Dear GURU Users,
 

Thank you for exploring your FREE 7‑day trial of the Swim Smooth GURU. 

Whether you're using our free forever Guidance level, or you've subscribed to the paid for Understanding or Routine options, we're thrilled to have you on board! If you're still considering an upgrade, we appreciate you exploring all that Swim Smooth has to offer.

We'd like to take this opportunity to familiarise you with making the GURU a seamless part of your swimming journey and also highlight some of the upcoming features and feedback that we're currently addressing with this game-changing technology. 

Remember, we're always here for you to answer any questions you might have:

In the News…
 

For those still undecided, here’s what some of our top partners are saying about how the GURU is helping swimmers excel:
 

• World Triathlon: “We are really proud to modernize our coach education processes through access to Swim Smooth’s patented technology.” >Read more

• British Triathlon: “The introduction of Stroke Insights℗ through Garmin and Apple Watch is a fantastic tool, enabling our athletes to refine their technique outside of traditional coaching sessions and receive high-quality feedback wherever they train.” >Discover the story

• Garmin: Featured as a must‑try Connect-IQ app, "Swimmers, this one's for you. Get advanced swim coaching to elevate your training!” >See the feature

Below is a summary of the 3 steps you should have received upon creating your Swim Smooth GURU account. We understand that not everyone received these details (our bad!), so we’ve included them here in a concise version to ensure you get started on the right foot - feel free to skip ahead to our other updates if you're already set!
 

1. Download the iPhone GURU App here

If you're on an Android phone, or prefer to use your computer, please use our responsive Web App. Personally, we use the GURU App on the fly, but use the Web App for a more detailed deep-dive into our swimming.
 

2. Connect Your Apple or Garmin Device:

🍏 Apple Watch - upon downloading the GURU App to your iPhone, this will automagically appear on your watch like this - just make sure you use our App for each swim and not the standard Apple workout App to get your Stroke Insights℗. Ensure you have allowed read/write data to the Health App on your iPhone at Settings > Privacy & Security > Health > Swim Smooth. After each swim, open the App on your iPhone to transfer the data across to the GURU. Any issues? See here.

⌚︎ Garmin - two steps for you guys: 1) connect your Garmin account before your first swim here; 2) download the Garmin GURU App to your device here - just make sure you use our App for each swim and not the standard Garmin activity App to get your Stroke Insights℗. You can check our list of compatible Garmin devices here (more on this below). Garmin does a much better job than Apple of seamlessly transferring a session from your watch to the GURU, but if you're struggling, open up the Garmin Connect App on your phone to make sure it has synced across and then re-open the GURU.

No Device? No worries! Create a manual Activity here and we'll keep a track of your progress anyway. We'll often do this if we've rocked up on deck without our watch - it happens!
 

3. Review Your Results:

After each swim, view your detailed performance data for that session in the iPhone App from the Activity tab or here on the Web App. Your Stroke Insights℗ will be visible by clicking into each Activity under the big blue “Get Stroke Insights℗” button in the App or by simply scrolling down the page on the Web App.

Explore Further
 

Over the years we’ve listened to your feedback intently to help shape what we offer you to be the best swimmer you can be. After 4 years of advocacy, Garmin’s late‑2024 firmware update finally enabled the sensor data required for our patented Stroke Insights℗, something that's been available to our Apple Watch users since December 2020.

However, it wasn't simply a case of using the native Garmin swimming App and extracting this data, as the native App does not save this information to your FIT files. Instead, like with Apple, we had to build our own Garmin swimming App to make it work. In the 2+ months since release, our development team has been hard at work and has already issued over a dozen updates based on your feedback and will continue to improve this as we go.

We must stress though, that not everything is within our control.

Although Garmin's documentation indicated that over 100 devices were theoretically compatible with our algorithm based on their sensors, real-world usage has revealed inconsistencies with older models—specifically the Forerunner 745 & 945 and the Fenix 5 & 6. These models were released before our algorithm was developed, and their backward compatibility has proven unreliable. In essence, it was like expecting a CD to play in a tape cassette player. Given the information available to us, we remained hopeful, but fully testing 100+ devices across every scenario—especially those no longer available for purchase—was simply impractical. We sincerely apologise if you have one of these older devices and have found them to be spurious in their feedback.

To ensure you receive accurate, reliable data, we have made the difficult decision to revoke Stroke Insights℗ support on these devices. 

If you continue using them, keeping your Garmin Connect account linked to the GURU will still import all your other swim data for analysis and provide you access to all our other cool features to help you improve. You'll just need to use the native Garmin App in this regard.

We have a list of recommended Garmin devices here if you were in the market for an upgrade - with our favourites being the Venu 3S (nice and small) and the Forerunner 965 (very capable). In the interest of transparency, it should be noted that we do receive a very small affiliate kick-back from these links, so if you can find them cheaper elsewhere, feel free to knock yourself out. Using our links does however support the development of this technology.

To ensure optimum performance, please confirm that your Garmin GURU App is up to date by visiting Garmin Support and enabling the Auto Update toggle within the Garmin Connect App.

Based on some of the above, and heeding the features many of you are requesting, we reached out to Garmin to see if we could essentially merge our App with theirs. This would give you the experience you're used to with the Garmin swim App, with the benefit of our deeper analysis of your swimming. This isn't a possibility at this time sadly, and neither is it with Apple. 

Instead, the following are a list of roadmap items that we have for both Garmin and Apple Watch experiences within the GURU:

Feel free to share more ideas here - we are a small but passionate team and will do our best to ‘triage’ your requested features.

Want to help even more? You know what, the biggest help you can offer right now is to give a favourable Garmin review here or an Apple review here. We hate asking, but it really does help!

Whilst we wish building a groundbreaking swimming App was a walk in the park, we are also aware that no matter how hard we try, there's always going to be something that's not quite right as we evolve and grow it. The following are a list of known issues and how we're dealing with them:
 

Notice anything else? 

We appreciate your support and remain committed to helping you maximize your swim training with the GURU. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out.

Warm regards,