What Sonar does today, what it does not do yet, and what is still being built. We would rather tell you a feature is unfinished than let you find out by looking for it.
Available now
You can use this today.
In testing
Working, but switched on for a few families only.
Coming next
Built, and not released yet.
Planned
Decided and designed. Not built.
There are no dates against anything here. A date would be a promise, and we would rather keep the ones we make.
Getting started
What is Sonar?
Available now
A swim-records app for competitive swim clubs. It takes the results your club already publishes — meet results, personal bests, qualifying standards — and turns them into something a swimmer and their family can actually read: where they stand, what they just swam, and how far off the next cut they are.
Who can use it?
Anyone connected to a participating club: swimmers, parents and guardians, coaches and club administrators. Sonar is not a public directory — there is nothing to browse without an account, and no way to look up a swimmer who is not on your club's roster.
My club isn't on Sonar. Can I still sign up?
You can make an account, but there will not be much in it. Clubs are added one at a time, by hand, working with the club itself — we do not scrape results or import a roster without the club asking. If your club is interested, email us and we'll talk to them.
How do I sign in? I don't remember setting a password.
Available now
There isn't one. You type your email address and we send you a six-digit code. That is the whole sign-in — which also means there is no password of yours for us to store, leak, or ask you to reset.
Swimmers and families
How do I connect to my swimmer?
Available now
We ask for your swimmer's date of birth and check it against the roster the club gave us. Knowing a swimmer's name is not enough to claim them, which is the point: it is the same check whether you are their parent or they are signing in as themselves.
Can both parents see the same swimmer?
Available now
Yes. Each of you makes your own account and verifies against the roster separately. There is no “main” parent account and nobody has to share a login.
Can my swimmer have their own account?
Available now
From 13, yes — they sign up with their own email and need nothing from you. We ask when they were born rather than whether they are over 13, because a yes/no question tells you which answer gets you in.
My swimmer is under 13. How do they get an account?
Coming next
With an approval code from you. You sign in, go to You → Approve a swimmer, and create an eight-digit code; they enter that code and then your email address. We email you when it is used — so if that message arrives and it was not your child, you can tell us and we will remove the account.
A code approves an account. It does not turn on practice tracking and does not let us collect health data — that is a separate decision, described below.
What if I don't want my swimmer to have an account at all?
Then don't issue a code, and there is nothing to do. Under 13 there is no other way in. You can still hold your own account and follow their results yourself.
Times and standards
Where do the results come from?
Available now
From your club. They give us the documents they already send to families — meet results, Top Times reports, entry confirmations, time standards — and we read them. We do not buy results, and we do not take them from a governing body's database.
How soon after a meet do results appear?
As soon as the club uploads them, which is usually within a few days of the meet. Sonar does not receive results directly from the timing system, so it cannot be faster than the club's own paperwork.
What do the colours and levels mean?
Available now
They are qualifying standards — the times required for a given meet or championship. Green means achieved; amber is the next one to aim at. The Times screen lays every event out against every level so you can see the whole picture rather than one race.
A time looks wrong.
Available now
Tell us — there is a report button in the app, and it goes straight to your club's administrator. Sonar shows times as they appear in the documents the club provided, so a wrong time here almost always means a wrong time there, and the club is the only one who can correct the record.
Is a time in Sonar official?
No. For anything that matters — a qualification, an entry, a record — your club and the governing body are the authority. Sonar organises and displays; it does not certify.
Practice tracking
What is practice tracking?
In testing
Swim practices recorded on a watch, read into Sonar and drawn as splits, stroke breakdown and a calendar of the season — so a swimmer can see the training behind the race times, not just the races.
It is not generally available yet. It is switched on for a small number of families we are working with directly, and there is no way to turn it on from inside the app.
Which watches work?
Apple Watch today, through Apple Health. A Wear OS version is being built and is not released. Sonar reads whatever your watch recorded — it does not do the timing itself, so anything your watch missed, Sonar will miss too.
Exactly what does Sonar read from Apple Health?
In testing
Pool swims, and only these:
when a swim started and ended
how long it lasted
how far it covered
each length, and how long it took
how many strokes it took
Sonar never asks for heart rate, and never asks for sleep, steps, weight, nutrition, or anything outside a swim. It never writes anything back to Apple Health. The full detail, including one honest footnote about fields that arrive attached to a workout whether we want them or not, is in the privacy policy.
