Listening to music during a workout can boost your pace, improve your rhythm, and help take your mind off the burn. For years, that was impossible for swimmers, but it’s no longer just runners and cyclists who benefit from a great playlist while they work out. Swimmers can now enjoy those same perks thanks to a growing range of waterproof headphones.
Whether you're logging endless pool laps, tackling open-water swims, or just splashing through a casual session, the right pair of swimming headphones can make all the difference. As well as making training more enjoyable, they can improve performance, as the beat helps you maintain a steady stroke rate.
More premium models go beyond music, offering features such as stroke analysis and the ability to download content directly from apps. With designs ranging from the budget-friendly to the high-end, there's a pair to suit every swimmer.
To help you decide what’s worth the investment, I’ve put together this guide to the best swimming headphones on the market, so keep scrolling to find your new favourite workout companions.
How I tested
I put each pair of headphones to the test for at least two weeks. I tested each set of headphones on a 2km indoor swim session, an open-water swim, and an interval session with flippers and pool buoys. During testing, I considered the following criteria:
- Sound clarity: I assessed how the headphones sounded underwater as well as Bluetooth syncing and app compatibility.
- Durability: Unsurprisingly, I needed these headphones to be waterproof. I needed headphones that could handle hours in the water.
- Comfort and fit: I used a range of swimming strokes during testing to see if the headphones remained comfortable and stayed in place throughout. I also noted how easy the headphones were to use and remove with wet hands.
- Battery life: No one wants their music cutting out on them mid-session, so battery life was also a consideration.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
Zoe Griffin has been testing products for IndyBest since 2021 and has reviewed countless types of workout gear, including headphones and earplugs. As a triathlete and keen swimmer, Zoe bases her reviews on real-world testing, providing her honest opinions to help you find the best products.
The best waterproof headphones for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Shokz openswim pro: £169, Shokz.com
- Best budget buy – Guudsoud X7 swimming headphones: £39.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for triathletes – Creative outlier free pro wireless open-ear headphones: £69.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best noise-cancelling design – NANK runner diver2 pro swimming headphones: £150.69, Amazon.co.uk
Shokz openswim pro
Best: Waterproof headphones overall
Weight: 27.3g
Battery life: 9 hours Bluetooth, 6 hours MP3
Internal storage: 32GB
Material: Silicone, plastic, nickel-titanium alloy
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IP68
Why we love it
- Excellent sound quality
- Voice controls
- Lightweight
- Built-in mic for calls
Take note
- Only two colour options
- Expensive
Feather-light and designed to fit snugly under a swim cap, these headphones are a near-perfect upgrade to the brand’s original openswim model. The soft silicone headband mirrors the texture of most swim caps, creating a frictionless fit, and I often had to double-check they were still on, as they're so unobtrusive. Sound quality is excellent, even underwater, which is no small feat, given how challenging bone conduction can be when submerged. You get what you pay for with these headphones, as the sound quality is leagues above cheaper models.
The original Shokz openswim headphones (£139, Amazon.co.uk) used to be my number one pick, but what really sets the pro version apart is its dual mode: you can now switch between MP3 playback and Bluetooth streaming. That means you can use them in the pool and pair with your phone or smartwatch for a post-swim run. It also means that you can stream music and podcasts from your phone, so you don’t have to rely on downloaded material. There are also larger buttons for improved usability with wet hands, increased internal storage, battery life improvements and voice control compatibility. You can even take calls. Taken together, I think these are the best swimming headphones you can buy.
Buy now £169.00, Shokz.com
Guudsoud X7 swimming headphones
Best: Budget waterproof headphones
Weight: 31.5g
Battery life: 8 hours
Internal storage: 32GB
Material: Silicone, titanium alloy, plastic
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IP68
Why we love it
- Impressive memory storage
- Decent battery life
- Adjustable head strap
- Built-in mic
Take note
- Only available in black
- Need a laptop to upload songs
With 32GB of internal music storage (about 8,000 songs), these headphones let me transfer every single song I’ve ever downloaded. There’s no need to worry about how long you stay in the water for, either, as the X7 have an IP68 waterproof rating, which means they can cope with being submerged up to 2m for two hours. Weighing just 31g, they’re comfortable enough to wear for that long, too, if you’re training for a big event.
These headphones fit well around the head, with no drag, and I liked the compact and streamlined shape and size of the bone-conduction elements. Sound quality is decent across all music genres, although not as premium as the Shokz openswim pro. The X7 also work well for running – I used the Bluetooth mode to play Spotify and iTunes audio during testing. I found an impressive eight hours of battery life, so you can get out of the pool and go for a run straight away, should you feel like it. A built-in mic means I could stay connected and take calls during long sessions. However, there’s no app, so loading songs is a little clunky, and you can’t customise the sound or bass. However, these are exceptionally good at this price point.
