Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 diving subscription details: What you’ll pay

Samsung just got done showing off all its new summer hardware at Unpacked in London, including the wide new Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8. More than that, though, we also got to meet Samsung’s latest wearables, with the launch of the Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2. The Ultra 2 in particular is packed with some serious features, and beyond the big hardware upgrades, it’s also got a nice set of software exclusives — including an upcoming Diving app from Mares. Ahead of that getting here, we’ve got some important details to share on how you’ll use it.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 offers some heavy-duty water resistance, boasting an IP69K rating and the ability to withstand 10 atmospheres of pressure. That kind of protection makes the watch suitable for diving, and to capitalize on the hardware, Samsung announced a partnership with diving brand Mares to bring an exclusive Diving app to the Ultra 2 — well, exclusive across the Wear OS platform, anyway.

That app’s set to arrive sometime later this year, and during its Unpacked livestream earlier today, Samsung highlighted a few of the advanced diving features users can expect, rivaling what you’d see in a stand-alone dive computer. But Samsung also revealed that in order to take full advantage of the Diving app, users would need a Mares subscription. What exactly is that going to cost?

Well, we haven’t seen Samsung share these details just yet, but according to tipster Dylan H, we’re looking at three service tiers.

First there’s the free timer mode, offering the following:

• Depth
• Dive time
• Ascent rate alarm

Then we’d have a paid snorkel mode tier:

• Snorkel session timer
• Individual dive info including depth and time GPS tracking including distance and route
• Map
• Compass
• Stopwatch
• Temperature
• Heart rate

And finally, the luxe option — scuba mode:

• Air
• Nitrox single 21%-50%
• Nitrox multigas up to 3 gases
• Choice of algorithms to calculate decompression requirements
• Depth
• Dive time
• Decompression information
• Safety stop
• Several diving related alarms
• Stopwatch
• Compass
• Temperature
• Heart rate

As for pricing, we’re told the snorkel mode will run Ultra 2 owners $2.99/month, while the full scuba mode would be available for $7.99/month or an annual $59.99/year plan.

For what it’s worth, Mares already has an app for iOS (and Apple’s own Ultra smartwatch), and over there monthly access is $8.99, while the annual subscription goes for $69.99 (or $119.99 for a whole family of divers). That makes us a little curious if we might see an adjustment prior to the Ultra 2’s app arriving — for now, we’ll just have to wait for it to actually get here.