SeaLife SportDiver Underwater Housing for iPhone (SL400) Review

Diving with your iPhone? Really!!

With the cost of iPhones going up, and the importance of these in our day-to-day lives, most people would rightfully think twice about taking their precious devices along for a dive into the deep! Waterproof cases one sees out there for iPhones are typically not much more than glorified zip lock bags with plastic clips. I’ve always been somewhat skeptical and have remained in the no thanks camp until now.

Enter the SeaLife SportDiver underwater housing for iPhone.

SeaLife SportDiver Underwater Housing for iPhone (SL400)

Announced in October, and released just before Christmas 2020, the SL400 iPhone dive case brings something to the market that may just help overcome these concerns. The case looks to be heavy-duty and inspires confidence.

SeaLife is also a company we trust, and we have been using their accessories with other cameras already. They have been creating underwater cameras and accessories for over 25 years.

iPhone cameras have also increasingly gotten better over the years. From better resolution, low light capabilities, and even some limited zoom, we’ve already started to ask ourselves whether or not to bring along a ‘real camera’ on some of our land trips. With the right case, the iPhone camera could potentially also do quite well in the underwater world!

Picking up our early Christmas present, we were pleasantly surprised to find a solid zippered carrying case in the box that could be used for travel and transport. It has a nice, fitted area for the case, and some pockets for spare parts and accessories.

When first taking the case out of the box, we were surprised at the size and weight of it. Then again, anything less may not have inspired our confidence and the solid design reassured us about putting our iPhone in there and taking it along. Underwater, the case is neutrally buoyant and comes with both a lanyard for your wrist and clip which can attach to your BCD. There is also a removable red filter on the lens cover.

The case is designed to mount onto the SeaLife frames, which can be extended with light setups. There’s no flash attachment for a strobe (yet) but I can imagine this as a future add, simply capturing the iPhone built-in flash over a fiberoptic cable. SeaLife does single and double frames allowing you to clip on arms and various light types. We love the ease with which the setup works and have used these frames on other camera setups regularly. To start with, we opted to get only the iPhone dive case.

The SeaLife SportDiver underwater housing works with iPhone (only, no Android) version 7 devices up to the latest iPhone 12 pro devices. They promise to keep it updated to newer versions as they come out.

The housing is constructed of polycarbonate, stainless steel, aluminum, and optical grade glass. It weighs in at 1.5 pounds, but it is neutrally buoyant underwater.

Depending on the device model, you use one of three sets of rubber bushings provided that are easily exchangeable to fit the various sized models. A tension spring pushes the phone down against these bushings keeping it in place. If you use a normal protective case, you must take the phone out of that when putting it in the SL400 underwater housing.

Once inside, you lock the case down with a lever that seals against a lubed gasket. There is a small suction pump that you use with the app which shows you when the inside of the case is at the right pressure.

A pressure sensor in the case communicates with the app to give you indications of pressure within the case. It also alarms when a pressure leak is detected and there is a second water detection alarm too. The case is powered by two AAA batteries, has an insert for a moisture muncher that removes humidity and prevents fogging. It is rated to a depth of 130ft /40m and we feel confident it can withstand those depths with ease.

Rather than the mechanical button push levers you see on other cases, the control from this case is done over Bluetooth to the phone itself. Certainly, an advantage of having a powered case. You download an app from the app store that provides the display and controls the camera. The buttons on the case communicate with the app over Bluetooth. A great way to be future proof. The SeaLife SportDiver app is well done, intuitive and easy to use.

The buttons are large and well laid out. They give you clear directions (including making sure that the auto-lock feature is off, so the screen does not lock up waiting for a passcode when locked in the case!). My only problem was that when I got a battery warning, I was unable to clear it from the app. In fairness, they warn you to fully charge the phone, and my battery is getting old.

Basically, once you have the right bushings in place to fit your phone, you lube the gasket and put in the batteries and the moisture muncher.

Download the app from the app store and be sure to set your phone into the right mode ensuring Bluetooth is on and the auto-locking feature is off (under screen and brightness).

Once you arrive at the dive site. Turn on the case, start the app on your phone and put it in and lock the case. You are ready to dive.

I made a full backup of my phone in the cloud (just in case). Ultimately, we decided to use my husband older iPhone 7+ as the guinea pig! But having used the SL400 iPhone underwater case, I’m confident in its ability to protect my iPhone and won’t be worried going forward.

Our first outing with the SL400 was a success and even the old iPhone 7+ didn’t do too bad with pictures. It would surely be better with a newer phone, and with a light. It’s a great product and I have to say we will be doing more photos with our iPhones going forward with the SeaLife SportDiver underwater housing.