The Apple Watch is water resistant, not waterproof

Tuesday’s Apple Watch announcement left out one rather important fact, whether or not the device would be waterproof like some smartwatches are. As it turns out the Apple Watch is water resistant, not waterproof. That means it’ll withstand light contact with water, but you can’t wear it in the shower.

According to Yahoo Tech, the watch will be able to withstand contact with sweat, rain, or even washing your hands, but anything more than that could be detrimental to the watch’s well being.

There are some obvious downsides to the fact that the Apple Watch is not, in fact, waterproof. For starters swimmers won’t be able to use it for recording their workouts, and taking it off for the shower means you’ll have to re-input the PIN number to authorise Apple Pay when you put it back on (if you use Apple Pay that is). A minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience none-the-less.

In all honesty, it’s actually not that big of a deal. It may be the 21st century, but very few gadgets are waterproof anyway — including all of Apple’s existing products. The fact that the Apple Watch is only water resistant is not something you’ll really need to worry about. Just remember to take it off.

Want to read more? Here’s our coverage of the recent Apple announcements, including everything you need to know about Apple’s ‘phablet’, the iPhone 6 Plus, and smartwatches buying guide, or if you’re sick of Apple completely, here’s our rundown of our 14 favourite dating apps, from Tinder to eHarmony.