New Apple Watch is a dive computer

[Belzelbub]

I think it may also be a question of liability. You may risk your life if a third party app has some bug or crashes during a dive. I guess Apple wants to keep more control on such application than just the standard App Store validation.

That's a possibility as well. However, Apple does have control over which apps would be available, so I think it would be possible to reject buggy apps. It sounds like the functions necessary for a dive computer app are not available to developers other than Oceanic. I guess we'll see if @KenGordon gets entitlement.

 

[jdevic]

That's a possibility as well. However, Apple does have control over which apps would be available, so I think it would be possible to reject buggy apps. It sounds like the functions necessary for a dive computer app are not available to developers other than Oceanic. I guess we'll see if @KenGordon gets entitlement.

It is very Apple to limit the DC for recreational use only for liability reasons. Apple is pretty much guaranteed to be named in a lawsuit if someone dies. An independent developer probably puts themselves at risk without a liability insurance.

 

[doctormike]

It is very Apple to limit the DC for recreational use only for liability reasons.

What does “very Apple” mean? This is what they did with their other dive computers?

I mean, if product liability was their main concern, why would they even offer this functionality?

 

[Bill McDavid]

I trust Apple but I am suspicious of how reliable this would be. I guess time will tell.

 

[tridacna]

I trust Apple but I am suspicious of how reliable this would be. I guess time will tell.

Little bit of a contradiction. Either you trust them or you don’t.

This is a dive computer not a pacemaker. If it fails, you ascend, do a SS and surface, just like any other dive computer that fails. What are your suspicions?

 

[doctormike]

Little bit of a contradiction. Either you trust them or you don’t.

This is a dive computer not a pacemaker. If it fails, you ascend, do a SS and surface, just like any other dive computer that fails. What are your suspicions?

Of course, that's assuming that it fails safe - i.e. the failure mode is that it's bricked. If it fails by inaccurately calculating a deco obligation, you might not realize it had failed until you got bent.

However, I agree with you. At some point we are putting our lives, or maybe just our health, in the hands of some piece of hardware and software (unless we are diving tables and square profiles on a site with known depth). One of the benefits of understanding deco better and planning ahead of time is that you may have a sanity check on what the DC is telling you if you are getting a wildly inaccurate NDL.

But I suspect that some of the people who are suspicious of the Apple and Oceanic partnership wouldn't have a problem going to a dive resort and renting an aging, off-brand DC from the shop and trusting that.

 

[Bigbella]

But I suspect that some of the people who are suspicious of the Apple and Oceanic partnership wouldn't have a problem going to a dive resort and renting an aging, off-brand DC from the shop and trusting that.

Heh, heh, I have plenty distrust of both -- particularly Oceanic /Huish -- and haven't rented so much as a half-kilo weight, much less a computer, since Carter was in office . . .

 

[Bill McDavid]

Little bit of a contradiction. Either you trust them or you don’t.

This is a dive computer not a pacemaker. If it fails, you ascend, do a SS and surface, just like any other dive computer that fails. What are your suspicions?

Yes, I suppose it is a contradiction that indicates I have conflicting feelings about it. I don't view it so binary as to say I either trust them or not. For example, I have always trusted Apple to make a really great computer that just works better than PCs. However, for good reason I did not trust the early version of Apple Maps to get me where I was going.

Anyway, I have an Apple Watch which has to be restarted now and then like most similar electronics. On the the hand, my dedicated Oceanic dive computer has never failed me and there is no such thing as rebooting it. I don't want to ascend from a dive because of a failed computer... especially not using Nitrox in a repetitive dive situation on a liveaboard that I have paid a fortune for. Make sense?

 

[Bill McDavid]

Of course, that's assuming that it fails safe - i.e. the failure mode is that it's bricked. If it fails by inaccurately calculating a deco obligation, you might not realize it had failed until you got bent.

However, I agree with you. At some point we are putting our lives, or maybe just our health, in the hands of some piece of hardware and software (unless we are diving tables and square profiles on a site with known depth). One of the benefits of understanding deco better and planning ahead of time is that you may have a sanity check on what the DC is telling you if you are getting a wildly inaccurate NDL.

But I suspect that some of the people who are suspicious of the Apple and Oceanic partnership wouldn't have a problem going to a dive resort and renting an aging, off-brand DC from the shop and trusting that.

No renting from where I sit. My Oceanic has never had to be rebooted. My Apple Watch, on the other hand, has. Not interested in dealing with that on a liveaboard that I paid a fortune to enjoy.

 

[Wibble]

Would have thought that using an Apple Watch on a liveaboard is about the most perverse thing you could do. OK, maybe there's other perverse things...

Point is that you're on a liveaboard to get away from the hussle and bussle of life: people constantly grabbing your time, diaries, emails, IM's, deadlines, etc., etc. You're on a liveaboard to get away from that eternal crap.

Having been "working" from home for the past 2 and a half years, I don't even need a watch let alone some nagging Apple Watch. Which, ironically, is where the Ultra comes in: seems to be designed for outdoor life, subject to a ridiculously short battery life measured in hours -- would hardly use it "on walkabout".



I guess Apple did an exclusivity deal with Oceanic in order for them to develop the software for a new market of outdoors activities. Apple gets the kudos of whole new market for literally zero investment. Win-win for both Apple and Oceanic.