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How To Use The MySwimPro Apple Watch App

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Meet your new swim coach! MySwimPro is the #1 swimming and dryland training app for swimmers! Get all our tips for how to swim with the MySwimPro app on your Apple Watch. 

Whether you’re training alone with our guided workouts, or tracking a Masters swim team practice – the award-winning MySwimPro Apple Watch app will capture it all.

Learn more all about the incredible features included. Visit our Support Site for more info.

3 Ways To Use The App

There are three ways to use MySwimPro on your Apple Watch – Guided Workouts, Pool Mode, and Open Water Mode! 

Load A Guided Workout

There are three ways to load a Guided Workout to your Apple Watch

  • Workout of the Day
  • Training Plan (Start Your Plan/Next In Plan)
  • Load From Phone

Workout Of The Day

To load a Workout to your Apple Watch using the Workout of the Day option, tap on the Workout on your watch, then swim!

  1. Open the MySwimPro Apple Watch app
  2. Tap the Workout of the Day option
  3. Once it’s loaded, you can start the Workout!
  4. Once the Workout is complete it will automatically log to your account and you can view your stats on the Profile tab on your mobile app. Navigating a Workout on Apple Watch

Training Plan (Start Your Plan/Next In Plan)

To load a Workout to your Apple Watch using the Training Plan (Start Your Plan/Next In Plan) option, tap on the Workout on your watch, then swim!

  1. Make sure that you have chosen a Training Plan on the phone app and tap “Start Plan”
    Your Training Plan should now appear in the top left of the Coach Tab
  2. Open the MySwimPro Apple Watch app
  3. Tap Start Plan if this is the first Workout in the plan or Next In Plan if continuing your training.
  4. The Workout will appear
  5. Once it’s loaded, you can start the Workout!

Once the Workout is complete it will automatically log to your account and you can view your stats on the Profile tab on your mobile app. Navigating a Workout on Apple Watch

Load From Phone

To load a Workout to your Apple Watch using the Load From Phone option, make sure the Workout is open and visible on your phone and the Load Workout screen is visible on your watch. 

  1. Open the Workout you’d like to load to your Apple Watch on your iPhone
    You should be able to see the SwimGaugeTM
  2. Open the MySwimPro Apple Watch app
  3. Select Load Workout from the main menu
  4. The Workout will appear
  5. Once it’s loaded, you can start the Workout!

Once the Workout is complete it will automatically log to your account and you can view your stats on the Profile tab on your mobile app. Navigating a Workout on Apple Watch

Tracking An Unguided Pool Swim 

To track an unguided pool swim with an Apple Watch:

  1. Open the MySwimPro watch app
  2. Tap Pool Swim,
  3. Confirm your pool size
  4. Tap Start Workout
  5. Swim!
  6. When you’ve finished your Workout, spin the crown at swipe the screen left to right to open the menu
  7. Tap End
  8. Tap Save

While you’re swimming, the MySwimPro Apple Watch App will display your Workout time, distance, average 100 pace and real-time heart rate. Pause the Workout at any time by unlocking the screen/water lock (spinning the digital crown), and swiping right on the screen to bring up the menu. Navigating a Workout on Apple Watch

Use Drill Mode To Track Kicking & Drills 

Wearables have a hard time tracking non-competitive swimming styles. To solve this, we created Drill Mode.

You can use Drill Mode during any open (unguided) swim to add in a kick or drill Set that the Apple Watch would normally not be able to track. To use Drill Mode, you need to Enter Drill Mode, perform the kick or drill Set, then Exit Drill Mode.

To Enter Drill Mode:

  1. Spin the digital crown to turn off water lock
  2. Swipe right to show the menu
  3. Tap on Drill Mode

To Exit Drill Mode:

  1. Spin the digital crown to turn off water lock
  2. Swipe right to show the menu
  3. Tap on End Drill Mode
  4. Enter your total kick/drill distance
  5. Tap OK and resume your Swim Workout

Tracking An Open Water Swim

Open water tracking is most accurate when location services are enabled for MySwimPro.

There are two places to check that these permission are enabled:

  1. In the MySwimPro app, head to Profile > Settings >  Devices & Integrations, and make sure Open Water Location services is turned on. If the switch is greyed out, you’ll have to check for location services settings in your iPhone’s Settings app.   
  2. Open the iPhone Settings app, find MySwimPro, and check that Location Services access is set to While Using.
IMG_6624.jpg

To Start an Open Water Swim

  1. Tap Open Water on the main menu of your Apple Watch.
  2.  Check your location accuracy and wait for it to switch to “best”                                                  
  3. Tap Start Workout and Swim!
  4. After you finish the Workout, disable the water lock and swipe left to reveal the menu and hit end. Then tap Save. The experience will be similar to Pool Swim mode, but a map will be added to your workout. 

