’t want to locate my journal and pen or mess with wires and a laptop to upload my computer’s data. Tell your dive mates what you witnessed.

The Apple Watch Ultra and Oceanic+ app immediately recorded and stored all my test dive details. The watch sends dive statistics to the Oceanic+ app, including diving position, diving profile (a graph of time versus depth), time, ascending rate, max depth, and lowest water temperature. My iPhone is all I need to add diving comments or gear notes like weight used.

• Knowing The Weather And Tide

Accurate dive conditions determine shore diving success. The app’s tide and weather predictions make dive planning easy.

The Oceanic+ app provides thorough and accurate weather and tide information, but its prediction window is only a day or so. Oceanic+ gave precise conditions information for my dive or a dive within 24 hours.

Disadvantages

• Cost Factor
• Limited Logging
• It Is Not Beneficial As A Single Unit

Conclusion

It would be unethical and potentially dangerous of us to argue with the recommendations of Apple and Oceanic, which state that the Apple Watch Ultra and the Oceanic+ app should not be used as your main dive computer.

Using one as a supplementary device to your existing dive computer is a no-brainer due to its superb type of weather and tide monitoring, seamless log synchronization between both the Ultra and the iPhone, and the diving data it begins providing as soon as you enter the water. (The upper half is a fantastic smartwatch, too.)

The Oceanic+ software is a great addition to the digital toolkit of any diver who owns or is considering purchasing an Ultra, and is worth the monthly fee.