Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 not tracking swimming

[Pirchy13]

Hi! 

It's less than a week since I got my new watch. I was really excited about, however was disappointed on my first swim. I tested it for swimming in the sea 3 times and it failed me every time. For this price level, this is really unacceptable.

Unfortunately, it tracks only time, heart rate, and calories. It does not measure distance, it doesn't calculate speed (pace), and it doesn't display the path on the map. I have the location turned on and also a swim lock screen.

Is there any setting I need to tweak to get this working or is that a fault in my watch? I'd really appreciate a prompt response so that I can return the watch if needed within the 14-day period of purchase. Thanks

[Jus_asc-in]

Samsung any updates here? Would really like to get one. Long time owner of Galaxy phones switched to Pixel. Tired of low quality swim stats from Fitbit. Give me a reason to switch back. Like with all of our Samsung appliances. Looks like I will be going a different route for cyber Monday.

[Marty313]

I tested out quite a few smartwatches when swimming approximately 1.1 km in a 50 m pool. Apparently I am not proficient enough yet - not even the Garmin Swim 2 was correct. The Suunto 7 came close. However, the Galaxy Watch 4 is light, and it tracks time and heart rate correctly. 

[Promethee47]

I just bought the Watch 4 and I can relate : the swimming pool tracking is really bad and "forgot" 90% of the moves + the distance. I'm wondering if this is related to the watch or to the samsung health app, did someone tried the Google Fit application? 

I'm really disappointed by that bad performance to be honest...

[kel1kek]

Late to this party. I love my Samsung TVs, Phones and Watch 4.  But the Galaxy Watch 4 is  useless for swimming.

My friend had the Fit Pro 2, a long ago precursor to this watch. She did an event where she same the entire Olympic program, 1500 Free, 800, 400, 200,  100, 50 Free, 100 and 200 of each stroke, and 200 and 400 IM. In all the it was only got one 50m lap wrong. Distance and stroke and time was 99% accurate. 

The Galaxy Watch 4? Not so much!  It doesn't get any strokes right and thinks my Freestyle is butterfly! Distance is never correct for pool and it does not record laps when you do kick or drills. 

And open water recording it is just totally useless. It records cycling, running, hiking and walking very well. For swimming things are tricky for many gadgets as it can only gain a signal when it's above water. But the Galaxy Watch 4 is so far off it just is really useless compared to most others. I love the watch and I'd not expect it to be perfect, but as an open water swimmer it is a huge disappointment. 

The only way I get even a semblance of a gps track in is when I set it to one of the other gps sports and then set the water lock on. This link below  is my swim this morning; I put it on "Running Coach" mode  and set the water lock. I swam about 1700 meters in 4  laps, and this is the result!  Trust me though, it's better than if I set it on the open water swimming setting ! https://www.strava.com/activities/7513388963 

[Marty313]

I, too, complained about poor open water swim tracking accuracy previously. I tested it in our local outdoor pool in Bergen (which also has a fenced off area in the sea) and the results were not good:

The last two weeks I swam in a lake in Telemark and the accuracy was EXCELLENT.

Example 1: Yesterday I swam a round of 800 m. There is a rock in the SW corner that is not clear on the satellite picture that I circumnavigated. So the tracking is perfect.

Example 2:

Today I crossed the lake. I did not quite swim straight; the recorded distance matches the distance in the topographic map app (Norgeskart).

My only complaint: The heart rate is unrealistically high. When I swim at my long distance pace, it is usually under 135 (as measured with Form goggles - formswim.com - paired with a Polar OH10 sensor).

Also, the watch GPS needs to have a fix before you start swimming. I give the watch time, and then I start swimming at 60 s.

 

 

[JAA72]

Things haven't improved with the 5 pro watch either. Tracking route for walking, cycling etc excellent but open water swimming in lake only recording first 100 - 200m then location fails. Recording time OK but not distance. Can't even edit in fit app to give some sort of accuracy.

[Marossala]

Yeah, I am also really dissapointed with swimming on my watch 4, It doesnt track distance (this is my main goal I wanna know), no matter which settings I used, or which app I used (strava swim24 samsung health), nothing cant track my swim. The problem is in watch GPS, but they could also make it without gps (like the steps and distance is calculated). I dont understand why are they proming swimming like a feature in watch when it doesnt work at all. They shouldnt even put it in the samsung healt app with this approach.