The complete guide to SwimIQ.

Getting started

SwimIQ runs on iPhone and any modern web browser. Your workouts, history and settings sync across both automatically, so you can plan on your laptop and pull it up on the deck.

Create an account

• Go to app.swimiq.ca and sign up with your email.
• Your first 7 days are free as a trial — cancel anytime before day 7 and you're not charged.
• On iPhone, install the SwimIQ app from the App Store. On any other device, open app.swimiq.ca in your browser — Safari users on iPhone can also "Add to Home Screen" for a full-app feel.

Joining a club (invited coaches)

If your head coach has set up a Team or Elite plan, they'll send you an invite email. Tap the button in the email and you'll land on a signup screen that already shows the club name, prefills your email, and just asks you to set a password. Pick a password, confirm your email, and you're in — no plan picker, no separate billing on your side.

Already have a SwimIQ account? Open the same invite link, then tap Sign In at the top of the screen — you'll be added to the club after you log in.

Voice input

The fastest way to get a practice in. Tap the mic, talk through the session like you would with an assistant coach, then tap the mic again to stop. SwimIQ transcribes what you said, then parses it into a structured workout.

How to record

Speak it naturally

You don't need to dictate punctuation. Say distances in plain numbers, stroke names as you'd say them on deck, pace times in minutes and seconds.

Adding more after you pause

Once you've stopped, you can edit the transcript and then tap the mic again — the next recording appends to what's already there. You can also edit in the text box first, then add more by voice; your edits are preserved.

Pace and interval phrasing

Circuits (repeated rounds)

Say "three rounds of" before a list, or "repeat three times". SwimIQ wraps the following sets in a circuit bracket and multiplies the volume.

Photo input

Works with handwritten practices on paper or whiteboards. Snap a photo or pick one from your gallery and SwimIQ reads the handwriting, bracket notation, circled numbers and arrows.

How to shoot it

• Straight-on angle. Keep the camera roughly parallel to the page — skewed photos drop accuracy.
• Good lighting. Overhead pool-deck lights create glare; step to the side if needed.
• Fill the frame. Crop out anything that isn't the workout (lockers, equipment).
• One practice per photo. If you've written two sessions on one board, crop each separately.

Bracket notation

Draw a vertical line or square bracket to the left of a group of sets with "3×" (or similar) at the top — SwimIQ reads that as a circuit with 3 rounds.

Circled numbers

Drawing a circle around a rep count marks it as all-out. SwimIQ interprets it as Z5 / race pace in the parsed output.

"!" fast markers

Writing "!" next to a set flags it as fast — SwimIQ adjusts the zone upward accordingly.

Typed input

Best when you already have the workout written somewhere — paste from an email, a text thread or your notes. Also fine for typing from scratch.

Style

Write exactly how you'd write it for another coach. Line breaks separate sets. Shorthand is fine: "WU", "CD", "BNF", "neg split", "desc", "@", "×", "on".

After you paste

Tap Parse. SwimIQ shows you an "AI understood" box with its interpretation — edit that if anything is off, then Re-Parse to rebuild.

Reviewing & editing

After parsing, you see a parsed preview — each group (warm-up, main, cool-down, circuits) shown one per card.

Reorder groups

Every group has up/down arrows. Use them to rearrange the order — including wrapping around so the first and last groups can swap. Useful when photos or voice transcripts come out in a non-standard order.

Edit before building

If something's wrong, fix the source (transcript or typed text) and re-parse. For small tweaks, build the workout and fix it inside the builder instead.

Section assignment

Each group is tagged warm-up, pre-set, main, or cool-down. You can change the tag from the preview card before building.

The builder

Tap Build Workout and the full practice opens in the builder, where you can fine-tune every set before saving or sharing.

What you can change

• Add, duplicate or delete any set.
• Change stroke, zone, reps, distance, rest or interval.
• Add notes to any set (e.g. "DPS", "build last 50", "3rd 50 fast").
• Wrap a group of sets in a circuit, or unwrap one.
• Change the circuit round count.

Practice details

At the top of the builder, set:

• Date — when the practice is scheduled.
• Team — age group (e.g. Senior, Age Group, Masters). This shifts the analysis targets.
• Pool — 25m or 50m. Affects interval recommendations.
• Focus — one-line summary ("Race-pace 200 free", "Aerobic recovery day").

Expert analysis

From the builder, tap Analyze to run your practice against the training literature. You get zone distribution vs. target and line-by-line commentary with the source cited on every point.

