Wesley Hilliard
An Apple Watch takes a dive without its owner but is recovered a day later and returned without damage thanks to Lost Mode.
There are regular reports of working iPhones being recovered from bodies of water, but rarely, if ever, an Apple Watch. However, one unlucky man from Praia Grande would put his Apple Watch's water resistance to the test.
According to a report from G1, Jefferson Rocha was on a schooner ride off of the coast of Sao Paulo, Brazil when his Apple Watch slipped from his arm. It quickly sunk into the water and was given up for lost.
The Apple Watch model wasn't disclosed, but the internal GPS signal was active so Rocha was able to see the device in Find My.
"I was discouraged," Rocha said in the report, translated to English. "This watch has GPS, it's water resistant. I didn't know it was so resistant. During the whole tour and until I got back to the ship, I could see the location, and it was in the middle of the sea, still on".
Eventually, the battery died, and the Apple Watch stopped reporting its location. The next day, Rocha received a notification stating the device had been turned on again.
He activated Lost Mode in Apple's Find My app and input personal information that would allow someone to contact him. He later received a message on Instagram from a 16-year-old girl who had recovered the Apple Watch.
It had been found by the girl's father, Benoni Antonio Filho, who dives at the coral park where he discovered the device. Apparently, he frequently finds tourists' devices and does his best to return them.
Rocha was able to work with Filho's daughter, who was tasked with returning the Apple Watch to teach her a lesson about honesty. He got it back in working condition.
An image of the Apple Watch shows that it may have been an Apple Watch SE or Apple Watch Series 3. Either model would have a water resistance rating that would ensure it survived such a dip in the ocean.
The Apple Watch has been rated for use in water since the Apple Watch Series 2 under the ISO standard 22910:2010. That means up to 50 meters of submersion shouldn't affect the device's watertight integrity.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
4 Comments
I metal detect in the sea.
2 years ago I found an apple watch.
The watch went into lost mode when I took it out of the water.
I was able to give it back to owner later in the day.
It had been in water over 24 hours.
I’m surprised the GPS signal worked whilst underwater…
I went to Cancun, Mexico on vacation. Accidentally wore my Apple Watch Series 4 while scuba diving in the Ocean. Thought for sure it would be ruined when I finished. Went 80’ under the water. Didn’t have any issues. Unfortunately the very next day I went swimming in an underground cenote, my watch fell off my wrist sank to 20-30 ft under the water. I wasn’t able to recover it…been two years. Maybe someday someone will find it. Put it in lost mode and hoping someday it is recovered. Probably a long shot but would be cool if it could be found and was working.