Apple is very careful to say that the Apple Watch is not waterproof, but rather water resistant. In flagrant disregard of related warnings in its user guide, however, one of the guys from FoneFox has already taken a shower with his Apple Watch Sport and worn it in the pool. By some miracle, his Apple Watch is still working.
As the video shows, when he uses the Watch in the shower, the touchscreen appears to work just fine. Underwater in the pool is a different story, however, as the touchscreen quickly stops responding. The digital crown still works, though, and he quickly uses it to zoom in on an app. The video also shows the Apple Watch functioning normally once he pulls it out of the water and leaves the pool.
So although Apple insists that the device isn’t waterproof, it seems that the Apple Watch is much more water resistant than we previously thought, which is very good news. Android Wear watches are by and large not waterproof, but the Pebble more or less is, and can be worn in the shower with no problem.
Still, before you run off to drown your $350+ Apple Watch out of sheer excitement, we’d recommend that you read Apple’s counsel against that action.
“Apple Watch is water resistant but not waterproof,” Apple’s user guide states. “You may, for example, wear and use Apple Watch during exercise (exposure to sweat is OK), in the rain, and while washing your hands … Submerging Apple Watch is not recommended.”
Apple also notes that the Watch “has a water resistance rating of IPX7 under IEC standard 60529,” which means that it’s really not meant to be dunked in the pool. So really, please, don’t submerge your watch. Just take solace in knowing that it’ll probably be safe if you accidentally drop it in the tub.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.