Should you wear a smartwatch while showering? You could, provided you are aware of the various safe upkeep measures. Together with safety considerations for the smartwatch, you must also be aware of the incident risks posed on account of showering with a smartwatch on.
Understanding Potential Damage and Safety Concerns
Wearing a smartwatch while showering can expose it to moisture beyond its rated water resistance rating. This could potentially cause damage and affecting the functionality of the smartwatch.
Understanding water resistance ratings
Different smartwatch have different water resistance ratings. Understanding the limitations of the smartwatch in terms of water resistance is crucial.
Common water ratings include:
- IP67: Can withstand immersion in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.
- IP68: Designed for continuous immersion beyond 1 meter.
- ATM 5: Can withstand immersion up to 50 meters or 165 feet
- ATM 10: Can withstand immersion up to 100 meters or 330 feet
Heat and steam exposure
While many smartwatches can handle splashes, steam, and light rain, they may not remain effective under hot shower conditions.
The combination of heat and moisture can weaken seals, leading to potential damage. Users should refer to the manufacturer’s specifications and avoid activities that exceed these limits.
Additionally, exposure of smartwatch to steam could lead to condensation within the watch. You could experience it on the smartwatch screen. The condensation risks on smartwatch are real because these could cause the smartwatch to malfunction or corrode over time.
Soaps and body wash
Use of soaps, face washes, and body washes could adversely impact the screen of the smartwatch. Moreover, the materials used in smartwatch construction could be impacted due to soaps and body wash ingredients.
It may be pertinent to mention that showering could lead to water ingestion by the watch. Damages to the smartwatch due to water ingestion are not covered in standard warranty of any smartwatch.
Warranty considerations of showering
Most damages to the smartwatch during showering would cause water ingestion or water infiltration in the smartwatch. This could have an adverse impact on the internal compact unit assembly of the smartwatch.
The impact could be malfunctioning of the smartwatch.
Such water ingestion damages to the smartwatch may not be supported in your smartwatch’s standard terms of warranty. So, it may be a wise idea to understand the potential risks of water ingestion before wearing a smartwatch while showering.
Our practical and friendly suggestion is take off the smartwatch before stepping in for a shower.