Nick Pelios
Freediver, Creator
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Nick Pelios
Freediver, Creator
For most freedivers, the ocean is both playground and testing ground. The deeper you go, the more your body becomes an instrument of precision. Every breath, every contraction, every beat of the heart is measured. In this world, data is not decoration. It is survival. A reliable watch becomes more than a timekeeper; it becomes a companion, a silent witness to the line between control and surrender.
For decades, freedivers and spearfishers have relied on dedicated dive computers built with one purpose: to track depth, time, ascent rate, and recovery with faultless accuracy. Yet over the last few years, another kind of instrument has entered the conversation. The Apple Watch Ultra. Marketed as the ultimate adventure smartwatch, it is now in its third generation, promising rugged performance and dive readiness straight out of the box.
But can a smartwatch, even one with Apple’s engineering and polish, really compete with the precision of a Garmin Descent Mk3i or a Suunto Ocean? And more importantly, can it live up to the demands of freedivers who measure their limits in single heartbeats, not hours?
There is something alluring about the idea of carrying one tool that does it all. For many freedivers, especially those who also train on land, managing multiple devices feels excessive. A smartwatch that can transition seamlessly from gym to ocean promises simplicity, minimalism, and a nod toward sustainability.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3, released in late 2025, builds on this exact philosophy. Crafted from aerospace-grade titanium with a sapphire crystal front and a large 49 mm display pushing 3000 nits of brightness, it looks every bit the expedition instrument. Apple rates it for recreational dives down to 40 meters, with EN13319 certification, the same international standard applied to depth gauges and dive computers. The watch features dual-frequency GPS for accurate surface tracking, a custom depth sensor, and a temperature sensor that records water temperature during a dive.
At its core, it is a multisport powerhouse. It monitors heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, skin temperature, and sleep quality. Cyclists and runners praise its precision GPS and workout analytics. Hikers value its offline maps and emergency satellite connectivity. Freedivers, however, care about a different set of metrics, and Apple has stepped up by partnering with Oceanic+, an established name in diving technology, to create a dedicated dive app that includes a freedive mode.
That partnership marks a major shift. The Oceanic+ app transforms the watch into a functional dive computer, supporting freediving profiles with custom alarms for depth, dive time, and surface interval. Once you resurface, the app automatically logs dive profiles, average depth, water temperature, and surface intervals, syncing the data with iCloud and your iPhone.
At first glance, this makes the Ultra 3 seem like a dream come true: one sleek titanium shell that holds your entire athletic and diving life. But as with any piece of gear that dares to claim universality, the details matter.
In the water, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 surprises even seasoned divers. The display is exceptionally bright and easy to read underwater, a critical advantage for spearfishers who glance at their wrist mid-hunt. Unlike older smartwatch screens, this one remains legible even in dark thermoclines or deep green water. The large digital crown and side button are tactile enough to operate while wearing thin neoprene gloves, though thick gloves used in cold-water spearfishing can make input clumsy.
Freedivers who have tested it in warm waters of the Mediterranean and the Caribbean report that the Ultra 3’s depth tracking is accurate and consistent within the 0–40 m range, with minimal lag during ascent or descent. The Oceanic+ app’s freedive mode now includes customizable visual and haptic alarms for depth and time. Small vibrations on the wrist cut through the quiet of the deep, signaling your preset limit or reminding you to start your ascent.
Beyond the ocean, the watch continues to impress. Heart-rate monitoring remains active during dry apnea training, static tables, or gym sessions. You can review cardiovascular load, recovery, and sleep quality to optimize performance across all forms of training. For athletes who take a holistic approach to freediving and see the ocean as an extension of their physiology, the ability to cross-analyze land and sea data is a powerful advantage.
Then there is the lifestyle factor. You can finish a pool session, track your recovery walk, respond to messages, review dive logs, and navigate to dinner without switching devices. It is the definition of gear minimalism, one instrument for every part of your day.
From a design and sustainability perspective, this integration also means fewer gadgets. Fewer batteries to replace. Less electronic waste. For a community increasingly conscious about its footprint, that is not trivial.
And yet, as any serious diver knows, the ocean is not a forgiving testing ground. A freediving instrument has to be more than waterproof. It has to be trustworthy.
The Ultra 3’s 40 m limit is perhaps its most significant shortcoming. For recreational freedivers and most spearfishers, that is adequate. But once you venture into deeper competitive zones or variable-depth spearfishing, you will hit that ceiling fast. Apple has explicitly limited the Ultra 3’s dive functionality to recreational ranges, partly to maintain safety margins and partly because its depth sensor was not designed for extreme pressures.
There is also dependency on third-party software. The watch does not natively offer a freediving mode; it relies entirely on Oceanic+ for that. While the partnership works well, it is subscription-based. Some features, like detailed dive analytics and extended logging, require a paid plan. For users used to the plug-and-dive simplicity of Suunto or Garmin, this feels like an unnecessary layer of friction.
Another issue lies in usability during challenging dives. Under strong current, poor visibility, or when using thick neoprene gloves, the touchscreen interface is harder to manage. Dedicated dive computers rely on physical buttons for a reason; they remain operational when the environment turns hostile.
Battery life, though improved to roughly 42 hours of mixed use or 72 hours in low-power mode, still lags behind specialist dive computers. For a diver traveling remotely without easy access to power, this matters. You cannot charge a watch halfway through a multi-day trip at sea.
