# Open Water Swim vs synth

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: synth at none against Open Water Swim's 2. Open Water Swim's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Open Water Swim sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. synth asks for nothing beyond the download.

Open Water Swim ships an update weekly, synth every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Open Water Swim | synth |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.3 (34 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/open-water-swim/id6444587873/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **34** | — |
| Positive reviews | 50.0% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Weekly** | Every 3 weeks |
| Monetization | Freemium | — |
| Size | 38 MB | 5 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.6 | **18.4** |
| Devices | iPhone, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | [Intrit LLC](https://appshunter.io/developer/972713794) | [Taylah Hasaballah](https://appshunter.io/developer/1817194925) |

## What reviewers say

### Open Water Swim

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/open-water-swim/id6444587873)

Track, analyze, and relive your open water swims with GPS accuracy. Features include real-time data, official event tracking, and social sharing. Built for swimmers by swimmers.

**Highlights:** GPS-accurate swim tracking, Real-time distance, pace, and heart rate data, Official event tracking and verification, Map visualization of swim routes, Social feed for group swims, Shareable swim summaries, Complete swim log and progress analysis

**Features:** Apple Watch app

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly Subscription | $9.99 | per month |
| Annual Subscription | $34.99 | per year |


### synth

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/synth/id6746498324)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Open Water Swim free?

Open Water Swim is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is synth free?

synth is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Do Open Water Swim or synth have ads?

Neither Open Water Swim nor synth shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, Open Water Swim or synth?

Open Water Swim ships an update weekly, and synth every 3 weeks. Most recently, Open Water Swim was updated on November 3, 2026 and synth on October 30, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*