Buy now £39.99, Amazon.co.uk
Suunto aqua waterproof bone conduction headphones
Best: Waterproof headphones for swim training sessions
Weight: 35g
Battery life: 10 hours plus 20 from the power bank
Internal storage: 32GB
Material: Silicone, titanium alloy
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IP68
Why we love it
- Offer stroke analysis insights
- Bright colours
- Change tracks with head movement
- Comes with free power bank
Take note
- Slightly heavier than others
- Quite expensive
Going beyond audio, these waterproof headphones double as a swim coaching tool. As well as offering a good 32GB of storage and solid underwater sound performance, they analyse your stroke posture, head pitch angle, breath frequency, and glide time – valuable data for improving technique. During testing, the insights synced quickly with the Suunto app and matched what I’d seen from dedicated swim trackers.
If you use these for other sports or just for daily life, head-movement control is an interesting feature. A quick nod skips tracks, while a shake adjusts volume, which is very useful for mid-cycling when you don’t want to take your hands off the handlebars. I also liked how Suunto’s motion sensors helped track neck fatigue and mobility, offering training feedback that applies to running and cycling, too. The app takes this further by suggesting recovery periods and form tweaks. While this design is more expensive than most other swimming headphones, the data insights on offer are invaluable if you’re chasing a PB.
Buy now £159.00, Suunto.com
Creative outlier free pro wireless open-ear headphones
Best: Waterproof headphones for triathletes
Weight: 31.5g
Battery life: 10 hours
Internal storage: 8GB
Material: Silicone, titanium alloy, plastic
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IPX8
Why we love it
- Decent battery life
- Comfortable ear hooks
- Multi-point Bluetooth connection
- Voice control mode
Take note
- Only 8GB storage
- No head strap adjustment
These open-ear headphones are a solid choice for triathletes or anyone who mixes up pool, run, and cycle sessions. The distinctive ear hook design sits comfortably without a head strap, and the multi-point Bluetooth lets you connect to several devices at once, which is perfect if you want to share a playlist with a workout partner. This pair has 8GB of internal storage for downloaded audio, plus a built-in mic for taking calls.
Switching between pool and dry-land training is seamless. You can control your music hands-free using voice assistants like Alexa or Siri, which is especially handy on the bike or mid-run. However, only 8GB of storage is relatively poor. If you aren’t a music obsessive, that might be fine – depending on what you listen to, it’s around 1000-2000 songs. But that’s far from the capacity of the Guudsoud X7 or the Shokz openswim pro, and you’ll have to load up songs more often to rotate your tunes.
Buy now £69.99, Amazon.co.uk
Nank runner diver2 pro swimming headphones
Best: Noise-cancelling waterproof headphones
Weight: 32g
Battery life: 10 hours
Internal storage: 32GB
Material: Silicone, plastic
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IP69
Why we love it
- Easy to switch between Bluetooth and MP3 mode
- Can be used in-ear or over-ear
- Suitable for use in salt water
- Noise cancelling
Take note
- No head strap adjustment
- Small buttons are hard to press when wet
If swimming is just one of many ways you like to keep fit, you may prefer headphones that enable you to switch between playing stored songs and streaming songs or podcasts. Nank has made just the pair of headphones for the job in the form of the runner diver2 pro,
This pair has the highest waterproof rating of all the headphones I tested, and they’re even saltwater-proof, so you could snorkel or scuba dive in them, too. At first glance, they’re very similar to the Shoxz openswim, with a thin black headband and bone conduction pads, but the diver2 offer extra flexibility, as the ear buds swivel round, giving you the option to wear over-ear in the water and in-ear on dry land.
The in-ear mode offers fantastic noise cancelling, which is a joy for cycling. On the bike, I find that wind disrupts the sound from bone conduction headphones, making it hard to hear, but this wasn't an issue with this pair’s in-ear capability. On top of that, you’ll find also Bluetooth connectivity and MP3 storage.
For swimming, the headphones come with two silicone earplugs, which I recommend using, as these enhance the playback through the bone, making songs sound clearer and louder.
There are only a couple of downsides; I discovered that there’s no way of adjusting the headband, so those with smaller heads may find the headphones drag a bit in the water, unless they’re locked in place with a cap. I also found that the buttons on these headphones are very small, which can be tricky to use with wet hands.