Navigating A Workout On Apple Watch

Once you’ve started a Workout on Apple Watch, you have a few options. Most of them are only visible by bringing up the menu. To access the menu:

  1. Be sure water lock is off by spinning the digital crown
  2. Swipe right on your Apple Watch screen

From there you will have a few options, depending on what mode you’re in:

  • Lock – enables water lock again
  • Pause – pauses the Workout and tracking
  • Resume – resumes the Workout and tracking
  • Drill Mode – enters Drill Mode (pool mode)
  • Exit Drill – exits Drill Mode and prompts you to enter how far you kicked/drilled  (pool mode)
  • Next Rep – advances to the next rep in the Workout (Guided Workout )
  • Next Set – advances to the next set in the Workout if you are on the last rep of your current set (guided workout)

Other available controls:

  • Hit the two side buttons at the same time to pause or resume your Workout without having to unlock water lock
  • Use Siri to control the workout hands-free

Apple Watch Tips & Tricks

Understanding Water Lock On Apple Watch

Swimming with a touchscreen on your wrist means that the water sometimes accidentally touches the screen and selects things. To solve this, Apple created Water Lock, which locks the screen and prevents accidental touches.

Water lock on Apple Watch serves two purposes:

  1. Lock the touchscreen so the water doesn’t accidentally “tap” on a button or notification.
  2. Expel water from the speaker when it’s turned off.

MySwimPro automatically enables water lock at the start of a Swim Workout. Once it’s off, you can enable it again by using the force touch menu to select Lock. 

Apple Watches (Series 2 and later) are water resistant to 50 meters whether or not the water lock is on. It is not required that water lock is on during your swim, but we do suggest it so the water doesn’t accidentally tap a notification. If you do choose to turn it off during your Workout, we recommend you enable and disable it again after your Workout to properly expel the water from the speaker.

You can learn more about the Apple Watch’s water resistance on Apple’s website here.

Can I keep the Apple Watch Screen On During A Workout?

Apple Watch Series 5 and later can display the time and other glanceable information, even when your wrist is down. Always On is turned on by default on Apple Watch Series 5 and later. In this mode, the time is always visible, along with your watch face or the most recent active app such as MySwimPro.

Always On has settings that let you turn the feature off, which can increase battery life. You can also choose the information that you want to appear on the screen when your wrist is down.

How to turn the Always On feature on or off

  1. Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch. To do this, press the Digital Crown to see the Home screen, then tap the Settings button.
  2. Tap Display & Brightness.
  3. Scroll down, then tap Always On.
  4. Tap Always On to turn on or turn off the feature.

Getting Splits To Log Consistently With Apple Watch

On our Apple Watch app, when you swim a Workout loaded to your watch from your phone (we call this a “guided” Workout), the app does it’s best to calculate split times for each rep. 

It should be noted that splits cannot be calculated for kicking, non-competitive strokes, and drills, usually because your watch/wrist isn’t moving.

Splits start counting for a rep when you push off the wall, but only once the rep has started. So, to give the watch the best chance at accurately recording your splits, push off the wall only after you feel the haptic on the watch. That is to say, don’t push off early (before the rep timer starts).

Use Siri To Control Workouts On Apple Watch

You can use Siri to control your MySwimPro Workouts on Apple Watch. First, make sure that you’ve enabled Siri permissions for MySwimPro. You can find them by going to the Settings app, select MySwimPro, then be sure “Use with Siri” is enabled.

After that, you will be able to control the Workouts from your Apple Watch as long as it has an internet connection. Some things you can say:

  • Hey Siri, start a MySwimPro Workout in a 20 meter pool
  • Hey Siri, pause the MySwimPro Workout
  • Hey Siri, resume the MySwimPro Workout
  • Hey Siri, end the MySwimPro Workout

When you’re new to swimming, it can be tough to know how to get the best workout.

That’s where the MySwimPro app comes in! We help you make the most of your time in the water with personalized, Guided Workouts and Training Plans designed to help you reach your health and fitness goals.

As you improve, MySwimPro Coach will keep challenging you, to help you get faster and fitter than ever before.

Sync a compatible Apple or Garmin smartwatch for extra tracking, and Set-by-Set guidance. Or, print a PDF of your Workout to bring with you to the pool.

Ready to get started? Download MySwimPro on iPhone or Android, and use code SWIM35 to save $35 on your first year of training with MySwimPro Coach!

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68 Comments

    • fares on

      Hi Rufus, your captured split times will show up under ‘view workout’ after it’s been logged. They’ll be in parentheses under the interval for each set.