Reference systems

In Settings, pick the reference the AI validates against:

• Championship Swim Training (Sweetenham & Atkinson) — the energy-system model used by national programs. Strict zone distribution targets.
• Color-Based Zones (Tom Rushton) — the 9-color framework common in club swimming across Canada, UK and Australia.
• Ultra-Short Race-Pace Training (Dr. Brent Rushall) — race-pace specific methodology. Best for sprinters and senior race-pace work.

Your coaching knowledge comes first

If you've uploaded your own coaching system in Settings, that takes priority. The selected reference becomes secondary. Your club's method is always respected over any external framework.

PDF export

Any practice can be exported as a clean print-ready PDF with your club logo, proper bracket notation for circuits, pace times and coaching notes.

Web

Tap Share PDF. A new browser tab opens the print-ready view, then your browser's print dialog — save as PDF, AirPrint, or send to a printer.

iPhone app

Tap Share PDF. A preview opens; tap the share icon to send it via AirDrop, Messages, email, or to save it to Files. Same A4 layout, same margins as the web version.

What's on the PDF

• Club logo and coach name at the top.
• Total volume, kilometres and estimated duration.
• Warm-up / main set / cool-down grouped and labeled.
• Bracket notation for circuits with round count and per-circuit volume.
• Notes inline with each set (italic, never interrupting the pace column).

History & reuse

Every practice you save lives in the History tab — searchable, sortable, reloadable. The tab opens to Groups by default (see Training groups) so you land on a per-squad summary instead of a flat list.

• Reload — opens a past practice back in the builder so you can tweak and re-save.
• Duplicate — creates a copy you can edit without changing the original.
• Weekly view — total volume and zone breakdown for the week, scoped to the group you're drilled into.
• Filter by group — every drill view is automatically filtered to one training group, so the weekly numbers reflect that squad only.

History syncs across your devices automatically. Sign in on a new phone or laptop and everything is already there.

Training groups

Most coaches run more than one squad — Senior, Age Group, Masters, Pre-Comp, whatever your club calls them. Training groups let you tag every workout with the squad it was for, then filter History to see one group at a time.

Where you'll see them

• History tab opens to Groups by default — a stack of cards, one per group, with this week's volume and a rolling weekly average on each.
• Tap a group card to drill in: you see that group's Weekly volume panel followed by every workout you've logged for that group, newest first.
• Workouts you didn't tag show up under Unassigned — you can re-open and assign any of them later.

Creating & renaming groups

• From the Groups landing screen, tap ＋ Add group and type a name.
• To rename a group, drill in and tap the group title at the top — type the new name and confirm.
• Renaming is instant and applies to every workout already tagged with that group.

Tagging a workout

When you save a practice from the builder, pick the group from the dropdown. To re-tag a saved workout, open it from History and change the group selector — your edit syncs immediately.

Swimmers roster

The Swimmers tool is your per-swimmer pace calculator. Save each swimmer's personal best once and SwimIQ generates their full set of training-pace zones — A1 Recovery through Z3 Critical Speed — at four distances (50m / 100m / 200m / 400m).

Adding a swimmer

Why the 400 PB matters

Critical Speed (the fastest pace a swimmer can hold in steady state — the most-used training-zone reference) is calculated from race PBs using formulas from Championship Swim Training (Sweetenham & Atkinson, p.8). The book gives two:

• From a 200m PB — race pace is 8% faster than CS, so CS pace ≈ 200 PB pace × 1.08.
• From a 400m PB — race pace is 3–4% faster than CS, so CS pace ≈ 400 PB pace × 1.035.

The 400 method is more accurate because the gap between race pace and CS is smaller — there's less leverage on small input errors. SwimIQ uses the 400-based formula whenever a 400 PB is on file, and falls back to the 200 method otherwise. When no 400 is on file the Z3 row shows an EST · ADD 400 PB nag; once you add the 400, the badge disappears silently.

Why the Threshold Test matters

Z2 Threshold (Anaerobic Threshold, AT) is where most quality aerobic work lives — long-rep sets that build the aerobic engine without tipping into red-line work. Without a Threshold Test, SwimIQ uses a base + 8.5 seconds per 100m heuristic (the midpoint of the book's +7-to-10s range). That works as a starting point, but a real TT measures the swimmer's actual sustainable pace and replaces the estimate with a precise number.

1000m, 2000m or 3000m?

