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Comment by novok | Hacker News Reader

Samsung isn’t the only one. Apple is similar too in its carve outs for water damage in it’s warranty. Im guessing samsung weasels out of it by saying water ‘resistance’ vs proof, but still marketing it with surfers and such? My water resistant series 3 apple watch screen died after swimming in a pool the next day to give a personal example.

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> My water resistant series 3 apple watch screen died after swimming in a pool the next day to give a personal example.

That's... surprising. To be clear, I'm not saying I don't believe you. But I'm definitely surprised - I've got a Series 2 which I get wet every day and even use while swimming and I haven't had any issues. My mother has a Series 2 or 3 which she also regularly uses while swimming.

Per Apple's documentation[0]

> Apple Watch Series 2, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple Watch Series 4 may be used for shallow water activities like swimming in a pool or ocean.

[0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205000

My wife's favorite watch is the Timex Women's Ironman Triathlon 50. The watch is labeled as being water resistant to 50 meters. Most complaints about this watch are that the band is crap and breaks after about a year of unextraordinary use. The other, is that after minimal contact with water, the inside of the watch face steams up. These aren't expensive watches, but they aren't cheap either.

Not sure how a watch intended for Triathlon use has a reputation for the band breaking at the slightest stress and the inside of the watch fogging after an ordinary dip in 3 feet of water. How does a watch like this pass QA and not get investigated (or sued) for false advertising?

I would assume that it's not a QA issue, but rather it's designed to perform well enough that 95% of customers don't complain. If 95% of customers don't get it wet or don't get particularly angry when they do, then designing it to be more waterproof would under-optimize the company's resources.

A lot of the things we take for granted about the benefits of living in a capitalist society are side effects of capitalists traditionally not being very good at their jobs and giving customers stuff/benefits unintentionally. That seems to be going away thanks to IT and increased testing of assumptions.

My theory is since the screen is held to the watch with glue [0], heat exposure will cause the glue to unset slightly and break the waterproof seal. So over time your watch may lose it's seal from exposure to being in a hot day.

The malfunction happened to me after owning the watch for 14 months, and I swam with it in the ocean on month 4 with no problems. It was also fine on the first day, the issue started happening the day after. My theory is a very small amount of water got in, but it was enough to damage the oled screen inside.

The solution would be not using glue, but using screws or a bayonet on the back, but then it won't look like a seamless object. Maybe in the new non-jony era of apple they will make their watches properly waterproof? I doubt it although.

[0] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Apple+Watch+Series+3+Display+Re...

Apple is pretty clear about its water performance: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205000

Sorry to hear about your watch. I’ve been lucky enough to have it in the water plenty and never have a problem. Maybe go to an Apple store?

I got a series 4 watch as a father's day gift and went swimming the following weekend. My watch went insane (it tried to dial 911 about 5 times and wouldn't accept any input to try to stop it) and then died. I took it to my local Apple store and they were rather stern about too much water and it probably being my fault, but sent it off to the repair center anyway. But... Apple sent a replacement via FedEx that arrived less than 48 hours later.

Set it in water mode before entering the pool. Otherwise the touchscreen might register touch events in the water.

Fine print you have to look up, without having any real reason to look for it in the first place, is not being clear at all. It's like saying, it's in the EULA, they're pretty clear about it!

Unless it's up front and center as part of set up, it's not being upfront.

Really? You think this rather clear and short document detailing to which extent the Apple Watch is water resistant is basically the same thing as iTunes’ EULA?

It‘s up front and the fact that it takes more than a bullet point on the back of the box to explain the details and limits of the feature doesn‘t change that.

Here‘s the description from Apple‘s official Watch marketing page:

> Sweat, surf, and swim proof. Apple Watch Series 4 is water resistant to 50 meters and tracks both pool and open-water workouts. Turn the Digital Crown to eject water from the speaker using a burst of sound.

I don‘t see this contradicted by additional support document.

Just because an EULA is well written, doesn't mean that more than %0.1 of their customers will still read it. If they put this document inside their EULA, nobody will still read it, and I would argue it's more hidden than a EULA because you have to think about looking it up on the internet. If people look it up, they will do it after their watch breaks, and by then it's too late.

They also don't disclose that they have water damage carve outs, which shows they know their water resistance wears out quickly enough that they need the carve out for financial reasons.

"Swim proof" the watch is not. Apple's advertising, whats in the box & paper manual, what copy is shown on the store, and what text that shows up on the watch when you set it up does not warn of any of this.

Also go ask a cross section of the population what water resistant to 50 meters means and they probably will give you the more common understanding of waterproof.

My Apple Watch series 0 (a watch that wasn't marketed as waterproof) had a dozen+ days in the ocean and 50+ dunks in a pool and suffered no malfunction. You must have had a bad quality item.

It may not be officially recommended, but I know people who have gone surfing with recent model iPhones and Apple watches. They seem to do fine, but maybe that's just luck?

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