How to use inDepth Dry

Before your first session

1. Install it. Use the inDepth desktop installer over USB (install help and troubleshooting). It runs on the same 16 Garmin models as inDepth Pool: the Fenix 5 Plus, Fenix 7 and Fenix 8 families, Descent Mk2 / Mk2S, Descent Mk3i and the Descent G2. The plain Fenix 5, 5S and 5X are not supported. There isn't enough memory on them for it.
2. Set your max static. On a brand-new watch, Home says Set your max static, because almost every session is worked out as a percentage of it. Press START and pick one:
   • Measure it now runs a Max Static: a 2:00 breathe-up, then one hold for as long as you can.
   • Enter by hand if you already know your number. Pick minutes, then seconds, from 0:05 to 9:55. A typed-in number counts as a first guess: the first real Max Static you do replaces it, even if it comes in shorter.
3. Pick your heart-rate setting. Hold MENU on Home for Settings, then Heart rate: On (the default, shown on screen and saved), Record only (saved but not shown) or Off (nothing saved). Set it before you start. It can't be changed mid-session.

The four built-in sessions

Every session starts with a 2:00 breathe-up. The percentages are of your own max static.

A shorter hold never lowers your best. A bad day shouldn't shrink every table after it. Only a longer Max Static moves it (or the first real one, if you typed your number in).

A session, start to finish

1. Pick a session. START (or DOWN) on Home opens the exercise list. Each row has a second line telling you its shape, like 8 holds, rests shrink. Safety notes is always the last row, if you want to read the safety card again.
2. Check the numbers. The exercise card shows your best and a rough time for the whole session (PB 3:05 · ~16 min), plus one line in real seconds: how many holds, how long each one runs, and the rests. Press START for a small menu with Start and Change (on most watches it's already open). Change takes you back to the list.
3. Read the safety card, once. The first time, the watch asks you to sit or lie down and never do this in the water. START acknowledges it. You won't see it again on that watch, so if you share a watch, only the first person ever sees it.
4. Breathe up. The countdown shows what's next (then Hold 1 of 8). BACK skips it if you're ready sooner.
5. Hold. A hold with a target counts down with a ring around the screen. A Max Static counts up with no ring, because there's nothing to count down to. Press BACK the moment you feel your first contraction, and the time is saved against that hold.
6. Rest, and repeat. BACK skips a rest, too. The watch gives a short buzz at 3, 2 and 1 seconds before a timed phase ends, and a double buzz on the change. There are no beeps, ever.
7. Finish. The summary comes up by itself when the last phase ends. It tells you if the session saved (SESSION SAVED, NOTHING TO SAVE if you stopped before the first hold, or NOT SAVED), then your total time, holds done and your contractions. Press START for Done or Details, a table with every hold, its time and when your first contraction came. BACK takes you home.

The buttons

During a session, BACK marks or skips and START opens the menu. A short curved line next to BACK tells you what it does right now: contraction in a hold, or skip in a breathe-up or rest.

BACK doesn't end a hold. The menu does. In a normal hold the session menu offers Stop hold, Skip phase and End session. In a Max Static it only offers Stop & end session, which saves the hold in full.

Until the phone app has synced with the watch at least once, Home shows UP · get the app. Press UP for a QR code that takes you to the inDepth phone app. START still works as usual, and the hint goes away by itself once you sync.

If you feel unwell

When you choose Stop hold, the watch asks why: Contractions, Light-headed or Panic. Contractions ends just that hold, and the session carries on. Light-headed or Panic ends the whole session right there.

After that, the watch won't start another session until you answer it. Press START and you'll see TRAINING PAUSED with what you reported and when. For panic, the answer is I'm OK to train. For light-headedness it's A pro cleared me. That's your word, not a medical check, and it never expires by itself. Your history isn't touched: the session still saves and still syncs. A Max Static that ended this way never counts toward your best.

Settings

Hold MENU on Home. There are four rows:

• Heart rate: On, Record only or Off (see above). With it on or on Record only, you get each hold's average and max, plus a full trace of the whole session, rests included.
• Reset to Factory Settings: erases your max static, your settings, the safety card acknowledgment and every session that hasn't synced yet. It asks first. Sync before you reset.
• Get the mobile app: a QR code for the phone app, with the address (in-depth.app/mobile) printed under it.
• About: the app version, handy if you ever need to report something.

Syncing to your phone

The watch keeps your last 10 sessions and hands them to inDepth Apnea Sync on the next sync. A session only leaves the watch once the phone has confirmed it saved it, so a failed sync costs you nothing. Heart-rate traces come across in their own step after the sessions.

If something looks wrong

A row says "Do a Max Static first"

That session is a percentage of your max static, and the watch doesn't have one yet. Do a Max Static, or type your number in from Home, and the row opens.

My phone won't pull the session

A Garmin watch only runs one Connect IQ app at a time, so inDepth Dry has to be open on the watch when you sync. Also, update the watch app and the phone app together. Dry sync stops if the two versions don't match, and the phone tells you which side needs updating.

My session isn't in Garmin Connect

That's expected. inDepth Dry doesn't record a Garmin activity or write a FIT file, so dry training doesn't show up in Garmin Connect or count toward Garmin's training load. Your sessions live in the inDepth phone app instead.

The watch won't start a session

You probably reported feeling light-headed or panicked last time. Press START on Home to see the paused card and answer it (see If you feel unwell above).

Older sessions have disappeared

The watch keeps your 10 most recent sessions and drops the oldest one when a new one is saved. Anything you've synced to the phone stays there for good.

"This build has expired"

Sideloaded Connect IQ apps expire 180 days after they were built. Install a newer build from /install before then.