Swim.com vs Lap Swim
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Swim.com
Automatically record and track your swimming workouts with advanced statistics. Compete with friends and other swimmers on global leaderboards, and access thousands of customizable swim workouts.
- Automatic swim recording with Apple Watch
- Advanced swim statistics
- Stroke type and count detection
- Drill Mode for kick tracking
- Global leaderboards and friend competition
- Thousands of customizable swim workouts
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SWIM.COM IS THE ESSENTIAL APP FOR SWIMMERS! Record your swims automatically with your Apple Watch and track your progress with advanced swim stats. Compete on leaderboards, connect with friends and choose a swim workout to challenge yourself. THE BEST SWIM TRACKING APP FOR THE APPLE WATCH. Use the Swim.com app on your Apple Watch to record your swim workouts automatically; no button-pressing required. Detect stroke type, stroke count with the most accurate swimming app available. You can even track kick and other drills with Drill Mode! Swim.com, uses HealthKit to export your Swim.com activities into the Health app and to read swim activity data from other apps such as Apple's Workout app. COMPETE WITH YOURSELF OR WITH THOUSANDS OF POOLS AND CLUBS WORLDWIDE. Motivate yourself by competing with friends in a club or against other swimmers just like you on our global leaderboards. See how you compare to other swimmers at your local club and aim to be the lane leader. SMART WORKOUTS FOR EVERY SWIMMER. Download the app, and get access to thousands of smart swimming workouts for free. Customize and edit workouts using our new workout editor to craft the perfect swim. You can even add your own workouts and share them with our community! Have an issue? ** CONTACT US AT SUPPORT@SWIM.COM **
Lap Swim
This app automatically counts laps and tracks swim times on your Apple Watch. It detects stroke type and count, and graphs your performance on a paired iPhone. Enjoy a large font display for easy viewing during your workout.
- Automatic lap counting
- Stroke detection (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke)
- Kickboard lap detection
- Large font display
- Stopwatch function
- Workout graphing on iPhone
- Health and Activity app integration
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Automatic Lap Counter with Stopwatch and LARGE FONTS; Lap Swim is an Apple Watch (Series 2 and later) App that automatically detects, displays, records and graphs the lap count and elapsed time of a swim session. Detects and displays the type of stroke and stroke count during each lap. - Detects and displays the lap direction and lap count while swimming using the gyroscope in the Apple Watch - LARGE FONT display of time and lap count - Stopwatch function while swimming - Auto start/stop mode detects swimming and automatically starts (or stops) the stopwatch - Lap counter counts up from 0 or counts down from preset lap goal - Senses and displays freestyle strokes, backstrokes, and breaststrokes - Detects and counts kickboard laps - Records and graphs (on the paired iPhone) the following: ------ Date and time of a swim session ------ Time for each lap and of entire swim session ------ Number of laps ------ Average speed and speed for each lap ------ Stroke count and type of stroke (freestyle, back, breast or kick board) ------ Distance in meters or yards - Enters workout information into the Health and Activity apps Lap Swim uses the gyroscope and accelerometer in the Apple Watch to detect the type of stroke and the orientation of the swimmer. Using this information it displays the lap count of a swim session. Lap Swim also has a standard stopwatch function. The swim session information is transmitted to the paired iPhone and displayed on both a table and a graph. Lap Swim is free and fully functional for the first 250 laps. After that, Lap Swim continues to function but it requires a low cost IAP to display the lap count. Screenshots: -Apple Watch: 1) Large 2 line display - Swimming return half of 51st lap after 49:35 2) 3 line display - returning on lap 10 after 9:10; 11 breaststrokes taken this half lap 3) 3 line display - after turning and starting lap 11; showing last half lap stroke count (11) and elapsed time (34.6) 4) 3 line display - going out on lap 12; this lap you have taken 3 freestyle strokes, 2 backstrokes, 5 breaststrokes, and over 15 seconds using a kickboard 5) Starting a Workout Session in 2 second and turning on water lock. 6) Lap length set to 25 yards. 7) Settings options - 2 or 3 line display, split times half or full lap, automatic or manual start/stop, set lap length. -iPhone: 1) Home screen also showing the app on the Apple Watch 2) Graph of the average speed in over 200 swim sessions from 12/16 to 7/20. 3) Graph of the total times in over 200 swim sessions from 12/16 to 7/20. 4) Data collected in a single swim session available for editing. ----
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Swim.com at 4.4 against Lap Swim's 3.2. Swim.com also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (1.1K vs 31). Lap Swim's advantage is review sentiment (62% vs 41%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Lap Swim sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Swim.com asks for nothing beyond the download.
Swim.com holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Swim.com has 1.1K ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 41% of Swim.com's written reviews are positive against 62% of Lap Swim's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Swim.com ships an update monthly, Lap Swim every 3 months. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.
| Parameter | Swim.com | Lap Swim |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.4 (1.1K ratings) — better | 3.2 (31 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 41.4% of reviews | 62.1% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.1K — better | 31 |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 3 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 175 MB | 5 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Spiraledge | Peter Kramer |
Customer experience
Swim.com
Lap Swim
Bugs and requests
Swim.com
Reported bugs
4 issues- App crashing or freezing during workouts
- Inconsistent lap/distance tracking
- Sync issues between app and Apple Watch
- Inability to properly log or edit workouts
Requested features
5 requests- Improved Strava integration
- Better workout scheduling and notification features
- Ability to track kick sets and drills
- More comprehensive data analysis and visualization
- Seamless sync with Apple Health app
Lap Swim
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Swim.com
No in-app purchases
Lap Swim
- upgrade from 250 laps to unlimited laps$1.99









