PSA: Whatever you do, don't take your smartwatch into the ocean

Water-resistance ratings on smartwatches aren't a con by any means, but they're not something you should rely upon as an absolute truth. This is something one Galaxy Watch owner recently found out the hard way, after he took his smartwatch for a swim into the ocean, and came back out with a bricked smartwatch.

Thankfully, he was able to get it working again, but it highlights an uncomfortable truth: Don't take even supposedly "water-proof" smartwatches into the ocean.

Salt water is pretty terrible for almost everything

Spongebob Squarepants may live in a pineapple under the sea, but your smartwatch probably can't survive at all if it goes for a salty dip. Reddit user Mangoed discovered this recently, after taking his Galaxy Watch 5 Pro for a seaside swim (via Android Authority). According to his original post, the watch was fine before going in, but died partway through the exercise.

The damage appeared to be pretty catastrophic, with a video attached to the post showing the watch failing to boot up properly when attached to a charger.

Sympathetic commenters were quick to call Mangoed a buffoon and other supportive language, but one person did recommend taking the watch apart and cleaning out any potential salt deposits. Which is exactly what Mangoed went on to do.

A follow-up post shows the results of his post-mortem teardown, with salt deposits clearly having made their way into the device. A large amount of isopropyl alcohol later, and the watch appears to be as good as new, booting up just fine when attached to a charger. According to the post, the holes for the microphone and pressure sensor seemed to be the ingress points for the salt water, judging by the placement of the internal salt build-up.

It's a happy ending after all — but this wasn't guaranteed. Even though the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro has a water-proof rating of 5ATM, it's still never recommended taking them into water, especially chlorinated or salty water.

While most smartwatches have a water-resistance rating that should mean they can handle pool or seawater, the testing for devices is always done in clean, still water, and the presence of chlorine and salt does change the game significantly.

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As always with any device with a "water-proof" rating, use it as an insurance policy, rather than an opportunity. No device is truly water-proof, not with plugs and significant sealing, and there's always a risk taking any device into water.