Fitness trackers have become a popular accessory in recent years and the boom isn't slowing down with an expected 7.1 million UK users by 2024.
This wearable tech can monitor a range of health-related metrics including your sleep, distance travelled, steps, active minutes, calories burned and even your heart rate, great for keeping you on top of your fitness regime.
But if you’re an avid swimmer, or just want to jump in the shower without worrying about taking your tracker off, you’ll need one designed for being submerged in water.
Just being waterproof won’t cut the mustard, but our list of swimming fitness trackers will.
What are the different types of swimming fitness tracker?
Fitness bands
A fitness band will focus on tracking health and fitness activity as a priority, making it a fantastic accessory for your exercise routine. It can measure day-to-day activity as well as supporting and monitoring particular sports. We've made sure all the fitness bands in our list can track swim activity and withstand being submerged underwater.
Most fitness bands are designed with smaller screens as watches or wristbands, though you can get clip-on versions too. Practicality wise this isn't best for moving through water so we've exclusively chosen ones that will fit on your wrist and track your front crawl seamlessly.
Smart watches
Smart watches can have fitness features but, like miniature smartphones on your wrist, they include extra features to stay connected via call, social and message. As a result, they're often more stylish and attractive to wear with a larger screen for increased capability.
We've chosen smart swimming watches that are durable and not only have all the fitness and smart features but swim orientated features too.
Smart goggles
If you're looking for a tracker for swimming and swimming alone, this is the one for you. Smart goggles are designed like your traditional swim goggles but will display your metrics in front of you over one of the lenses. This is a great alternative if you want to stay focused looking ahead, are trying to beat your personal best, or won't find practicality in the day-to-day usage of a band or watch.
All of these options connect to apps on Android and iOS so you can track your performance, set goals and customise your display.
We’ve listed a mix of these below with a range of price points so you can track your swim no matter your budget!
11 of the best swimming fitness trackers
Just so you know, while we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections. Why trust us?
11 of the best swimming fitness trackers
1 of 11HONOR Band 5
Specs:• Automatically detect swimming activity• Tracks swim speed, distance covered, calories and SWOLF score (swimming efficiency)• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep and oxygen level monitoring• Water-resistant to 50m depth• Includes incoming call and message notifications• Multi-sport mode for other exercises• Available in black, green and pink
2 of 11HUAWEI Band 4 Pro
Specs:• Automatically detect swimming activity• Tracks swim speed, distance, laps, active calories burned, stroke count, stroke type and SWOLF score• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep and oxygen level monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• Multi-sport mode for exercises• Available in black, amber and pink
3 of 11Samsung Galaxy Fit 2
Specs:• Compact style• Tracks your time, heart rate, calories burned, and more• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep and stress monitoring• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• Dedicated modes for running, cycling, pool swimming and a general outdoor workout mode
4 of 11Garmin Vivosport
Specs:• Compact style• Tracks your time, heart rate, calories burned, and more• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep, stress and VO2 level monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• Multi-sport mode for exercises
5 of 11Fitbit Inspire
Specs:• Compact style• Tracks your time, heart rate, calories burned, and more including your swim• 24-hour real-time heart rate and sleep monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• 15 exercise modes• Available in black, white and lilac
6 of 11FORM Smart Swim Goggles
Specs:• See-through smart display• Pool swim mode: records and displays 12 customisable metrics, including split times, stroke rate/count, pace per 100, distance, calories, heart rate, and more• Open water swim mode: real-time GPS distance, pace, heart rate, timer and more.• Water-resistant to 10m depth• Premium goggle design with adjustable sizes and anti-fog
£159.00
7 of 11Fitbit Versa 3
Specs:• Tracks your time, heart rate, calories burned, and more including your swim lap time and distance• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep and oxygen level monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• 20 exercise modes including swim• Available in black, midnight blue and pink
8 of 11Garmin Swim 2
Specs:• Pool swim mode: Record your distance, pace, stroke count, stroke type and SWOLF• Open-water swim mode: Record distance, pace, stroke count, SWOLF, stroke rate, as well as stroke distance.• 24-hour real-time heart rate and stress monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• Other multi-sport modes
9 of 11Suunto 5
Specs:• Tracks pool swim and open-water swim pace and distance, swimming time by pool length, lap, total, stroke rate, type, intervals and SWOLF• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep and stress monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• Multi-sports mode• Robust, durable design• 3 adaptive training plan settings• Available in black, white and burgundy
10 of 11Garmin Forerunner 245
Specs:• Pool swim profile to track swim pace and distance, swimming time by pool length, lap, total, stroke rate, type, intervals and SWOLF• Underwater heart-rate monitoring enabled• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep, stress, VO2 max and oxygen absorption monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• View smartphone messages & notifications• Multi-sport modes• Safety tracking features including incident detection
11 of 11Apple Watch SE
Specs:• Large Retina OLED display• Track splits and sets in the pool or map a route in open water• 24-hour real-time heart rate, sleep and stress monitoring• Built-in GPS• Water-resistant to 50m depth• Advanced smartphone features including calendar, messages & notifications, camera, weather and reminders• Multi-sport modes• Compass, emergency SOS and fall detection• Only compatible with iOS• Apple Fitness+ free for 3 months• Available in black, white and pink
What are the benefits of using a swimming fitness tracker?
While a swimming tracker can’t immediately make you fitter (we wish!), it can certainly help you reap the benefits.
• Boost your motivation with visual accomplishments
• Stay accountable to your goals by tracking your swims
• Beat your personal best or perfect your lap times with a visual progress monitor
• Set goals to reach, no matter how small
• Track your distance and time without having to keep count yourself