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Comment by biot | Hacker News Reader

By "swim up to 50 meters" does this mean you can only do a single lap of a swimming pool, or is this a measure of diving depth?

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Diving depth, below that the pressure will force the water into the watch.

Diving depth - ish.

That 50m is static pressure. Don't expect to actually dive to 50m and have your Apple Watch survive.

The reality of "50m waterproof" is that if you swim with it (pools, maybe a few meters below the surface), most of the time it'll be OK.

I've read that the depth thing is also double edged, in that some device aren't sealed enough at 0m and benefit from having a bit of pressure around to tighten things. So a 50m certified thing can leak in if washed under your bathroom tap.

ps: I'm really dubious about the post swim clean idea, I hope they took minerals and chemical floating (chlorine and whatnot) in their simulation, otherwise that speaker membrane will come with free sound effects over time.

>So a 50m certified thing can leak in if washed under your bathroom tap.

Perhaps for a very cheap watch, but if you're a diver you're not using a cheap 50m watch anyhow.

It's a measure of depth. (Source: I watched the live streaming.)

Should probably be "down to 50 meters" then.

Probably but I'm shocked that's something anyone would actually need that level of clarification on.

It's such an incorrect way to state the specification that I had to ask.

I get that it's stated wrong I'm just trying to work out how water resistant for a 50m distance swim would work :) That would be the most useless feature addition ever, especially considering how long they spent pushing it during the keynote.

It's clearly a combination of GPS and accelerometer. When it detects you've gone 50m, the waterproof seal opens up and allows the water in, frying the delicate electronics. :)

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