Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and its Classic version offer a Water Lock mode that solves ghost input issues while swimming and also prevents liquid damage.
Samsung ships the Galaxy Watch 4 duo with a Water Lock mode that allows users to take their watch for a swim, but it does more than what the name suggests. Before diving into the dos and don’ts here, it’s worth understanding the smartwatch’s resistance levels at liquid exposure. Samsung says most of its wrist-worn wearable devices can survive under five feet of water for up to 30 minutes.
However, the Galaxy Watch 4 and its Classic sibling come with a water resistance rating of 50 meters under the ISO standard 22810:2020, something Samsung markets as 5ATM of pressure. Coming to ingress protection, the Galaxy Watch 4 duo offers IP68 standard protection against dust and water. But some safety practices still need to be kept in mind.
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One of them is the Water Lock mode. The key purpose of this feature is to prevent accidental touch on the screen by disabling the touch sensitivity altogether. Ideally, users should enable this mode before jumping into the pool, taking a shower, or embarking on a sweaty workout session. To activate, just follow this path on the Galaxy Watch 4: Settings > Advanced features > Water lock. Once the water lock toggle is enabled, it also disables the lift-to-wake gesture, which usually turns on the display when the person wearing the watch lifts their wrist. Moreover, the always-on display mode is also deactivated.
It Does More, But Stay Vigilant
But there’s more to the Water Lock mode than meets the eye. Once the feature is disabled after long-pressing the power button, it automatically activates a water eject mode. This one plays a beeping sound out of the built-in speaker to ensure that the vibrations push out any water lodged in the cavity. Apple already offers this feature under the same name for its smartwatches. And finally, users are asked to shake the Galaxy Watch 4 to ensure that any remnant liquid is knocked off the smartwatch’s surface and crevices. Water Lock is a neat feature, but there are still a few safety measures that users need to be aware of.
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Samsung advises users to dry the Galaxy Watch 4 with a piece of soft fabric after liquid exposure. Just like Apple, Samsung also warns users against wearing it while scuba diving or engaging in any activity where high-pressure, high-velocity water movement is involved. High pressure can take a toll on the ingress protection, while saltwater can lead to chemical damage over time, so that’s also worth keeping in mind. Samsung claims that the Galaxy Watch 4 and its Classic variant have “passed military specification (MIL-STD-810G) testing” and that they can withstand drops from up to 4.9 feet. However, such events can still impact the wearable’s water resistance over time.
