Best Smart Swim Goggles — 2026 Buyer Guide

To be perfectly honest, swimming is the type of physical activity I haven’t been particularly fascinated with like sleep, step counting or HRV. The Oura ring that I’m wearing doesn’t really care about what I do in the pool. Also, whenever I’ve attempted to manually count laps, I lost track by lap 4 or 5. So when it comes to researching smart swim goggles, I haven’t been trying to find something that will help me beat someone in a competition but I was curious if this type of technology solves an actual problem or if it’s something that just adds another device with a screen.

Turns out, it’s solving a pretty specific and annoying problem. If you swim regularly, you know the drill. You push off the wall, you’re in your rhythm, and then your brain starts doing math. You turn around and try to see the pace clock or stop and look at your watch, breaking your rhythm.

Here’s what I found on which one makes sense depending on how seriously you swim.

What Are Smart Swim Goggles and What They Actually Do

In essence, these are nothing but regular swim goggles, with an integrated display in the lens and sensors that keep tabs on your performance in the water. This particular display operates under Augmented Reality technology, meaning that the numbers will look like they are floating in front of you, without blocking the view of either the lane line or the wall. And the sensors will detect your strokes, turns, pace and translate them into real time numbers.

The most common metrics include pace in 100m, split time, distance, strokes and strokes per minute. But some also measure your heart rate, taken from your temple. At least that is what some companies say, adding that this way of measuring heart rate is more reliable than the wrist tracker in water. The same way Temple is built to measure metrics from your temple.

None of this will actually make you swim faster, but it will give you the same information that your coach would yell at you, except you can see it constantly and it’s private.

Quick Comparison

Best Overall Smart Swim Glasses: Form Smart Swim 2 and Smart Swim 2 Pro

It is Form whose brand name gets mentioned almost anytime people talk about smart swim glasses. These guys released the first ever Heads Up Display for their swim goggles in 2019 and now have the Smart Swim 2.

It displays such parameters as time, distance, pace, stroke rate and count, calories burnt and heart rate from the sensor at the temple of the swimmer. The most important feature that caught my eye was the high quality tracking. The reason why there’s no problem of overestimating laps with Form is the fact that the brand has made its tracking sensors specifically for swimming.

The Smart Swim 2 is priced at $199. The basic functionality is included is that you get the display, data display and integration with Apple Health, Strava, TrainingPeaks and other similar services, but the guided workouts, the HeadCoach technique feedback, script, training plans and integration with TrainingPeaks and TriDot come with a premium subscription at $9.99 per month after a trial month. The battery capacity is up to 14 hours per charge which is enough for several weeks of use for most people.

It also pairs with Apple Watch or Garmin in Open Water mode to display GPS data.

There is also Pro model available at $259 which is for people who can’t stand having foggy lenses. There is Corning Gorilla Glass that makes lenses more resistant and there is also the antifog solution included. With this you can have clear glasses during up to 140 swims. The Smart Swim 2 LT is another variant which does not include heart rate tracking and is priced at $149.

Pros:

• Excellent tracking accuracy, no extra laps
• Heart rate from the temple, no separate device needed
• A lot of guided workouts with the Premium version
• Approved for use in races by World Triathlon, USA Triathlon and others
• Good battery capacity

Cons:

• Higher price than regular swim goggles
• Advanced coaching features require additional payment
• Can’t purchase only the goggle replacement when the strap or the lens breaks

Holoswim 2 Pro Smart Swim Goggles

Most smart goggles on the market create their products for average users without even taking into account that some people need special vision correction. Holoswim 2 Pro offers prescription lenses directly while placing the order starting from -3.00 to -8.00 diopters, allowing you to choose the necessary correction during the purchase. If you were hesitating about choosing one of these products as you didn’t consider your possibilities to use it because of poor vision, you should give it a try.

Another advantage of this product that sets it apart from other models is its price. The Holoswim 2 Pro is on discount for $139, with $169 being its initial price and no subscriptions required. There is only one drawback of this brand which is the battery life. It only runs for 4 hours, which is a very small period in comparison with the Form. Charging takes about 2 hours, so you’ll have to charge it nearly every day if you swim every day. 

