One of the headline features of the Apple Watch Series 2 is the fact you can wear it in water, up to 50 meters deep, with no ill effects.
However, just because there's a fancy water rating attached to your watch, that doesn't mean you don't have to do some maintenance after getting it wet.
In fact, there's even a step you should take before going near water to ensure it doesn't succumb to the wet stuff.
Water Lock, not waterlogged
Before hopping in the shower or going for a swim, you need to enable Water Lock. There are two methods for doing so:
- Swipe up from the bottom of your watch face and tap on the raindrop icon
- Start a water-based activity in the Workout app
Doing so will lock the touchscreen on your watch. Locking the display may seem odd, but water running across the display only confuses its touch sensors, resulting in a watch that appears to have lost its mind. By locking it you ensure your watch won't accidentally send messages or call your mom while you're in the shower.
Unlocking your watch
After a dip in the pool, you can unlock the watch and clear the speaker of any water by turning the Digital Crown for a few seconds.
A water icon will show up on the display as you turn the dial and once it's full the watch will unlock, followed by playing a strange-sounding series of beeps and noises. The vibration from those noises, in not so elegant terms, spits the water out of the speaker.
If you look close enough, you can actually see water being shot out of the speaker. It's crazy.
Waterlogged 'cause you forgot to Water Lock
If you unexpectedly get your watch wet and didn't have a chance to enable Water Lock, don't panic. Enable Water Lock through control center as soon as possible, and then unlock your watch. Doing so will force the watch to clear out any water inside the speaker. Repeat it a few times until you're confident you have expelled all water.
One last note: Apple recommends running your watch under warm tap water after swimming in the ocean or a pool in order to remove salt or chlorine. Of course, before doing so, make sure you've enabled Water Lock.
Editors' note: An earlier version of this article stated the Water Lock feature closed the speaker port. This is not correct, and the article has been updated.
