Having gotten into both freediving and scuba diving last year, I started agonizing over which dive computer to buy. After scouring unboxing articles and videos from various brands, I ultimately chose the ATMOS Mission One on the recommendation of my instructor and dive buddies. Beyond its excellent value for money, most of my dive buddies were already using this watch, so as a diving newbie, I figured it would be much easier to ask for help whenever I ran into any questions.
The ATMOS Mission One Has a Companion App — and It's Great!
The overall experience of using the Mission One's companion app is quite good — the interface is clean and simple, and it's very user-friendly. Nearly everything online focuses on unboxing the Mission One dive computer itself, with almost no articles covering the app. True to the spirit of "good things shouldn't be kept to myself," I decided to take advantage of the pandemic stay-at-home period and write this review of the app to share with fellow divers using the Mission One.
How Do You Download the App?
Search for "ATMOS" on the App Store or Play Store, select the logo with a dark navy background that looks like an "A," and download it. Once you've registered an account, you're ready to log in. When you first sign in, you'll notice that while the activity feed is full of dive logs shared by other divers, sections like your devices, dive log, and profile page will all be blank. You'll need to sync your dive computer's logs to populate the content.
How Do You Sync Your Dive Computer Logs to the App?
Go to your Devices section, connect your Mission One to the app on your phone, and tap Sync. You'll be presented with three options: Sync Dive Logs, Sync GPS Data, and Edit My List. My dive buddy mentioned that syncing GPS data speeds up the watch's positioning, and I found this to be noticeably true in practice — it locks on within 2 minutes every time! Worth noting: Edit My List is used for creating custom dive sites. After syncing your logs, you can head to the dive log section to view and edit them. Each log is categorized by freediving or scuba, and by dive date, time, and depth — and tapping into each type will show a different display.
Sync interface
ATMOS APP cloud dive log interface showing freediving logs (green) and scuba logs (blue)
My Favorite Features in the App
As a newbie, I'm in the habit of writing a dive log after every dive, so I find this app incredibly convenient — you can tap directly into a log to edit it, and there's a depth profile graph you can review. Scrubbing along the graph even lets you see your descent/ascent rate for freediving, or the water temperature for scuba. I also discovered a highly recommended feature for scuba: the Surface Air Consumption (SAC) rate calculation. It genuinely tracks my progress dive by dive. You can also add notes to record your thoughts after each dive, and attach photos to share on the log activity feed or on Facebook, connecting with the wider diving community.
ATMOS APP cloud dive log editing interface
You Can Even Create Custom Dive Sites!
As for Edit My List — I think this is a really thoughtful feature. When I went diving at Green Island during the five-day Labor Day holiday this year, I noticed the official dive site list was missing the Cross (十字架) site, so I decided to try creating a custom dive site. The process is a little involved, and after some trial and error, I eventually completed it with help from a tutorial video on the ATMOS Facebook page. Here's the relevant link for any divers interested in trying it out:
ATMOS APP cloud dive log — custom dive sites can be used in logs and shared with others
You Can Store Your Certifications on Your Profile!
The profile page is another thoughtful touch — it tallies up your maximum depth, water temperature, and number of dives, and lets you edit your basic info, name, and profile photo, as well as add a short bio. Most importantly, you can add your certification level and a photo of your card. So even if you forget to bring your physical card on a dive trip, you can just pull up the app and show the dive shop. And I had no idea just how many certifying agencies exist in the world — there are so many I'd never heard of, along with a whole host of specialty certifications, so you almost certainly won't have trouble finding your own cert on the list.
ATMOS APP cloud dive log — profile page & adding certifications
Use Dive Logs to Check Recent Water Temperatures at a Site
The activity feed lets you browse logs shared by divers from all over, and every time I see the photos they've posted, I get the urge to get into underwater photography. You can like and comment on logs you enjoy, and see which dive site the photos were taken at. One feature I find especially useful is the water temperature display! Before your next dive trip, head to the magnifying glass icon in the upper right of the activity feed, search for your planned dive site, and you can check the recent water temperatures there. If you add photos to your own logs, they'll appear on the activity feed as well — you can choose whether to make them public or private, and either way you can share them to other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LINE.
ATMOS APP cloud dive log — activity feed and dive site post search function
ATMOS APP cloud dive log — successfully shared to Instagram
Finally, I want to echo the government's call to action: please stay home during the pandemic. I know every diver out there is itching to get back in the water and misses the ocean dearly — but the ocean isn't going anywhere. For now, stay home, organize your dive logs, flip through your old photos, and hang in there!
The above is my humble take as a diving newbie — if you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to discuss in the comments! And feel free to visit my website: 好好喘口氣-厭世上班族的生活筆記 https://strugglingofficeworker.com/
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