Apple Watch Ultra as a Dive Computer

[Tangfish]

Has anyone tried the Apple Watch Ultra as a dive computer yet, or know anyone that has?

I’ve never been interested in Apple Watches until I saw this as a possible dive computer. I wouldn’t trade my Shearwater for it, but I am surprised and happy that Apple is even thinking about scuba divers.

I wonder how the dive log functionality is. That’s the only part I think might be superior to actual dive computers, mostly because I’ve never found dive log software that was any good. For that reason alone I might consider one someday as a backup computer.

Thoughts?

[ScubaJess]

I think you should get one and let us know how cool it is. We can dive together so you can test it out!! Are you back in town yet? 3 tree on Thursday night? I miss you tons!!!

[Tangfish]

I think you should get one and let us know how cool it is. We can dive together so you can test it out!! Are you back in town yet? 3 tree on Thursday night? I miss you tons!!!

Hah! I’m hoping someone else has already taken the plunge and gotten one! I’m very happy with my Teric but trying to find a reason to add this

Back after thanksgiving and I want to dive dive dive!

[ScubaJess]

Awesome let's dive! I LE my Teric too

Safe travels

[Norris]

Back after thanksgiving and I want to dive dive dive!

We would love to see you up north, we still going strong

[Tangfish]

Back after thanksgiving and I want to dive dive dive!

We would love to see you up north, we still going strong

Fo sho, Norris, I owe you and Jess each a dive and a beer afterwards!

[orcasc205]

I have an Apple Watch Ultra but have not had a chance to dive with it yet. Hopefully I will be back in the water in a few weeks where I will use the Depth app (effectively a bottom timer) as a backup for me Perdix. At some point I will try the Oceanic+ app when it is available, but doubt I'll ever use it as my primary computer.

[Tangfish]

I have an Apple Watch Ultra but have not had a chance to dive with it yet. Hopefully I will be back in the water in a few weeks where I will use the Depth app (effectively a bottom timer) as a backup for me Perdix. At some point I will try the Oceanic+ app when it is available, but doubt I'll ever use it as my primary computer.

Ah, can’t wait to hear your impressions. So there are different apps that have different diving functions, interesting! I wonder if multiple apps can track the same activity simultaneously or it’s one or the other- like if you forget to launch the Oceanic+ app then does it not log the dive?

[orcasc205]

I haven't been able to dive with my Apple Watch Ultra yet (other than a short snorkel in Hawaii) since I'm still recovering from my auto accident in April, but I had a couple of people carry it with them while diving to collect some data. I found out some interesting facts:

1) The Apple Watch appears to be recording underwater depth and water temperature data whenever it is submerged, whether there is a dive application running or not.
2) It is storing those depth and temperature samples in the Apple HealthKit data store independent of whatever dive computer or gauge application is running.
3) It syncs that data with the paired Apple phone's HealthKit data store automatically.

Learning all of this, I plunged headfirst into programming a simple iOS app to export the diving data out of an iPhone into a UDDF (Universal Dive Data Format) XML file so it can be imported into Subsurface or any other dive log application that support UDDF. The app is now available for beta testing through Apple's TestFlight application.

I wrote a quick Getting Started guide that explains what you need to run the app and how to get testing access. It is published at:

https://awu2uddf.scuba-sites.com/GettingStarted.html

[YellowEye]

I haven't been able to dive with my Apple Watch Ultra yet (other than a short snorkel in Hawaii) since I'm still recovering from my auto accident in April, but I had a couple of people carry it with them while diving to collect some data. I found out some interesting facts:

1) The Apple Watch appears to be recording underwater depth and water temperature data whenever it is submerged, whether there is a dive application running or not.
2) It is storing those depth and temperature samples in the Apple HealthKit data store independent of whatever dive computer or gauge application is running.
3) It syncs that data with the paired Apple phone's HealthKit data store automatically.

Learning all of this, I plunged headfirst into programming a simple iOS app to export the diving data out of an iPhone into a UDDF (Universal Dive Data Format) XML file so it can be imported into Subsurface or any other dive log application that support UDDF. The app is now available for beta testing through Apple's TestFlight application.

I wrote a quick Getting Started guide that explains what you need to run the app and how to get testing access. It is published at:

https://awu2uddf.scuba-sites.com/GettingStarted.html

Very cool Doug!

[dlh]

There are some very comprehensive reviews out now that cover using the watch as a real dive computer. The short version of the reviews are that it works well, but you have to pay a monthly fee of around $10 or $80 a year to get the Oceanic+ app that enables dive features. Most of the reviews I read suggest that this might be a reasonable solution for casual vacation divers. The relatively short, expected life span of Apple watches and high cost of the subscription might make it less practical as a tool for frequent divers.