Open Water Season Is Here - New Updates
The quiet ripple of dawn-lit water. The gentle rhythm of your stroke. The freedom of swimming into the open body of water that stretches out vastly before you. There's nothing quite like the sensation of open water swimming – whether you're training for your next triathlon or simply embracing the joy of natural waters.
But as any open-water enthusiast knows, the experience should be about connecting with the water, not troubleshooting your gear or worrying about navigation. That's why we've focused our latest software release on making your open-water experience more seamless, reliable, and enjoyable than ever before.
Open Water Reliability: Ready Before You Are
We've listened to your feedback. Previously, some users experienced connectivity issues just as their open water season was ramping up, putting a damper on those first exhilarating outdoor swims of the year.
This year, we've flipped the script. While Vancouver's waters were still hovering around the single digits, our team was hard at work stress-testing our updated open water experience to eliminate issues for this open water season.
We've spent time optimizing to establish stronger, longer-lasting connections between your goggles and compatible smartwatches. While disconnections can still happen in the varying waters of outdoor swimming, our improved reconnection logic now recovers more quickly to re-establish connection, if momentarily lost, keeping you focused on your swim. Still, be sure to wear your smartwatch on the same side that you breathe when swimming.
SwimStraight™ Improvements: Calibrate Once, Swim All Day
For triathletes and open water racers, every moment before the start matters. The last thing you need is another technical task when you're managing pre-race nerves at 6 am.
Our SwimStraight™ feature now holds your calibration for 12 hours, eliminating unnecessary friction between you and the water. Calibrate during your morning warm-up, and you're set for the race – no need to pause, recalibrate, or set up as the gun goes.
Know Your Metrics: FORM Goggles vs. Smartwatch
Open water swimming brings its own set of data challenges. We've now made it clearer which metrics come from your watch and which come from your goggles, helping you understand your data sources better.
This small change brings greater transparency to your swim experience, eliminating confusion and keeping you informed about where your metrics originate.
Flexible Coaching: Adjust HeadCoach™ Workouts On-The-Fly
While our focus remains on open water stability, we know that training schedules rarely go exactly as planned. That's why, in this release, we've also added quick actions to adjust your HeadCoach™ workouts.
Need to fit a workout into a shorter pool session? Running late but still want to complete your training? Now you can quickly increase or decrease the time and distance of each HeadCoach workout, ensuring your training adapts to your life, not the other way around.
Ready for Your Best Season Yet
As open water season approaches and race calendars fill up, we're committed to providing the reliability and flexibility you need to focus on what matters – your swim.
Whether you're sighting buoys in your next triathlon or simply enjoying the meditative rhythm of open water, these improvements work quietly in the background, making your experience smoother and more enjoyable.
The water is waiting. We've done the technical work. Now it's time for you to dive in and make this your best open water swimming season yet.
