Smart swimwear sends warning if swimmer has been under water for too long

Voted the best new product at the International Pool, Spa, and Patio Expo, iSwimband is a smart device that anyone who (a) has a young child and (b) plans on being near the water at some point this summer, should really consider purchasing.

Referred to as a wearable “appcessory,” iSwimband will alert the parent / guardian via a Bluetooth-enabled phone or tablet when the swimmer sporting the band has been under water beyond a preset time limit. 

It can also be set to send out a notification if a nonswimmer (e.g., toddler, elderly family member) enters the water. 

The company that makes the device, Aquatic Safety Concepts, was founded by three fathers after one of their children’s classmates drowned at a town park. The 9-year-old child was believed to have been submerged a full five minutes before his body was found, a tragedy made all the more painful by the fact that there were several lifeguards on deck, along with day camp counselors and parents, all of whom were unaware of the drowned child.

The fathers’ goal in creating iSwimband is to reduce, if not completely eliminate, incidence of preventable drownings. 

iSwimband took eight years to create, with the fathers meeting with leading aquatic safety professionals and engineers. During this time, an earlier version of the iSwimband called the Wahooo Swim Monitor System was created by the group. Described as a “highly sophisticated microcomputer,” the system was designed for open aquatic recreational centers. It is able to measure time of submersion to 1/1000th of a second and generates two types of alerts for the staff: the first is a yellow note when a swimmer is submerged for a preset amount of time; when the swimmers stays underwater for an additional period of time, an urgent red alert lets staff know that a drowning might begin any moment. 

The point of the Wahooo Swim Monitor System is to alert staff of a possible drowning, rather than indicate a drowning is already taking place. 

With the proliferation of Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, the group recognized the opportunity to bring the Wahooo Swim Monitor into people’s homes and create a personal drowning detection system for parents and caregivers. 

The result of their efforts was the iSwimband. 

In terms of monitoring capabilities, iSwimband packs the same detection strength as the Wahooo Swim Monitor. A single device, whether it’s a smartphone or tablet, can watch up to 8 iSwimbands at once, and all at a distance of up to 100 feet away (depending on environmental conditions). 

The iSwimband app is free to download, and setup take a few minutes. 

The band itself retails for $99.99.

Learn more about the product, or purchase it, via iswimband.com