Your first swim
Now that you have the fit adjusted, you’re almost ready for your first swim.
Before you dive in, though, we want to show you:
- how to navigate through the app and find all the cool features you’ll need;
- what to expect on your first swim.
We’ll take you through, step by step, below.
The App
Home
Starting in the top bar, you’ll see (from left to right):
- your profile photo and name. Tapping your photo will take you to the profile editing screen.
- Your FORM score 5-swim average
- Your weekly goals rings
- Your distance with FORM so far
In the top right corner, you’ll see your notifications and the settings menu.
Moving down the Home screen, you’ll see some tiles with announcements followed by your next swim. This will be one of your HeadCoach™ workouts*, the next workout in your plan* or your next imported workout*, depending on which is most relevant.
Below that, you will see your last swim's details and then tiles regarding the workouts on your goggles, your plan and your imports.
Swims
Moving to the Swims tab, this is where you can see your full swim history (under Only Me) and also the latest swims from any swimmers you follow in the app. You can search for friends using the magnifying glass!
Workouts
The Workouts tab is where you can search all workouts* and plans*, build your own custom workouts* and see your HeadCoach™ workouts*, built for you and updated after every swim synced.
My Goggles
Under My Goggles, you can see information about your goggles including battery levels and sync status on the first screen, and manage more settings in the Goggles Settings screen.
Tapping on Dashboards will allow you to edit your dashboards for different swim modes. You can see more about dashboards here.
Connected Devices will allow you to add and remove a watch or partner swim spa.
Goggles Settings includes turning off auto-sync, brightness levels and display orientation, as well as the option to turn off heart rate on Smart Swim 2, or pair a new pair of goggles to your account.
HeadCoach™
The last tab in the app is HeadCocach™*. This is a Premium Feature and analyzes your swimming technique and gives you different scores: FORM Score (see more about this here), Head Pitch and Peak Head Roll skills, and assigns you a Recommended Focus and Top Priority Skill.
Tapping into a skill or your FORM Score will allow you to see your 5-swim average, trend over time, coaching tips and recommended workouts to improve this Skill.
Your First Swim
How you complete your first swim with FORM will depend on how and where you swim. You can read more about each of the ways you can swim with FORM here:
Open water, with a Garmin watch
Open water, with an Apple Watch
Pool, on my own
- Select the Pool option in your goggles by pressing the FRONT button
- Navigate by pressing the REAR button until you see the right workout option for you: HeadCoach™ workouts, Saved workouts, Plan, or Imports and press the FRONT button to enter that menu
- Find the workout you are planning to swim, and press the FRONT button to select it, then one more time to select Swim Workout
- You’ll see an HR test screen if you have an HR sensor connected
- Select the right pool size for you, then start swimming
- When you are done, press the FRONT button to End your swim
Your goggles will detect when you are swimming, turning or resting and will automatically change between these screens throughout your session.
Review Your Swim
Find an individual activity on your Swims or Home tab, or go to the HeadCoach™ tab to see your 5-swim average, and longer term trends.
Pool, in a group or club
- Select the Pool option in your goggles by pressing the FRONT button
- Navigate by pressing the REAR button until you see Free Swim, then press the FRONT button to confirm
- You’ll see an HR test screen if applicable to you
- Select the right pool size for you, then start swimming
- When you are done, press the FRONT button to access the pause menu navigate by pressing the REAR button until you see Save & Quit and press the FRONT button to confirm
Your goggles will detect when you are swimming, turning or resting and will automatically change between these screens throughout your session.
Review Your Swim
Find an individual activity on your Swims or Home tab, or go to the HeadCoach™ tab to see your 5-swim average, and longer term trends.
Open water, goggles only
- Select Open Water on your goggles, then choose Track on Goggles
- Choose whether or not to turn ON SwimStraight™*
- As you swim, you'll see Workout Time and Heart Rate (if you have it) on the top row, SwimStraight™ in the centre of your screen, and up to three metrics at the bottom
- When you are done, press the FRONT button to access the pause menu, navigate by pressing the REAR button until you see Save & Quit and press the FRONT button to confirm
Your default metric will be Real-time Stroke rate.
Review Your Swim
Find your latest swim on your Home or Swims tab. Review your total time, stroke rate, heart rate, and calories information back in the app.
Open water, with a Garmin watch
Connect Your Watch
The list of compatible watches can be found here.
In the FORM App, go to My Goggles > Connected Devices > Garmin Watch, and follow the instructions.
- Pair Your Garmin Watch
- Connect to your Garmin Account
- Follow the steps to install the FORM Connect IQ data field
Going for Your First Swim
- Open an OWS on your Garmin watch
- Select Open Water on your goggles, choose Track on Watch
- Choose whether or not to turn ON SwimStraight™*
- As you swim, you'll see Workout Time and Heart Rate (if you have it) on the top row, SwimStraight™ in the centre of your screen, and up to three metrics at the bottom
- When you are done, end the swim on your watch
The default metrics are Distance (Workout) and Pace/100 (Workout).
Review Your Swim
Find your latest swim on your Home or Swims tab. Review your stroke rate, pace and heart rate information and see how well you did following your course when using SwimStraight™.
Open water, with an Apple Watch
Connect Your watch
In the FORM App, go to My Goggles > Connected Devices > Apple Watch, and follow the instructions.
- Pair Your Apple Watch
- Confirm the OWS Dashboard
- Follow the steps to execute the simulation on your goggles
Going for Your First Swim
- Start the FORM app on your Apple Watch
- Select Open Water on your goggles, choose, Track on Watch
- Choose whether or not to turn ON SwimStraight™*
- As you swim, you'll see Workout Time and Heart Rate (if you have it) on the top row, SwimStraight™ in the centre of your screen, and up to three metrics at the bottom
When you are done, end the swim on your Apple Watch.
Your default metrics will be Distance (Workout) and Pace/100 (Workout).
Review Your Swim
Find your latest swim on your Home or Swims tab. Review your stroke rate, pace and heart rate information and see how well you did following your course when using SwimStraight™.
Swim spa
Connect to a Partner Swim Spa
You can use FORM in any swim spa, but connecting to a partner swim spa will allow you to track distance, and track your swim spa speed while swimming.
In the FORM App, go to My Goggles > Connected Devices > Swim Spa, and find your model.
Going for Your First Swim
- Use the REAR button to navigate to the Swim Spa menu
- Select your swim spa model if you have connected a partner model, or choose Other Swim Spas
- You’ll see an HR test screen if applicable to you.
- Press the FRONT button and start swimming
- When you are done, press the FRONT button to access the pause menu, navigate by pressing the REAR button until you see Save & Quit and press the FRONT button to confirm
You will see your swim dashboard while swimming and the rest dashboard when you stop.
For more details, see How do I use Swim Spa mode?.
Review Your Swim
Find your latest swim on your Home or Swims tab. You can review stroke rate, and heart rate data for any swim spa, and pace and distance data as additional metrics if you swam with a partner model.
*Premium Features