by Jason Snell
The Apple Watch dunk tank
I showered with my Apple Watch on day one—we both survived—but Ray Maker really went to town. He showered with it, swam with it, dove with it, and even tested it in two simulated 40-meter dives. It survived just fine:
Of course, the slightly awkward thing is that despite this battery of tests, the unit still isn’t warrantied for any of this, including even a simple shower with soap. Now whether or not an Apple Store employee would question a watch that arrives back dead probably remains to be seen. On the flip side, it’s also clear that it’s probably quite a bit harder to kill the thing than Apple would have you believe.
I’m not sure about “isn’t warrantied.” Apple itself rates it for one meter of submersion for up to 30 minutes. I have a hard time believing that Apple would refuse to support a watch that failed because of a water incursion when it advertises on its own site that it’s rated for IPX7 water resistance1. I’m still of the opinion that Apple is trying to minimize submerged uses for the Apple Watch out of fear that there could be a problem, while quietly admitting—as Tim Cook has done more than once—that showering and even swimming with the Apple Watch is actually okay.
- And if some of them do fail, my guess is that Apple will just as quietly replace them. Rule number one of swimming with Apple Watch is not talking about swimming with Apple Watch. ↩