Beginning at present, Apple Watch Extremely house owners can obtain the tech big’s new diving app Oceanic Plus to show its latest wearable right into a leisure dive pc.

The Watch Extremely already has the Depth app, which may let you know the depth and the temperature of the water. Oceanic Plus (opens in new tab) shows the identical info, however if you wish to take diving extra significantly, you’ll want one thing extra. The app homes a no-decompression timer to set limits on how deep you possibly can dive and for the way lengthy so customers don’t endure from decompression illness. Its person interface (UI) shows brightly color-coded indicators to let when it is okay to dive deeper, cease, or decelerate. It seems the UI was a key focus for the builders as typical dive computer systems may be powerful to know, particularly for newcomers. 

Planning out dives

Current on the app is a dive planner the place you possibly can see what circumstances, such because the tide and currents, are like for the day. You can even create a floor time for when you must return. When you hop out of the water, you may be given a short post-dive abstract report displaying how far you dove, amongst different issues. For a extra in-depth report, you possibly can obtain the iPhone model to let you know the precise pace at which you dove and even report any native wildlife you may need seen. Some stories (opens in new tab) do declare the iPhone app “wants just a little bit of labor” resulting from some “graphic inconsistencies” like textual content misalignments.

Notifications from the planner are despatched through vibrations highly effective sufficient to penetrate wetsuits 7mm (round 0.27 inches) thick. Based on the announcement, haptic suggestions was chosen as a result of sound propagates extra underwater. For those who’re diving with somebody who has a dive pc that beeps, it may be tough to find out the place a sound notification is coming from. Oceanic Plus additionally reconfigures the Motion button so the app can be utilized even in case you have a wetsuit on. Urgent the button earlier than diving launches Oceanic Plus right into a predive display. Urgent mid-dive marks your location. 

Earlier than downloading the app, you should be certain that your Watch Extremely is working watchOS9.1 and it’s paired up with an iPhone eight or later. You possibly can, nevertheless, use a second-generation iPhone SE or later with iOS 16.1 put in. Oceanic Plus is free, however for $9.99 a month, new options may be added like “decompression monitoring [and] location planner…” The bottom app has “frequent dive capabilities” reminiscent of a timer and depth indicator.

It’s vital to reiterate that Oceanic Plus is extra for leisure diving. The app solely works as much as 40 meters (130 toes) underwater. Additionally, it may well’t hold monitor of a scuba tank’s oxygen stage as different diving computer systems can.

Different gadgets

We extremely doubt Oceanic Plus will see launch on different Apple gadget because it was specifically made for the the Watch Extremely. The truth is, the gadget is WR100 and EN 13319 licensed. The previous means the Watch Machine can survive depths to 100 meters (though Apple recommends don’t go greater than 40) whereas the latter means it’s “internationally acknowledged” as a diving accent. 

With an $800 price ticket, the Watch Extremely may be dearer than typical dive computer systems which may vary from a few hundred {dollars} as much as $1500, in line with our analysis. However given the Watch Extremely’s utility and extra pleasant UI, Oceanic Plus may presumably set a brand new normal for leisure divers.

For those who’re available in the market for a brand new wearable gadget, you’ll want to try TechRadar’s lately up to date prime 10 smartwatch record.