Finally, there is the psychological factor: trust. Freedivers often speak of trusting their body, their breath, and their equipment. Specialist dive watches like the Garmin Descent Mk3i and the Suunto Ocean have years of field-testing, firmware refinement, and community trust behind them. Apple’s freediving ecosystem is still young, promising, but not yet proven under the strain of thousands of real-world dives.
To understand where the Ultra 3 truly stands, you have to measure it against those who have mastered the medium.
Garmin Descent Mk3i
Garmin’s Descent line represents the gold standard for multisport divers. The Mk3i is a hybrid of hardcore dive computer and smartwatch, built with a depth rating of 200 meters, far exceeding the Ultra’s recreational ceiling. It supports multiple dive modes including apnea, apnea hunt, nitrox, and closed-circuit rebreather. Freedivers appreciate its Apnea Hunt mode, which disables unnecessary alerts and maximizes screen clarity, while spearfishers benefit from programmable depth and surface alarms, ascent rate tracking, and even heart-rate recording underwater through Garmin’s chest sensors.
Where the Mk3i stands out is reliability. The dive algorithm, based on Bühlmann ZHL-16C, is a benchmark in the industry. Battery life extends up to a week of continuous use and around 60 hours in dive mode. Its titanium bezel and sapphire crystal screen are built to survive years of saltwater abuse.
However, the Mk3i is bulkier, heavier, and more utilitarian in aesthetic. You wear it for the function, not the form. Its interface, though highly technical, lacks the fluid polish of Apple’s. Above water, it works beautifully for athletes, but it is still unmistakably a dive computer first and smartwatch second.
Suunto Ocean
Suunto has long been a trusted name among freedivers, and the Ocean model continues that lineage. It combines a 100 m depth rating with a refined freedive mode, excellent haptic alarms, and a highly visible color display optimized for underwater conditions. It also syncs easily with Suunto’s mobile app, which remains one of the most intuitive for logging and analyzing freedive data.
Where Suunto shines is in balance. It is a proper dive watch that doubles effectively as a multisport fitness tracker. The interface is straightforward, the hardware durable, and the brand’s connection to the freediving community remains authentic. It does not try to be everything; it simply does what divers need, exceptionally well.
Between Garmin and Suunto, the differences come down to philosophy. Garmin aims to be the ultimate data platform for all kinds of athletes. Suunto focuses on the purity of the diving experience. Both, however, are built for depth, durability, and trust.
Compared to either, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is the elegant outsider, sleek, smart, multifunctional, but not yet hardened by years of underwater refinement.
So, is the Apple Watch Ultra 3 a real freediving instrument or just an expensive toy that happens to be waterproof? The answer depends on who you are and how you dive.
For the recreational freediver, someone who trains regularly, dives within the 20–30 m range, and values data integration between land and water, the Ultra 3 is arguably the most complete smartwatch ever made. It tracks cycling, gym, sleep, breath-hold training, and dives in one seamless system. Its screen, aesthetics, and user experience are unmatched. You wear it daily, not just during sessions, and that continuity of both data and habit encourages awareness and discipline.
For the spearfisher, especially one operating in coastal or mid-depth environments, the Ultra 3’s convenience is a real advantage. You can rely on it for dive time, depth, and surface interval while enjoying additional safety features such as fall detection, emergency SOS, and GPS-based backtracking, all potentially lifesaving for those who venture far from shore.
But for the competitive freediver, or the spearo who routinely hunts below 40 m, the Ultra 3 remains a secondary device at best. It is an excellent training companion, not a primary depth instrument. For those pushing limits, a dedicated dive computer is non-negotiable.
Freediving has always been about trust. You trust your breath. You trust the line. You trust the people watching you from above. Gear, in that sense, becomes an extension of your psychology. You do not want to question it; you want to forget it is there.
This is where the Ultra 3 faces its biggest hurdle. It is still a smartwatch that dives, not a dive computer that thinks. The hardware is capable, but the freediving community values lineage, the collective experience of thousands of dives confirming that an algorithm behaves predictably, that an alarm triggers exactly when needed, that pressure sensors remain accurate after years of salt exposure.
Garmin and Suunto have built that reputation over decades. Apple is only beginning to earn it.
Still, the trajectory is clear. The Ultra 3 feels more confident in water than its predecessors. The Oceanic+ partnership grows stronger with every update. For most users, it performs flawlessly within its rated depth. For now, trust may be a matter of patience rather than performance.
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is not the ultimate freediving instrument. It is not meant to replace a Garmin Descent Mk3i or a Suunto Ocean for those who live and breathe by their dive computer. But it is a powerful, beautifully executed tool that brings freediving, fitness, and lifestyle into one seamless ecosystem.
If your dives stay within the recreational depth range, and if you care about design, daily usability, and cross-training insight, the Ultra 3 may be all you need. It is the watch that lets you go from apnea tables to cycling intervals to a 30 m dive without switching gear.
For those pushing the boundaries, deep divers, record seekers, or professional spearos working below 40 m, a dedicated dive watch remains irreplaceable. The Garmin Descent Mk3i continues to dominate that tier with unmatched depth, precision, and endurance, while the Suunto Ocean offers an elegant middle ground for those who crave simplicity without compromise.
In the end, the choice mirrors the freediver’s philosophy itself: know your limits, respect them, and choose the tools that serve your journey rather than define it. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 may not yet be the king of the deep, but for a growing number of divers, it is the perfect companion for everything that happens before and after the dive.