Shokz OpenSwim Pro review: the only Shokz you can swim in, and the playlist problem that comes with it

What this review is based on

Shokz's own OpenSwim Pro product page and its official lineup comparison table, both read October 5, 2026; a published hands-on review by William Austin-Lobley at What's The Best (4.5 stars, updated January 29, 2025); and SoundGuys' bone conduction category roundup for the independent view of how the technology sounds. We have not swum in this headphone, and we say so rather than implying lab time we did not have. What we do is read every number off the page that published it, link it, and tell you which of those numbers change a buying decision. The rubric and its weights are at How We Rank.

Who it's for, and who should skip it

For: lap swimmers who are bored; triathletes who want one headphone across two disciplines; anyone whose earbuds have already died from sweat and who wants the rating that ends that conversation; people who want music without closing an ear canal, in a pool where you still need to hear a lifeguard whistle.

Skip: dry-land-only runners and cyclists, who are paying a large premium for a 2 m depth rating they will never use. The OpenRun Air 2 is IP67, lighter, charges over USB-C and costs meaningfully less. Also skip it if you are buying bone conduction for bass; this is the 8th-generation driver, not the DualPitch system in the OpenRun Pro 2.

IP68 and 2 m: the rating that makes it a swim headphone

This is the one place where the Shokz lineup splits cleanly. Every other current Shokz neckband tops out at IP67 (OpenRun Air 2, OpenRun) or IP55 (OpenRun Pro 2, OpenComm2 UC), and Shokz is explicit in its own comparison table that IP67 is not a swim rating. IP67 is a 30-minute, one-meter dunk in fresh water; it is a pass-fail test, not a license to do laps. The difference between the two is covered in detail in IPX7 earbuds, showers and swimming, and the full digit ladder is in earbud IP ratings explained.

On our rubric the OpenSwim Pro scores a 10 for sweat and water resistance and a 10 for fit security, the only product on the site that takes top marks in both. That is not a close call: a titanium neckband held by the shape of your skull has nothing to rotate out of place, and a published 2 m depth rating is the ceiling of what a consumer headphone claims.

Why a swim headphone needs 32 GB at all

Here is the physics people discover after they buy. Bluetooth runs at 2.4 GHz, and water absorbs radio at that frequency almost immediately — the signal does not travel from a phone on the pool deck to a headphone on your cheekbone once your head goes under. SoundGuys puts it plainly in its bone conduction roundup: if you want to swim, “you'll need to make sure you get a set that's waterproof and supports onboard storage to avoid connection dropouts.” H2O Audio says the same thing on its own product page for the TRI 2 PRO.

So the 32 GB is not a bonus feature. It is the feature. The OpenSwim Pro holds roughly 8,000 MP3-format tracks by Shokz's own estimate, which you load over the charging cable from a computer, and underwater it runs as a standalone player with a Swimming EQ mode. On dry land it switches to Bluetooth 5.4 and behaves like a normal headset with mics. Two modes, one headphone, and you press a button to swap.

The playlist problem

We flag this hard because it is the most common reason a swim headphone gets returned, and it is not a defect: every MP3-mode swim headphone has some version of it. The one product that attacks the problem directly is the H2O Audio TRI 2 PRO, whose PLAYLIST+ mode stores streaming playlists for offline underwater play. If you are a Spotify-or-nothing listener, read that spec line twice before you choose between the two. If your pool sessions are an hour of the same forty songs, the Shokz workflow is a one-evening annoyance and then it is done.

Audiobook listeners get the easier end of this. One file, played in order, is exactly what MP3 mode is good at — which is why the OpenSwim Pro also leads our swimming headphones for audiobooks list.

Sound, in water and out

Bone conduction vibrates your cheekbone instead of moving air into your canal. It reproduces voices and midrange competently and low bass badly; SoundGuys' roundup states flatly that with bone conduction “sub-bass and bass are virtually inaudible.” The OpenSwim Pro uses Shokz's 8th-generation transducer with PremiumPitch 2.0+, which is a generation behind the OpenRun Air 2's PremiumPitch 3.0 and two behind the OpenRun Pro 2's DualPitch, where a small air-conduction driver fills in what bone cannot. We score it 5 for sound and leakage. That is an honest number for the category, and it is the lowest score on this product's card.

Underwater is the interesting reversal. Austin-Lobley found the OpenSwim Pro “bassier than I thought,” and the reason is that water plugs your ears for you: with the canal occluded, the bone-conducted signal has nothing to compete with and the sound gets — his word — “much fuller.” Shokz ships swimming earplugs in the box precisely to force that effect. Out of the water, with your ears open to the pool hall and the street, it is a thinner listen. Both things are true, and which one you get depends entirely on where you are standing. More on the category's ceiling in do bone conduction headphones sound good.

Fit, weight, and the earplugs in the box

27.3 g, titanium, a band around the back of the head and two transducer pads resting just in front of the ears. Nothing enters the canal. Shokz sells the OpenSwim Pro in one size, which is worth noting if you have needed a Mini in the OpenRun family — the sizing question is covered in bone conduction for big heads. Austin-Lobley wore it “with glasses for upwards of four hours at a time and never had any complaints,” which is a useful data point because a neckband and a pair of temple arms have to share the space behind your ear.

In the box: the headphone, the magnetic charging cable, swimming earplugs and a silicone case. The earplugs are a real inclusion, not a sweetener — they are how you get the full underwater sound Shokz designs for, and the Swimming EQ mode assumes them.

Battery, the magnetic cable, and charging

Nine hours on Bluetooth, six in MP3 mode, 1.5 hours to a full charge, and a quick charge Shokz rates at 10 minutes for 3 hours. Six hours of pool time is three or four weeks of ordinary lap swimming between charges, and it is also two hours less than the original OpenSwim managed in MP3 mode — Austin-Lobley calls that out as the one regression against the model it replaced.

The charging connector is a 4-pin proprietary magnet, not USB-C, and you cannot have it both ways: Shokz told Austin-Lobley the magnetic connector exists for “increased waterproofing performance.” A USB-C port is a hole, and a hole rated to 2 m is a harder engineering problem than a sealed pad. The practical consequence is that you must not lose this cable, because nothing else in your bag will charge it. Buy a spare with the headphone if you travel.

What it costs, and where to buy it

Shokz lists the OpenSwim Pro at $229.95 on its own store, which puts it above every other Shokz neckband and into flagship territory. On the day we wrote this (October 5, 2026) all three of its colorways showed as sold out on shokz.com with the cart button disabled, while the Amazon listing was in stock and priced. That is a stock situation rather than a discontinuation signal: the OpenSwim Pro has been a periodically-out-of-stock product since launch. The buy button on this page checks the live Amazon price rather than printing a number we typed last month, so if the listing moves you will see the move.

One honest note on value: you are not paying for sound, battery or weight here. On all three, cheaper Shokz neckbands match or beat it. You are paying for 2 m and 32 GB. If you will use both, the premium is defensible. If you will use neither, it is the worst-value product in the Shokz range and we would rather you bought the Air 2.

Three alternatives, and when each one wins

The verdict