Apple Watch Stands Up to the Internet’s Attempts to Drown it

Officially, the Apple Watch has a water resistance rating of IPX7, which in plain English means that showering, being in the rain or washing your hands with the the device should be ok, but swimming with the watch would be a bad idea.

Or would it?

As with all things on the internet, people want to take it just a little bit farther. In this case, people want to push the Apple Watch past its operational recommendations and see if they can drown the thing. The vloggers at MW Technology and FoneFox did, or tried, just that.

In both cases, they conducted splash tests that confirmed what Apple was advertising. The Apple Watch would stand up to rain. FoneFox showered with the watch, soap, shampoo and all. (Warning: hairy armpit shot.) It worked as promised.

Then they took it a step  and did exactly what they shouldn’t have. They swam with the Apple Watch. As it turns out, it took to the water without any damage. The watch was left at the bottom of a pool for 15 minutes, and, again, the watch worked. Granted, the depth looked like it was maybe 10 feet at the most, so don’t expect the 4,000 foot rating of a Rolex Sea Dweller.

MW Technology threw it in a washer. When it was removed, the watch survived with no adverse affects, though it should be noted that their test looked like there wasn’t any soap added in the wash.

In any case, the Apple Watch should stand up to most real-wold applications where water would be involved. Although I wouldn’t personally suggest it (for legal reasons, of course — I don’t have enough to buy my own Apple Watch, let alone as a replacement for some guy who happens to be the exception), these videos show that if you happen to forget to take your watch off when you go swimming or leave it in a pocket when you’re doing laundry, you should be ok.

All of which, of course, leads to a question as old as 2006 — will it blend?

Photo by Houang Stephane (Stephane <3)/flickr.