• 1000m TT — for age-group swimmers and sprinters who can't honestly hold pace over a longer test. Heads up: a 1000m runs roughly 2–4s/100m faster than true threshold, so use it as a starting anchor rather than a precise number.
• 2000m TT — the default for most senior and high-school swimmers. Best balance of accuracy and effort.
• 3000m TT — for distance specialists. Sits closest to their race distances, so the result is the most accurate — but it asks the most of the swimmer.

How to run the test

The swimmer goes all-out at the strongest pace they can hold the entire distance — even effort start to finish, no surge, no fade. Negative split or steady is ideal. Use a clean lane with no traffic so the time is accurate. Record the total time once the test is done.

When no TT is on file the Z2 row shows an EST · ADD TT nag; once you add the TT, the badge disappears silently and Z2 paces are derived from the test result.

Reading the zone table

Each row shows the midpoint pace for one zone at four distances. The numbers in green are seconds-based pace times.

• A1 Recovery / A2 Aerobic Maintenance / A3 Aerobic Development — calculated from the 200 PB using the additive base formula (base = 200 PB ÷ 2 per 100m, each zone adds a fixed offset).
• Z2 Threshold — from the Threshold Test if on file, otherwise base + 8.5s/100m as an estimate.
• Z3 Critical Speed — from the 400 PB if on file (more accurate), otherwise from the 200 PB as an estimate.
• Z3 MVO2 / Z4 Race Pace / Z5 Sprint — info rows, not paced rows. These zones reference event-specific PBs or maximum effort, so they're documented as guidelines rather than computed paces.

Editing or deleting a swimmer

Open the swimmer's detail view and use the Edit or Delete buttons at the bottom. Edits save instantly; deletes ask for confirmation first because they can't be undone.

Teams & admins

On Team or Elite plans, one coach is the head coach / admin. The admin has a Team tab in the bottom navigation where they manage coaches, see seat usage, and roll up every assistant coach's week by training group. Assistant coaches see a simpler, read-only version of the same tab showing which club they're part of.

Where to find it

Open the Team tab from the bottom navigation. It only appears if your plan includes team sharing — on the Individual plan the tab is hidden. On a Team or Elite plan:

• Admin view: club info card with seats used, invite form, coaches list, and pending invitations.
• Assistant view: a single card confirming which club you belong to.

Inviting a coach (admin)

Alternative: share the club code

Your club also has a short code. You'll find it in Settings → Your Club, with a Copy button. Send it to a coach; they enter it when signing up (or from the "Enter club code" prompt) and they're in.

Removing a coach

In the Team tab, tap a coach in the list to open their details — from there you can remove them from the club. Their seat frees up immediately and they lose access at the next sign-in.

Seat limits

• Individual — 1 coach.
• Team — up to 5 coaches.
• Elite — up to 15 coaches.

If you hit the seat limit, remove an inactive coach or upgrade your plan.

Shared resources

All coaches on a club plan share: the club logo on PDFs, the club name on every export, and the selected analysis reference. Each coach's own workout history stays private to them — though the head coach can view an assistant's workouts from the Team tab (see below).

Head-coach view — roster at a glance

From the Team tab, head coaches see every assistant coach grouped by their training groups. The view is collapsed by default and expands per group, so a club with 6 coaches across 4 squads stays scannable.

• Weekly volume — this week's total meters per group, with the zone breakdown bar so you can spot a thin aerobic week before it shows up as a flat taper.
• Weekly average — rolling meters / week per group, so you can see at a glance whether a squad is drifting off its target load.
• Workout list — every practice each coach has logged for that group, newest first, with the coach's name on each card.
• Open any workout — tap to see the full structured session (sets, zones, pace times, coach notes) exactly as the assistant saved it. Read-only — you can review without altering their version.

Renaming the club

Head coaches can rename the club at any time from the Team tab — tap the club name at the top of the card, type the new name, and confirm. The new name appears on every PDF and invitation from that point forward.

Billing

Only the admin is charged. Coaches you invite don't need to enter payment details. See Billing & subscriptions for how to update payment, change plan or cancel.

Billing & subscriptions

SwimIQ takes payment two different ways depending on how you signed up: through the web at app.swimiq.ca, or through the SwimIQ app on the iPhone App Store. You can only manage a subscription on the same platform you started it on. This isn't a SwimIQ choice — it's how Apple requires App Store subscriptions to work, and the web side mirrors the same rule for symmetry.

Subscribed on the web (app.swimiq.ca)

If you started your plan from a browser at app.swimiq.ca, your billing lives in the web checkout. To change plan, update your card, view invoices, or cancel:

• Open app.swimiq.ca in any browser (Safari on your phone counts).
• Go to Settings → Manage Subscription.
• That opens your secure billing portal — change plan, swap card, download receipts, cancel.

