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The Oceanic+ app for recreational divers is available today on Apple Watch Ultra from the App Store |
Apple in collaboration with Oceanic, an American scuba gear manufacturing company, has come up with a dedicated app for scuba divers on the Apple Watch Ultra called Oceanic+. Like most Apple Watch apps, the Oceanic+ Dive Computer app comes with an easy-to-use interface and offers a plethora of features on Apple’s very first dive computer.
The Oceanic+ app on Apple Watch Ultra and the companion app
for iPhone provide all of the key features of an advanced dive computer, robust
dive planning, and a comprehensive post-dive experience.
“At Huish Outdoors, our purpose is fueling the human spirit
for adventure,” says Mike Huish, the company’s CEO. “Oceanic+ on Apple Watch
Ultra is one of the biggest innovations to hit the dive industry in a long
time. We’re creating an accessible, shareable, better diving experience for
everybody.”
When the first scuba divers took to the seas in the 1950s to
explore the depths of the world’s waters, dive computers were still
approximately 30 years away. By the ’80s and ’90s, many certified divers were
still putting pen to paper to create their own dive tables. Using the Bühlmann
decompression algorithm, they would track their depth and the time spent in the
water to ensure they could safely plunge beneath the surface without
overburdening their bodies with nitrogen.
Apple Watch Ultra completely transforms this experience,
giving recreational divers a more convenient, accessible device with all the
features users already know and love on Apple Watch.1
“There’s now a companion that communicates clear and timely information
to divers,” says Andrea Silvestri, Huish Outdoors’ vice president of product
development and design, who led the creation of Oceanic+. Silvestri has been
testing Oceanic+ on the watch underwater to get the app ready for launch.
Built for endurance, exploration, and adventure, Apple Watch
Ultra is certified to WR100 and EN 13319, an internationally recognized
standard for dive accessories, including depth gauges.2 The 49mm titanium case
and flat sapphire front crystal reveals the biggest and brightest Apple Watch
display yet, which — at up to 2000 nits — provides exceptional visibility
underwater. The Action button can be customized to launch the Oceanic+ app into
the predive screen, and during a dive, pressing the Action button will mark a
compass bearing.
Silvestri recalls the early ’90s when he designed his first
dive computer. “Most dive computers use a similar algorithm, but people
basically need a degree to understand what the information is telling them,” he
says. “One of the most revolutionary things about our new app is the user
interface: the colors, the animations, with a single arrow telling me to ‘go
up,’ ‘go down,’ ‘stop’ — that’s the easiest way to relay that information.”
“One of our first goals was to keep it intuitive,” says Mike
Huish. “People who know how to use an Apple Watch already know how to use this
dive computer, because it’s telling them things in a simple format they can
understand. The navigation menus are simple — scrolling with the Digital Crown
and using the Action button, you can navigate and use all the functionality of
the dive computer while diving.”
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In the Oceanic+ app on Apple Watch Ultra, the primary screen indicates a diver’s current depth, no-decompression time, water temperature, and more |
In the dive planner, users can set their surface time, their depth, and their gas, and Oceanic+ will calculate their No Deco (no-decompression) time — a metric used to determine a time limit for a diver at a certain depth. The planner also integrates dive conditions, including tides, water temperature, and even up-to-date information from the community, such as visibility and currents. Post-dive, users will see data — including GPS entry and exit locations — automatically pop up on Apple Watch Ultra, along with a summary of their dive profile. The summary on the Oceanic+ iPhone app provides additional information, including a map of entry and exit locations, as well as graphs of depth, temperature ascent rate, and no-decompression limit.
One of the most intuitive features of Oceanic+ on Apple
Watch Ultra is the haptic feedback, a design feat of both the hardware and
software that enables the watch to tap users on the wrist through a series of
vibrations, allowing divers to feel notifications underwater — even through a
wetsuit that’s 7mm thick.
Though haptic feedback is a convenient, simple feature for
everyday users, underwater, it plays an unexpected role: cutting through the
noise of echoing sounds.
“Sound propagation in the water is much more powerful than
in air,” Silvestri explains. “So if I’m diving with someone and their dive
computer is emitting sound, I can’t really recognize if it’s my beep or it’s
theirs. I’m hearing a beep, but I don’t know the direction. Incorporating the
haptics designed for Ultra, we’ve made the experience very personal; it’s like
a gentle nudge to guide you.”
The Oceanic+ app also offers complications that bring
important information and tools to users at a glance, including no-fly time,
surface time, quick access to the dive planner, dive settings, current
elevation, maximum elevation allowed, and a quick access button back into the
app. From planning the dive, to the first jump in, to their first step back on
land, users can track and compare all of the details of their dives and share
their experiences with fellow divers right from the app.
Ask any diver to describe what it feels like to dive, and
they’ll share a variety of sensations. For Huish, it’s an element of flight and
complete relaxation. Silvestri calls it a state of meditation: “It’s your time
for yourself — it’s just you and your breath, surrounded by fish and a
fantastic environment.”
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The app’s dive planner provides detailed information such as surface temperature, water temperature, wind, UV, and tides up to three days in advance of a dive. |
Nick Hollis, the brand manager for Oceanic at Huish Outdoors who became a certified diver when he was 10 years old, talks about the thrill of venturing into the unknown. “The most exciting part is when you are making the initial descent to a reef or shipwreck — whatever you’re going down to see,” he says. “You may be lucky enough to see a giant manta ray, a school of hammerhead sharks, you could see dolphins. It’s really an unknown every time you make that jump in.”
Olivier Laguette, Huish Outdoors’ vice president of
marketing, likens it to journeying into outer space — there’s a weightlessness
and freedom that’s unachievable on land.
Oceanic+ was designed to assist anyone looking to dip a toe
into the adventures that await in the underwater world. The app teams up with
Apple Watch Ultra to handle all of the complex calculations required to explore
the ocean safely, offering simple, easy-to-understand cues and guidance before,
during, and after a dive.
It marks a new chapter in a century of exploration — and a
half century of advancements in computing.
“One of the few sports where a computer is kind of a
must-have is scuba diving,” says Silvestri. “Not everyone is a scuba diver
every day, but diving is something we think people should be able to enjoy,
spending time in the water and developing an even greater respect for nature.
And that’s actually the main message, going back to Jacques Cousteau 50 years
ago: We need to ride this wave; we need to have more people in the water.”
Pricing and Availability
The Oceanic+ app for Apple Watch Ultra is available for download
today on the App Store.
Oceanic+ requires Apple Watch Ultra running watchOS 9.1
paired with iPhone 8 or later, and iPhone SE (2nd generation) or later running
running iOS 16.1.
The basic plan is free, and includes many common dive
functions, including depth and time, as well as logging most recent dives.
For access to decompression tracking, tissue loading, the
location planner, and an unlimited logbook capacity, Oceanic+ is $9.99 (US) per
month, or annually for $79.99 (US). Family Sharing is also available for $129
(US) annually, allowing access for up to five people.