Does my swimmer's practice data leave their phone?
In testing
Today, for the families in the test: yes, once a parent or guardian has turned it on. It is stored so that it survives a lost phone and so a verified parent can see it. Turning it off deletes it, immediately and without a grace period.
This is the part we are changing — see the next answer.
What is practice tracking going to look like when it's finished?
Planned
Two tiers, and the free one is a real one:
Free, for everyone: Sonar shows your last 7 practices, read from the watch and drawn on the phone, with full detail — splits, strokes, the calendar. None of it is uploaded to us.
Paid, per family: practices kept on our servers so they survive a lost phone, history going back further than the last 7, and a parent able to see them.
Note the wording, because it is exact: Sonar shows your last 7 practices. It does not delete the older ones — they are still on the phone, in Apple Health, where the watch put them. What the free tier limits is how much of it Sonar draws.
How do I turn practice tracking off?
In testing
You → Practice consent, and withdraw it. The stored practices are deleted straight away — no waiting period, because you asked us to stop. Turning it off is deliberately never harder to find than turning it on.
Privacy and your data
Who can see my swimmer's information?
Available now
You, and the members of your own club. Access is enforced in the database on every query, not just hidden in the interface, so one club cannot see another club's children. Signed-out visitors see nothing at all.
Can coaches see practice data?
No. Not in aggregate, not anonymised, not on request. Practice data belongs to the swimmer and their family.
Do you sell data or run ads?
No, and no. There is no advertising in Sonar and no third party buying anything from us. The full list of companies that touch your data — five of them, each doing one job — is in the privacy policy.
How do I delete my account?
Available now
You → Account & privacy → Delete account. It is in the app, it takes one screen, and you do not have to email anyone to ask.
Your club's race results are the club's record and stay with the club; everything personal goes.
Can I get a copy of everything you hold about me?
Planned
Yes — email us and we will put it together by hand. A self-serve export is planned but not built, and we would rather say so than leave you waiting on a button that isn't there.
Apps and devices
Is there an iPhone or Android app?
Coming next
Both are built and neither is in the App Store or Google Play yet. Families testing with us install them directly from a link we send. When they are published this answer will change.
Do I need the app?
Available now
No. Everything except practice tracking works in a browser, on a phone or a laptop, and it is the same account either way. Practice tracking needs the app because only a phone can read a watch.
What costs money
What does Sonar cost right now?
Available now
Nothing. There is no payment of any kind in Sonar today — no card on file, no subscription, nothing to cancel.
What will stay free?
Meet results, personal bests and progress toward qualifying standards. That is the part every family in a club needs, and it is intended to stay free.
What will be paid?
Planned
Practice storage: keeping practices on our servers, history beyond the last 7, and a parent being able to see them. One subscription will cover a family however many swimmers are in it, billed through the App Store or Google Play. Nothing here is built yet and there is no price to quote.
What's built, what's next
The same information as above, short enough to read in one go. This is kept current as we ship — if something here is wrong, it is a bug and we want to hear about it.
Available now
Meet results, personal bests and race history
Progress against Swim Ontario and Swimming Canada standards
The meets calendar, entries and heat sheets
Connecting a parent or a swimmer to a club roster
Email sign-in with no password
Following swimmers, and reporting a wrong time
Deleting your account from inside the app
Club and coach tools: roster, uploads, access requests
In testing
Practice tracking from an Apple Watch — capture, splits and the season calendar
Parent consent for practice capture, and withdrawing it
Coming next
Approval codes, so a swimmer under 13 can have an account
The iPhone and Android apps in the App Store and Google Play
Planned
The free practice tier — your last 7 practices, on the phone, never uploaded
Paid practice storage, longer history, and parent access, priced per family
Read-only access for a second parent or a grandparent
A Wear OS app, for swimmers who don't use an Apple Watch
A self-serve export of everything we hold about you
Something not answered here?
Email swimsonar@gmail.com. If it is about a specific swimmer or a wrong time, your club administrator can usually fix it faster — there is a report button in the app that reaches them directly.
See also the privacy policy and the terms of use, which are the binding versions of anything summarised above.