Diving Smartwatch | Oceanic+ Ratings and Reviews

A solid backup computer but could be more…

I am not writing this to bash on something that’s it not. The software does have a solid purpose as a backup dive computer at the time of this review. The Apple Watch ultra itself is solid but that’s another review. This is about the Oceanic+ app. As mentioned in many reviews…this is not a primary device IMO. Without air integration you still need an SPG from the first stage if you don’t have another AI wrist computer with transmitter. The algorithms are tried and true, the compass is dialed in, and the interface works but the main issue to many is the air integration itself. Not discussing Tec and tri-mix. This is advertised as recreational scuba level hardware and application. As such it does meet those standards. I have used the Apple Watch Ultra on numerous dives so far using the Oceanic + app and I don’t have any complaints as it being my secondary device for recreational scuba. I will be interested to see if, and when, an AI solution becomes available in the near future.
As for the sync issue, it does appear that there is work and progress being done by the developer so I will give that some merit. After all, again, it’s my secondary device for now.
Let’s go make some bubbles!

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback!
For your sync issues, do not delete the app. Please make sure you are running version 1.1.6. on both devices. Restart both devices, go into your account settings on the app in your iPhone and redo the "sync to my watch" option.

Works fairly well but needs polishing

I was excited to be able to try the app with the Apple Watch ultra. I used it as my backup dive computer on a trip to little cayman. The display is very readable and worked well comparing it to my main dive computer a Petrel 3. The issue I had was when I placed the app into the dive mode and did a giant stride into the water, the app apparently switched back to surface mode before I submerged and stayed locked in the surface mode ignoring the dive. It would be nice if the depth exceeded a certain amount ( 1 foot, 5 feet, 10 feet ? ) that it would switch back to the dive mode automatically. I missed logging 3-4 dives because of this issue. The Petrel 3 worked fine thankfully having all my data. My current issue is now my watch won’t sync with the app. I have deleted, reinstalled, given all permissions, etc. without any sync happening. It could be the iOS version or updates to the app, I’m not sure but it runs against Apple’s saying “ It just works” well this app just doesn’t work well.

The latest update does allow my watch and phone to “see” each other. I now get a brief message that a sync is occurring. The issue I have now is that after the sync, since I had deleted and reinstalled the app, now after the sync, my watch does not show any dives in the log where my phone app does. I would expect a sync ( unless this is only a one way sync ) to result in the log on my watch and the log on my phone app to be the same.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for your feedback! When entering the water will be prompted to start the dive before displaying dive information. If you continue to have the issue mentioned please contact our team at oceanicplus@huishoutdoors.com. We will promptly evaluate this for you. We hope you enjoy using Oceanic+!

Disappointed, Not Really Useful for Scuba

I had high hopes that this would be able to meet my needs as a casual sport diver. It does not.

I was doing some fairly shallow reef dives, less than 25 feet. The major problem is that every time I near the surface the app would decide that I was done with my dive and display either the end of dive screen or the “Ready to Dive” screen. Sometimes pushing the Action Button would cause it to start a new dive, sometimes it would do nothing leaving me without dive info. The app really needs to prioritize giving the diver information about the dive over a dive summary screen or the liability shifting screen. If a diver is at depth they have obviously decided they are ready to dive and the info they need is bottom time, and NDL info. Denying this info to a diver at depth is negligent. Also, it is well established convention that a new dive starts after 10 minutes surface interval, not whenever the diver ascends to a certain depth. It seems the app is conflating free dive functionality with scuba functionality.

The first day of diving the app wouldn’t even display dive info, just the zeros as if I where still on the surface. I checked the Health app and it did record depths, the app just didn’t show it. That night I reinstalled the app and the next day it worked but with the disappointing behaviors described above.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the feedback!
We are currently working on an update to address the issues you are experiencing. Please stay tuned!

Disappointing : Edited (It’s not actually)

Edit: Oceanic posted a response to my review and it completely changed my mind. I thought the “snorkeling” mode wouldn’t track dive related things but it does. That being the case the app is really good, I’m excited to add it to my list of dive equipment. My only change to the app would be to add some clarification for the snorkeling mode in app, stating it can be used for diving too. Other than that it seems to be a great app!

I have left my original review below for the sake of cohesion between their response and my review. But my original review has pretty much been washed clean of any concerns. Great job guys!

Let me preface this by saying the app is great. It has all the functionality you need from a dive computer, without the air integration. If you’re willing to pay the monthly or annual fee it’s a fantastic app. But the fee is the issue. If you want to scuba dive with it you don’t have any option but to purchase a membership. You can only snorkel on the free version. It’s disappointing to see that there’s not an option for diving for free, even if it was a basic interface. Looks like I won’t be replacing my EON Core any time soon.

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback! The basic version of Oceanic+ is FREE and includes snorkeling mode which provides depth, time, logbook information and more. For full access to scuba mode which features decompression and tissue loading information including custom dive alarms, these features are only available in a paid subscription.

Needs major updates

Apparently it is possible for me to surface directly to the parking lot of a shore dive site. In making it so a new dive does not start until after 10 minutes at the surface, a good and correct decision, it seems that the app now marks the exit spot 10 minutes after surfacing… not good. I am already back on land by then. You need to get some divers on your development team, at least as product/project managers. I only give it 2 stars because the underwater user interface is pretty good. But everything else can use major improvements from how the syncing works ( I always have to force quit the Watch and phone app to get dive logs from the Watch to the phone) to when/where the dive starts/ends, to the needless and annoying “ready and fit to dive “ screen. Update: I see the developer responded and asked me to email. I have emailed with more detailed problems/ suggestions, but those have gone unanswered.

