Bangle 2 Is Not Waterproof!

At least that's now my opinion.

tl;dr: The touchscreen is registering false touches and drags, making it unusable. The Bluetooth connection is flaky, coming and going at random - it had been stable. Battery is discharging much more quickly than I remember, possibly due to the unstable BLE connection continually triggering the backlight.

Long story:

I took my Bangle 2 for it's first swim last night, just a few laps at my local swimming pool. I had it monitoring my pulse rate. I had done that for a 2hr walk on the weekend and lost about 10% battery. Last night before I started swimming the battery was 65%.

All seemed fine until I finished my 8th lap. I've only just recently started swimming after many years so was nearly done. On looking at my watch - it was done - a blank screen :-( There was no sign of water behind the display or in the pulse sensor. No fogging of the screen.

When I got home there was no response to the button, so I connected the charger and the watch sprang back into life! The battery showed about half full, so I left it charging for a while.

When the battery showed about 3/4 full I started trying to use it, but the touchscreen was registering false touches, so it was quite difficult to get it set up. Then it suddenly decided to reboot, and then got stuck in a reboot loop.

I eventually stopped that and decided to erase storage and reload all the apps from scratch. That took several goes, but I got there in the end. It didn't help, though.

It's difficult to tell, but it might be that the touchscreen is becoming a little less touchy. At this stage, I hope so.

Hey sorry to hear. I've had mine a week or so and have wondered. I wear a fitbit versa that doesn't seem to care about sweat and water, but I am hardly using any functions. I am also in oz and also about to get back into swimming (lol). I'll post what happens when it's been properly immersed and thrown about while swimming. Cheers John

It's an IP67 rating, which means it'll be waterproof to a degree. Personally I wouldn't go swimming with it or taking a shower with it on. Pressure from moving your arm through the water or from the shower head could easily exceed the pressure you get at 1m depth (which is the limit for IP67)...

for IP67 meaning (as per kickstarter - "IP67 Waterproof" ) see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code
6 = Dust-tight
7 = Immersion, up to 1 meter
To me that means I can drop it to bathtub by mistake or use it in rain, not to swim with it.

I guess water went in via button and maybe the reboot is caused by button being continually 'pressed'.

I believe the main problem is the hole for the barometric sensor that's located under the strap on top of the watch. Gordon has mentioned that you could basically get an IP68 equivalent seal to the watch by filling this with super glue (but you'd of course lose the use of that sensor).

This is a really sad thread. Sorry to hear about your watch. It isn't completely dead, so there might be hope once things are fully dried out.

I was doing a lot of looking about for a watch earlier this year* and the ones with IP67 ratings often specifically warn that they aren't suitable for swimming or showering (I think showers the temperature was specifically mentioned somewhere). The ones that advertise being swim suitable specify 5ATM waterproofness.

Fingers crossed for you.

*but still missed the Bangle kickstarter :(

Argh, sorry to hear this. Do you think you can leave it off charge and stick it somewhere warm for a few days to see if it dries out and starts working ok again?

As mentioned, the Bangle is IP67 water resistant but swimming (at least with it on your wrist) is out. There were some questions about this on the campaign - I even checked with the manufacturer - and I was pretty clear that swimming wasn't ok - so @user137245 please don't try it!

As @johan_m_o mentions the issue is the opening for the air pressure sensor. It does have a waterproof membrane over it, but there's only so much pressure that the membrane can put up with before water starts to get through it :(

Sorry to read this. I have a Pebble that isn't waterproof anymore. After I noticed some water in it I turned it off and let it dry for a week or so. Then I turned it on and it is working well again since then.
I wish you good luck that it is the same with your Bangle and it starts working again after it is fully dried out.

I "saved" a telephone once, that had fallen in water, putting it (shut off) with dry rice in a closed plastic bag. Waited 24H at a warm temperature. The rice looked like wet and swollen after that and the telephone started to work again.

You were lucky then.
It is usually not recommended to use rice:
https://de.ifixit.com/Wiki/Don%27t_Put_Y­our_Device_in_Rice._Here%27s_Why...