Buy now £150.69, Amazon.co.uk
Cyboris sports swimming headphones
Best: In-ear waterproof headphones
Weight: 20g
Battery life: 8 hours
Internal storage: 16GB
Material: Liquid silicone
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IPX7
Why we love it
- Lightweight
- Non-slip
Take note
- Not compatible with Apple music
A budget-friendly option for anyone looking to venture into waterproof headphones, these have a solid 16GB of storage, so you can load them up with front-crawl-motivating power ballads as well as something slower for winding down at the end of a swim. They’re fuss-free to use, too – I just popped them in, used the side buttons to adjust the volume and didn’t need to touch them again until the end of the session. They stayed in my ears without slipping, too.
For the price, I didn’t expect Bluetooth connectivity, so I was very impressed to find it included. Weighing just 20g and with a strap made from liquid silicone, these headphones feel super lightweight in the pool and on dry land. The possible deal breaker? They’re not compatible with Apple Music, which means loading songs could be an issue if you only have an iMac and an iPhone. They also have less internal storage than the comparatively priced Guudsoud X7 swimming headphones.
Buy now £39.99, Amazon.co.uk
Sony NW-WS623 waterproof MP3 player headphones with Bluetooth
Best: Waterproof headphones for battery life
Weight: 32g
Battery life: 12 hours
Internal storage: 4GB-16gb
Material: Silicone
Waterproof rating: IPX8
Why we love it
- Sleek grey colour
- Great sound for dry land workouts
Take note
- Need to secure in place with goggles when swimming
- Easy to dislodge when swimming
Most of the headphones I tested use bone conduction, but these had buds and a variety of ear tips included to ensure a snug fit inside the ear, meaning music sounded louder and richer. For running and gym workouts, the Bluetooth connection was excellent, even in a basement gym, and I was able to stream music while still hearing a little of the ambient noise around me, so I didn’t feel completely cut off.
For swimming, these headphones are a little harder to work. There’s only one size option in the waterproof tips, which have a seal to stop water from leaking in. I found this meant they were prone to falling out when I moved faster in front crawl, and I had to end my first session early, as I couldn’t get the headphones to stay put. However, once I realised I was supposed to put the strap of my goggles over the headphone wings, that was enough to fix them securely. That’s fine if you have goggles that don’t leak, but if you want to adjust your goggles during a swim, be careful to make sure you put them back in the right place.
On top of that, though the sound us great, the internal storage is just 4GB, which might be fine for a few hundred songs, but it’s much worse than the competition.
Buy now £109.00, Amazon.co.uk
H20 Audio tri 2 pro bone conduction headphones
Best: Waterproof headphones for podcasts
Weight: 32g
Battery life: 9 hours
Internal storage: 8GB
Material: Silicone
Bluetooth: Yes
Waterproof rating: IPX8
Why we love it
- Easy to connect to a smartwatch
- H2O Audio app simplifies audio-loading
- Soft silicone
Take note
- Short battery life
- Only 8GB storage
These are the most expensive headphones I tested, but they do offer a huge plus for audiophiles: you can download any kind of audio onto these. This includes downloads of your favourite podcast, which is useful for super-long training sessions. Another bonus is that the silicone used in the strap feels softer than that used in some other headphones, which gives them an edge in terms of comfort.
Controls on the side of each ear piece are generously sized, so it’s easy to turn up the volume mid session when a good tune comes on. Battery life is an impressive nine hours, which would appeal to triathletes who are planning to bike to the pool, smash out a swim and run home.
If you’re running, you don’t even need to take a phone with you. These headphones can connect via Bluetooth to a smart watch, so I was able to play music and podcasts on Spotify through the watch. Like the Creative outlier headphones above, however, storage leaves a little to be desired. If these headphones had more than 8GB of memory, I’d have given them a full five stars.
Buy now £186.82, Amazon.co.uk
Your questions on waterproof headphones answered
What are the best waterproof headphones?
Lightweight, comfortable and with excellent sound quality, the beauty of the Shokz openswim pro is that I never had to think about them mid-workout. I just hit play, and they stayed in place perfectly. For those looking to spend less, the Guudsoud bone conduction headphones do a solid job for £40. If you want to immerse yourself in music, meanwhile, I highly recommend the Nank runnerdiver 2 pro headphones, which offer active noise cancellation.
What is an IP rating?
Standing for “ingress protection”, an IP rating indicates how well a device is protected from both solids and liquids. Generally, it’s displayed with two digits – the first of which indicates how well the device is protected from things such as dust, while the second indicates the level of water-resistance. The higher the rating, the better your device will be protected.
Which IP rating is best?
In this roundup, I haven’t included any waterproof headphones with a rating lower than IPX7. This rating indicates a device can withstand being submerged in water up to 1m deep for 30 minutes, which should be fine for your standard lane-swimming session.
However, the best waterproof headphones will have a rating of IPX8. This usually means your device can withstand being submerged for an hour at a depth of about 2m (this can vary between devices, however).
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