If you try to manage this subscription from inside the SwimIQ iPhone app, you'll see a message that says "Manage on the web — you subscribed on app.swimiq.ca, so we can't change billing for this subscription from the app. Open app.swimiq.ca in a browser and go to Settings → Manage Subscription." That's expected — it's pointing you to the right place.

Subscribed through the iPhone app

If you bought your subscription from inside the SwimIQ iPhone app, Apple handles the billing — not us. Apple's rules require all changes to App Store subscriptions to happen in iPhone Settings. To change plan, update payment, or cancel:

• Open iPhone Settings (the gear icon on your home screen).
• Tap your name at the top → Subscriptions.
• Tap SwimIQ in the list.
• From here you can change plan, see your renewal date, or cancel.

If you try to manage this subscription from app.swimiq.ca on the web, you'll see a message that says "Manage from your iPhone — you subscribed through the SwimIQ iOS app, so Apple handles billing for this subscription. Open iPhone Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions → SwimIQ. We can't make those changes from the web — Apple's rules." That's expected — it's pointing you to the right place.

Why the split exists

Apple requires every App Store subscription to be managed inside iPhone Settings — third-party apps aren't allowed to cancel, refund, or change Apple-billed plans. The web side mirrors that rule for clarity: whichever platform took your payment is the platform that can change it.

Trial & refunds

• Trial: every plan starts with a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime before day 7 and you're not charged.
• Web refunds: for billing issues on web subscriptions, email support@swimiq.ca.
• iPhone refunds: request a refund directly through Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com — Apple processes all refunds for App Store purchases.

Settings & references

Settings is the last tab in the bottom navigation. Most of it is organised into collapsible sections — tap a header to expand.

AI Analysis Reference

Choose which training framework the AI validates your workouts against. You can also disable external references entirely and rely only on your own coaching knowledge (see next section).

Your Club (admin only)

On Team or Elite plans, the admin sees a "Your Club" card in Settings with:

• Club name — shown on every PDF.
• Club logo — upload once, appears centered at the top of every practice plan.
• Your club code, with a Copy button — share with coaches so they can join without an emailed invite.
• Current seat usage (e.g. 3 / 5 coaches).

Edit Info

Settings has an Edit Info card where you can update your display name — the name that shows on your workouts, on PDF exports, and to your head coach in the team roll-up. Useful if you signed up in a hurry and used a nickname or got a typo. To change your email itself, contact support@swimiq.ca.

Account

• Email and password.
• Plan status and renewal date.
• Sign out / switch account.

In-app guide

There's also a short in-app guide in Settings → How to Use SwimIQ covering voice, photo, type, circuits and PDFs. This page you're reading is the fuller version.

Your coaching knowledge

SwimIQ lets you teach the AI your coaching philosophy so analysis gets your system right, not a generic one.

Four ways to upload

• Type freely — paste or type your zones, intervals, season plan.
• Upload a file — PDF, Word, Excel, CSV or plain text, up to 10MB.
• Photo — snap your zone chart, whiteboard notes or training plan.
• Paste from spreadsheet — copy from Excel or Google Sheets and paste directly.

What's worth uploading

• Your zone definitions (e.g. "Z2 = threshold = 1:10 per 100 free for Senior").
• Your macrocycle or season plan.
• Pace charts by age group.
• Your team's race-pace targets.
• Any rules your club follows ("Never more than 1500m Z5 per week", "Kick every day").

Priority

When you run analysis, your uploaded knowledge is the primary reference. The selected framework (Championship, Rushton, USRPT) is the secondary reference. The AI never overrides your system.

Troubleshooting

Mic isn't working

• Browser: check site permissions — the mic may be blocked. Click the lock icon in the address bar.
• iPhone app: Settings → SwimIQ → Microphone (and Speech Recognition). Both must be on.

Photo parse missing a set

Retake the photo with better lighting and straight-on angle. If one section came out blurry, crop to just that section and upload separately.

Wrong zone or interval in parsed output

You don't need to redo the photo or transcript — open the builder and change the set directly. Your edits are saved automatically.

PDF looks different on iPhone vs. web

Both versions use the same A4 layout with matching margins. If something looks off, make sure the iPhone app is updated (Settings shows the version number).

Voice edit got overwritten

On recent versions, your textarea edits are preserved when you tap the mic again. If yours aren't, update the app — this was a fix in a recent release.

Still stuck?

Email support@swimiq.ca with a screenshot and the practice you were working on. We reply personally — usually within a day.