Set up FreeDive Ultra on
Apple Watch Ultra
Ten minutes, once. Install, the three watch permissions, Watch Setup on iPhone, Auto Launch and the Action Button, then your first session.
One install, two apps
Install FreeDive Ultra on your iPhone from the App Store. The watch app follows on its own. If it has not appeared on the watch after a minute, open the Watch app on iPhone, scroll to Available Apps and tap Install next to FreeDive Ultra.
Three permissions, in this order
Open FreeDive Ultra on the watch. After one explainer it asks for three permissions. Each has a job, and each can be checked later in the app under Settings, then Permissions.
Motion & Fitness
Depth and water temperature arrive through it. Without it, no dive is ever detected.
Health
Heart rate and calories, and the session recorded as a workout in Apple Fitness.
Location
Your route, saved pins and dive spot navigation.
Watch Setup, seven pages
Open the iPhone app. The first run walks you through the safety waiver and then Watch Setup: how the app works, a tour of every watch screen, which screens you want and in what order, your default mode, stealth mode, units, and a look at the alarms. Every screen you are choosing between is demonstrated on the features page. Page two offers a free account, which backs up your sessions and settings. Everything you choose is sent to the watch.
You can run it again any time from Settings, then Watch Setup. If you train in a pool, the pool freediving guide covers the three pool settings, and the dry apnea guide covers its two.
Not in Watch Setup, but in Settings when you want them: Crown sensitivity and the inactivity timeout under Open Water; HealthKit and notifications under General. Dive Spots and Live Share are shown on the features page.
Switch on the alarms you want
The eight alarms are off by default, apart from low battery. They live in Settings, then Open Water, then Alarms, on the iPhone or on the watch, and the two stay in sync. A new diver switches on three first: surface interval, so you rest long enough between dives; dive time, so a long dive gets a tap; and session time, so you know when to get out. Each one is a triple tap you feel through a wetsuit and an amber pulse around the screen.
Two settings that start a session for you
Auto Launch
On the watch: Settings, General, Auto-Launch. Set App to FreeDive, then under Threshold When Submerged pick At 1M for open water, which ignores a splash, or Immediately for a pool, where a length may never reach a metre. From then on the watch opens the app and starts the session the moment you go under.
Action Button
On the watch: Settings, Action Button, Choose Action, Dive, then App, FreeDive. The same setting is in the Watch app on iPhone. A press starts a session from the wrist. During a session it works the screen you are on: next dive spot, a route marker, a compass heading lock, the pool stopwatch and distance save.
Get in
The watch below walks through a session on its own. Turn the Crown on it to step through yourself.
What new users ask
The watch app is not on my watch.
Open the Watch app on iPhone, scroll to Available Apps and tap Install next to FreeDive Ultra. It needs watchOS 10 or later. With Automatic App Install switched on in the same app, it installs on its own next time.
I declined a permission by mistake.
Open FreeDive Ultra on the watch, then Settings, then Permissions. Each of Motion, Health, Location and Auto Launch shows whether it is granted, and the fix for a declined one is in the watch Settings app under Privacy & Security.
Dives are not being detected.
Two things to check. Motion & Fitness must be granted, because the depth readings arrive through it. And if you rely on Auto Launch, the threshold in the watch's Auto-Launch setting must be At 1M for open water, or Immediately for a pool.
Where are the alarms?
Settings, then Open Water, then Alarms, on either device. All eight are off by default apart from low battery.
Do I need my iPhone with me?
No. The watch records the whole session on its own and syncs to the iPhone when the two are back in range. Only Live Share needs the iPhone nearby and online.
Which Apple Watch does it work on?
Every Apple Watch Ultra: the original, Ultra 2, Ultra 3 and Ultra 4. FreeDive Ultra runs on the depth sensor, and only the Ultra has one.
Ten minutes, once
Free to download. Ten minutes and the watch runs every session from here.