Apple Watch Ultra just got a major upgrade for divers

Apple Watch ultra underwater
(Image credit: Apple)

Apple has today released the Oceanic+ app exclusively for the Apple Watch Ultra wearable.

The new app turns the Apple Watch Ultra into a dive computer for people who want to spend their time underwater — Apple says that recreational drivers can be used up to 40 meters or 130ft deep. New depth gauge and water temperature sensors, only found on the Apple Watch Ultra, are both used by the new app.

Apple Watch Diving Edition

The new Oceanic+ Apple Watch app has a companion app available for the iPhone as well, with Apple saying that the pairing provides "all of the key features of an advanced dive computer, robust dive planning, and a comprehensive post-dive experience."

The Apple Watch Ultra is the best Apple Watch for divers thanks to its WR100 and EN 13319 certification. The addition of the promised Oceanic+ app just kicks things up a notch. Divers can configure their surface time, depth, and gas level while the Oceanic+ app can then "will calculate their No Deco (no-decompression) time ... including GPS entry and exit locations."

Apple also points to some features that you might not expect to be important, including haptic feedback that allows wearers to feel vibrations even through their wetsuit.

"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," Apple says that people wearing wetsuits up to 7mm thick will still be able to feel vibrations.

The Oceanic+ app also includes complications to put vital information front and center, as you'd expect from an app like this.

The new Oceanic+ app is now available as a free download from the App Store — but remember, it is only available on the Apple Watch Ultra, which is currently seeing a fantastic discount in these Cyber Monday Apple Watch deals.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.