What worked was evaporation, but the corrosion will remain

Very interresting indeed ! I ll avoid the false magic of rice now, Thanks for the link and tip @user135095 !

All too late, I have now done some research and found that what watch manufacturers say about water resistance, and what you actually get are two entirely different things.

As @myownself mentioned, it seems that the general guideline for 'swimmable' watches is to look for 50m or 5atm ratings. The Bangle's 1m rating is a long way from that.

Hopefully the couple of very hot days I'm having here will sort it out, otherwise I'll be adding my name to the post-Kickstarter hopefuls.

Hi Gordon, did you try to glue that barometric hole?
Will the watch be waterproof for swimming after that?

I do not really need that barometer function and can sacrifice it to get it waterproof.

(renamed from user135095) Thanks Gordon. I did a google and saw that the fitbit is good for 50m and apparently IPX8 (?) The old pebbles copped swimming laps fine too. But I'll treat the bangle with a little more respect :-) Cheers.

Hi Gordon, did you try to glue that barometric hole?
Will the watch be waterproof for swimming after that?

I haven't personally tried it, but before they put the hole in the manufacturer quotes IP68 resistance. The only other hole to worry about is the button, and that does appear to have some waterproofing on it.

@andrewg_oz there is some hope. Please could you take the top strap off your watch, and take a picture of the very top of the watch behind the strap (there should be a hole in it) - ideally try and get some light on it and a clear shot.

Basically: The 'developer units' had a hole drilled in the top for the barometer after assembly, and there was no water resistant membrane added. The company assured me repeatedly that all of these new Bangles (for the KickStarter) had the membrane in them (the hole is much tidier and if you peer right in you can see something white), but I just happened to glance at a Bangle I had returned here and I noticed that it didn't have the membrane, and a bit more inspection of failed watches I have here shows some don't have it either so I assume they sent me some old devices to try and make up the numbers :(

If it did happen that yours doesn't have the membrane I'll send you a new one.

@Gordon Another manufacturer skipping components huh? Sucks... I have the the "something white" in there, so that feels good at least. Must say I absolutely love this watch!

Mine watch has membrane. But, I do not want to risk. I'd rather glue the hole to make it IP68.
Gordon, if you have some broken watch, could you do an experiment - glue the hole and submerge the watch somewhere to 1-2 meters for couple of hours?

@Gordon Thank you for the offer of another watch, however, mine does indeed have the white membrane in place :-(

I had left the Bangle 'baking' on top of my VDSL modem all day today - probably about 55degC. I let it cool for about ten minutes, then turned it on. It's now stuck in a reboot loop and doesn't respond to button presses. I'd say it's a lost cause :-(

While typing the above I flicked the side of the watch with my finger and it stopped rebooting. It seems the button may have been stuck on. Now I am unable to establish a Bluetooth connection. It's still probably a lost cause.

Thanks again for your offer of a watch. Save the ones you have for people who won't do stupid things with them :-)

What's the recommended way of opening up a Bangle 2? It's not obvious if it's the back that comes off or the front?

It's the front - it's a bit of a nightmare, but it's like replacing an iPhone screen - you need to heat the screen up with a hairdryer or something then carefully pull it away, which you really need to do with a suction cup.

It's not easy I'm afraid - if you can't get it off with suction you could cut a little bit of the plastic front bezel down so you can get under the LCD and lever, but then you need to be really careful about cracking it

If Anyone is gluing the barometer and then fierce enough to go swimming with the watch, tell us how it went !!

for IP67 meaning (as per kickstarter - "IP67 Waterproof" ) see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

6 = Dust-tight
7 = Immersion, up to 1 meter
To me that means I can drop it to bathtub by mistake or use it in rain, not to swim with it.

You are right. The best you can expect from IP67 is that it works after washing hands and get accidentially a wet watch, getting a bit water during rain on it or in the very best case a short drop into water.

1 meter means the pressure of 1m water column. When the water has a higher pressure (e.g. moving arms in water, water stream) it's far beyond specification.