These smart swim glasses provide you with a special FitWing design that allows them not to move while doing flip turns. Besides, the lenses in it are protected with a TÜV Rheinland anti-fog coating, which means that the standard of this protection is higher than in the similar products. Holoswim also promises over 97% accuracy of its tracking results and up to 99.8% precision for stroke recognition after internal testing.

This product is IPX8 rated, it weighs 74 grams and has nine nose bridge sizes available in the box.

Pros:

• Prescription lenses up to -8.00
• No subscription, everything included in the one-time price
• Genuinely good price of $139
• TÜV certified anti-fog and a stabilizing frame for flip turns
• Nine nose bridge sizes in the box

Cons:

• Battery life equals to 4 hours only
• Accuracy data was tested by the brand itself

Finis Smart Swim Goggles

Finis takes a bit of a different direction and I actually think it’s the better investment for quite a few people, despite having a less flashy display. The heads up display is positioned in the corner of the left lens instead of being in the middle, meaning that you look to the left only when you need the information displayed.

What sets the Finis goggles apart, however, is that the smart display unit is detachable. Whenever your goggles get old or the anti-fog coating starts to wear off (and it happens with all pairs eventually), you do not throw away the entire gadget, instead you simply detach the sensor unit and attach it to a new pair of Finis smart goggles. And while a replacement pair goes for about $25, that is much more affordable than replacing the whole thing.

Speaking of the Finis app, it is worth noting that it is quite useful for those doing mixed sets. For example, if you swim 100 meters that include 50 kick and 50 free, you can go to the app afterwards and edit the rep so it reflects the actual workout, since the goggles cannot do that automatically. For those using structured workouts, this is a relatively small feature that will save you plenty of time.

Finis Smart Goggles Kit retails for about $139 but is DISCONTINUED as of Dec 2025. Worth a mention if you find them via other retailers.

Pros:

• Removable display unit means cheaper replacements
• HUD is smaller and out of the way, meaning less visual distraction
• Ability to manually edit mixed rep sets in the app
• Automatic lap counting is quite reliable

Cons:

• Smaller display becomes harder to read as time goes by due to fogging lenses
• Only compatible with Finis’s own goggle shells, so you’re locked into their ecosystem
• Less brand recognition and support ecosystem than Form’s

How to Actually Pick One

There are a few things that would be good to consider before purchasing smart swim goggles.

What are you training for? For those that practice swimming in open water and triathlon, it makes sense to give preference to whichever model is compatible with a GPS watch like Garmin or Apple Watch for calculating distances in open waters. If you are a pool swimmer and are concerned with counting laps, you don’t need to consider that requirement at all.

Are the subscription fees a deal-breaker? The basic functions of Form’s tracker work without a subscription but all of the coaching features are subscription-based. You should take into account that you might need to spend additional money on the monthly or yearly plan if you need coaching functionality.

How important is display placement for you? Form places its display more centrally in your field of view while some move it to the side. There is no right or wrong option here as it only depends on whether you want the numbers to be central or hidden from you.

Consider the future replacement costs. Smart Swim Goggles get old, lenses get scratched and straps break. It’s better to think about having to replace not only the straps but the entire device.

Who Should Buy These (And Who Should Skip Them)

Buy if:

• You truly want live data when you’re in the water, not something that just gives you results at the end
• You’re training on a regular basis, in pool or open water
• You prefer checking the lens instead of stopping to look at your watch while in your laps

Don’t buy if:

• You casually swim and aren’t interested in tracking your splits and strokes
• You already have everything tracked by means of your swim watch
• You go into the water only a couple of times per year

Wrap Up

When it comes to picking an actual recommendation, it would be the Form Smart Swim 2, mostly due to its tracking accuracy and race approval. In case your problem has never been related to data but rather to leaking goggles, then TheMagic5 are not smart swim goggles but you should not overlook them because of the absence of a screen.

None of them are cheap and they can’t substitute training in the water in any way. But if you belong to the category of people who track sleep, steps and recovery with you wearables, be it with a smart ring, smart watch or a smart band, including swimming into the picture just makes sense and is a natural continuation of your efforts.