      Reply
  3. emma on

    do i need my phone with me when i go to practice or if i just have my watch will it work then i just sync it when i get home?

    Reply
    • fares on

      You do not need to have the phone next to the watch during actual swimming. Only after the workout so it can sync up!

      Reply
    • Paige Walters on

      Hi there! You can adjust the pool length in your app if you tap the More button, then Preferred Pool Length. We currently don’t have the functionality to add a specific pool to your account. Thanks and happy swimming!

      Reply
  7. Charles Kretzmann on

    Is there a way to track swimming in a swim spa? Open water wants GPS positioning, but in a swim spa you swim against a current and never move. You can set the pace on the spa leaving time and stokes as the variables.

    Reply
  8. Katherine on

    Is there away to set MySwimPro app on the Apple Watch to be autopause like Swim.com. It is an awesome feature with Swim.com. The hard pressing with MySwimPro with the Apple Watch is useless- takes forever in a day to do all that with wet fingers. Swim.com just detects no movement which equals pause. Only thing missing from your app- something to think about…

    Reply
  12. Raimundo Morales on

    Hi, yesterday was my first time using the app in the Apple Watch. I started with a 500m warm up, then stop and did a few series with a pullboy and paddles, but it recorded everything together, how can I for instance separate those? At the end I only show me the total distance of the training not every segment or part i did.

    Reply
    • Paige Walters on

      Great question! Drill Mode allows members of our community who track their workouts with the Apple Watch Series 2 to more accurately capture their total workout distance. When you do a kick set or complete a drill, often times it’s hard for the Apple Watch’s accelerometer to accurately capture your true distance completed during that specific activity.
      When you switch the MySwimPro app to Drill Mode, you’ll be able to manually input your total distance kicked or drilled so that your total workout distance is 100% accurate. Here’s how it works:
      Force touch the screen to show the menu
      Tap on Drill Mode
      Kick or Drill
      Force touch the screen to show the menu
      Tap on End Drill Mode
      Enter your total kick/drill distance
      Tap OK and resume your swim workout
      You can learn more here: https://myswimpro.com/blog/2017/07/27/apple-watch-app-drill-kick-mode/
      Thanks!
      – Paige

      Reply
  14. Alan Scholl on

    When using this app, I do a warm-up set then three core sets and then a warm down (just started swimming after a long hiatus). When I am done with a set, I cannot do a hard touch underwater, and then even after I surface it takes a few seconds to allow me to hard touch adding on around 10-12 seconds to each set and messing up my workout times.
    Can My Swim Pro be configured/setup to pause with a double crown and button combination as is done in another swimming app? If not then then another option is to setup and load a workout.

    Reply
    • Paige Walters on

      Hi Alan, welcome back to swimming! Here some answers to your questions” Trying to tap on the watch will not work underwater, and our Apple Watch app does already allow you to pause a workout by pressing on both the crown and button 🙂 If you have any more questions, please email ios-support@myswimpro.com. Thanks!

      Reply
  15. Carly on

    Hi, is there a function in OWS to vibrate when you hit a certain distance or time / at regular distance / time intervals? This was a great feature in Garmin as it helps to keep you moving without having to stop to check the watch face every so often Thanks!

    Reply
    • Jim Perry on

      Agreed. The Garmin benefit was the 5 second beep/vibrate countdown. Especially on short interval sets, it’s not an enjoyable experience to have to keep looking quickly and wait for time to show up.
      Any update on when we can expect a solution?

      Reply
      • Taylor Holmes on

        Hi Jim, We haven’t yet built this feature for open water swims on Apple Watch. However, if you’d like to swim for time vs. distance, you can create a workout that’s just time-based (with no distance), and your watch should vibrate to notify you when it’s time to stop/start!

        Reply
  16. James on

    Hello there I contacted you some time ago regarding future upgrades to your app providing vibrating pace alerts when you fall behind a desired pace per 100m say or projected time for a given distance based on your real time performance exceeding your desired time. You mentioned this may be in the pipeline. Any updates as to if and when, as I am holding off buying an iwatch until either apple or you supports this type of feature like it does for vibrating pace alerts with running.
    Kind Regards
    James

    Reply
  17. Gorski on

    Any chance that you support fractional yards or meters? I swim in a non-standard distance pool that is 70 feet–it would be nice to know that I can set the distance accurately.

    Reply
  18. Mike on

    Hi there. I’ve created 4×25 Kick and 4×25 Drill with no interval in my workout. How should I advance the reps of these sets? Because if I hard press the screen, the only given option is to advance to the next set, not the next rep.