UPDATE: just got new update that will support camera housing. Still need to use for a dive, but seems like a lot of fixes here. Changing to 4 star 4 now. Will update once I use more.

Developer Response ,

We appreciate your feedback!
We would love to look further into this. Please email us at oceanicplus@huishoutdoors.com to look into this.

Pretty Good When it Works

I got the Oceanic+ Dive Housing to go with this app (and the one on my Apple Watch). I will say that as a backup dive computer, the watch version is competent. I like how it essentially does your dive log for you. The app also does an amazing job of color correcting underwater photos, again, when it works.

Now for the downside. I used this for the first time while diving in Hawaii. On the first dive, I recorded two videos, 14 minutes and 26 minutes. I got back to the boat, opened up the dive housing, and nothing. None of the super cool video I took of sea turtles was there. I emailed customer support, but got zero reply. On the second dive, I took numerous photos, and they were all there when we got back to the boat. Unfortunately, for the third dive, two minutes into the dive, the app stopped responding. Again, lots of turtle photos missed.

So, to recap, it has a 66% failure rate, which in my book is unacceptable. Finally, for the photo color correction, you cannot batch adjust the photos. You have to adjust each photo individually, save each individually, and every 5-10 edits, the program crashes, requiring you to sift through the thumbnails to figure out where you left off after each crash. Really not ready for release, and I suggest avoiding this product.

Developer Response ,

We appreciate your suggestions! We are always working on improving the application. Please stay tuned!

Wishing for more

This app is only for iPhone and should also be compatible with the iPad screen and layout, but is not. The app works just fine on either device, other than that. The app didn’t record my location for the last dive. This was strange as I had activated the app before entering the water (3 minutes) and at the bottom of the descent, noticed the confirmation screen for fitness for the dive. Confirmed my fitness with the action button and moved on. I have a lot of hopes for this dive computer/watch. Of course I want Air Integration and believe that the hardware likely is already inside the watch (microphones responsive to the 35-38Khz frequencies of standard transmitters). Hope that Apple updates the software soon for this! This will allow me to reduce the load of equipment that I take with me on every trip, albeit small, every bit counts. Bottom line, the app should support iPad displays (native) as this is a much better viewing experience than having the iPhone aspect/screen size on a large iPad screen. Also, there SHOULD be the ability to export/import logs! I could not find these functions.

Good underwater but has issues

Diving with Apple Watch is terrific for so many reasons both on the shore without the need of your phone and underwater. As a dive computer the oceanic app worked great. Super easy to use and see underwater with all the required values. Switching to nitrox was so much easier than my mares dive computer. HOWEVER, very flakey at the surface. Continuously having to enter your passcode because it can’t feel your wrist through the wetsuit. You then have to navigate through buttons to get it ready to dive again. Really funny, it then wants you to purge out the water from the watch while you’re in the water! Eventually, we just ignored all the menus and descended anyway and it switched itself to dive mode on its own and was fine. The biggest problem we had was syncing the watch logs with the phone. We got maybe the first 5 dives sync’d and then it stopped. We tried app updates, resync, power on/off, nothing worked. We couldn’t reinstall in fear of losing our logs on the watch. Very annoying. So yes, there are annoyances that I’m hoping will get addressed. I will continue to dive with it because it’s very good underwater, has a very small footprint with your gear, and all the dials are easy to understand and intuitive

Developer Response ,

Thank you for your feedback!
Do not delete the app. Please make sure you are running version 1.1.6. on both devices. Restart both devices, go into your account settings on the app in your iPhone and redo the "sync to my watch" option.

Great for a new diver

I just received my open water certification last month. I was looking at dive computers before I bought my BCD, regulator and pressure gauge/dive computer (Scubapro gauge/compass/dive computer combo). Saw this app for the Apple Watch so I upgraded to an Apple Watch ultra. I used the app for two shallow dives yesterday (< 40 ft) and it is so much easier than the scubapro Aladin which i used as well. I like that it has analytics over time. One thing I did notice is that in the log the pressure slide bar values change after you sync with the cloud. I also noticed that on a couple other slider bars related to current. The other item I noticed was that when you hold down the pressure slider and change values, the number it shows above the widget does not match the corresponding pressure value above the bar. These are a nuisance at the moment so I put the pressure in my notes. I also have it recorded in other logs as well. I plan to continue to use it as well as my other computer as another data source and look forward to how it performs during my advanced open water certification in a couple of months.

Developer Response ,

We appreciate your suggestions! We are always working on improving the application. Please stay tuned!

Decent dive computer when it starts

It should be made clear that the dive computer functionality has two components: the Apple Watch Ultra provides all the sensor data, and the Oceanic+ app displays the information and the logs. The Apple Watch Ultra is phenomenal. The app is great when it works. However, it doesn’t work all the time. my app was set to launch the dive automatically when the watch contacts the water. Only that it didn’t. Less than a minute after we started to descend I’ll look at the watch just to see it was asking me to press the button to confirm that
“I am fit and ready to dive.“ I tried to press the button, but by now it was in water lock mode, so that didn’t work. so basically the stupid app provided no information whatsoever during the entire dive. and just like that, in spite of having a nice watch with all the sensors, in spite of having purchased the subscription for the Oceanic+ app, I was back into the dark ages of diving with no information about the descent and most importantly, ascent rate, no information about the depth, no decompression time, etc. And of course no safety stop information. Overall, a really frustrating experience!!!

Developer Response ,

We appreciate your feedback!
We would love to look further into this. Please email us at oceanicplus@huishoutdoors.com to look into this.