There are four possible errors you may see in your goggles display during an open water swim with a smartwatch. 

In all cases, the data will continue to be recorded on your watch. The timer will continue to count in the goggles during this time. The display will refresh completely and show the latest metrics the next time the goggles are able to connect to the watch. 

Error one: “watch disconnected”

This means that the connection between the goggles and the smartwatch has been lost. Continue swimming normally to allow them to reconnect. If you are resting, try raising your arm out of the water to allow the connection to take place. 

When reconnected, all the displayed metrics and timer will update to the current state on the watch. 

Error two: “no GPS signal” 

This means that the smartwatch has lost GPS signal. Try holding your arm out of the water to reconnect. If you are using an Apple Watch, try to wait for a stronger GPS signal before starting your swim so that the connection is more easily maintained. 

Here are some tips on improving the strength of the GPS signal for your watch:

• Allow for GPS soak, this means to wait for an additional two minutes, or more, after the watch indicates it has a GPS signal.
• Swim with a stroke where the wrist comes out of the water, such as freestyle
• Avoid strokes like breaststroke and swimming underwater
• If you stop swimming, keep the watch above the surface of the water
• Try not to hold the watch underwater for more than 3-5 seconds
• If you're wearing a wetsuit, wear the watch outside of the wetsuit

Error three: “no HR signal”

This means that there is no heart rate reading coming from the watch, or that the reading is old. If possible, try tightening the watch strap.  

Please note that the accuracy of optical heart rate measured from the wrist in open water swimming varies from athlete to athlete.

Error four: “lift wrist high”

This means that the smartwatch is losing GPS signal. Try holding your arm out of the water to reconnect. If you are using an Apple Watch, try to wait for a stronger GPS signal before starting your swim so that the connection is more easily maintained.