    Reply

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  26. Thomas Naccarato on

    I don’t swim per doctor’s orders, but ge has me walking in the pool. How can I program, or what app can I use with my Series 1? I have my Watch enclosed with a catalyst Apple Watch water proof case.

    Reply
  27. Gio on

    I use since more than one year my Apple Watch series 1 to swim, but I see you don’t support it. The app on the screen does not start. This is a shame as I will have to drop your app.

    Reply
  28. Marc on

    Is there a way to have the screen remain on during your swim? It would be nice to be able to glance at my time coming out of a flip turn to track my pacing. Right now it’s difficult because I have to manage to turn the screen on first. Glancing while streamlining is hard enough without having to wake up the screen.

    Reply
    • Taylor Holmes on

      If you have the Apple Watch Series 5 or 6, you can turn on “Always On” display mode so your screen never shuts off! To do that, follow these steps:
      1. Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.
      2. Tap Display & Brightness, then tap Always On.
      3. Turn on Always On.
      Hope this helps!

      Reply
      • Jacob on

        I too have a Series 6 and was wondering if what Marc is mentioning is a feature? I currently have always-on display but while I am swimming, the stopwatch blurs and shows the current (am/pm) time. Is there a way to prevent the current time from showing so that I can glance over at my watch and check my splits as Marc mentioned?

        Reply
        • Taylor Holmes on

          Hi Jacob, Unfortunately you can’t disable the screen blur/clock in Always On mode. That should go away when you raise your wrist to check your splits, though!

          Reply
    • Taylor Holmes on

      Hi Erik! The Apple Watch Series 3 or newer all work great for swimming, and are compatible with MySwimPro!

      Reply
    • Taylor Holmes on

      Hi Jacqueline,
      The intervals for each set in the MySwimPro app combine moving and rest time! When you view your workout in the app after your swim, you will see total time (moving + rest).

      Reply
  31. Tricia Lacey on

    I use an Apple Watch. I start with a kick board for several laps and it doesn’t register those laps at all. Then when I do my breast stroke laps, it registers too many. I put the correct pool size in the app. How do I adjust the program so it accurately records my laps, at least the ones where I am not using the kick board?

    Reply
    • Taylor Holmes on

      Hi Tricia, if you create a custom workout in the MySwimPro app and send it to your watch, the app will accurately track every lap, including kicking! If you’d prefer to keep swimming on open swim mode, the MySwimPro app has Drill Mode, which you can turn on by unlocking your watch’s water lock, swiping right and tapping Drill Mode. As soon as you’re done kicking, unlock your watch again and turn off Drill Mode. At that point you’ll enter the amount of kicking or drills that you did so it counts toward your workout! Here’s more info: https://myswimpro.com/blog/2017/07/27/apple-watch-app-drill-kick-mode/

      Reply
  32. Tom O'Malley on

    I am only a couple of months into program. I have received some adjustments to time so clearly there are evals going on behind the scenes. My issue is that sometime the “wait” time is way too long. Is there any way to advance the workout to the next element during the workout?

    Reply
    • Taylor Holmes on

      Hi Tom,

      Yes, there are a few things you can do to adjust your rest time between sets. First, try going to your Settings and adjusting the rest time between sets and set groups. For many people, 10-15 seconds works well for both of these.

      To manually advance to the next rep or set on your Apple Watch, spin the watch crown and swipe from left to right to reveal a menu. On the top right corner there should be an option to move on to the next rep or next set. Hope this helps! You can find more Apple Watch tips here: https://support.myswimpro.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042862474-How-To-Swim-With-MySwimPro-Apple-Watch

      Reply
  33. Sascha on

    Hi guys,

    and my compliments for designing and keeping track of having a Awatch app for swimming.
    I started over 4-5 weeks ago with swimming and the app works quite good for me. I also have used swim.com-app, but actually it „feels“ way better to use MySwimPro.

    There is one thing, I can‘t understand:
    20years ago, I was swimming with an normal sport watch (similar looking like the Casio ones). These watch had a timer which was repeating and each time, it was over, it was vibrating.
    A pace timer.
    Nowadays I’m wearing a PC on my wrist (comparing the computing power 20years ago) with intelligent sensors…but it seems not possible (from outside looking) that there can be a extra field in the (custom) training plan where I can set a time (6x800m, @1:45 per 100m, easy pace), the awatch would vibrate every time, when the time (1:45) is over…and I would FEEL it in my wrist thaz I’m too fast or too slow.

    I just bought the year plan (beginning of October).
    Despite the good experience with the iOS apps, I have to say that the missing of that simple feature I disappointing.

    Best
    Sascha
    Hamburg, Germany

    Reply

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