To record a swim, tap Record a Swim on any spot's detail page — it opens the recorder with that spot already linked — or go directly to /routes/record. Either way, you land on the same screen: a live map, a big Start button, and your current GPS position once the phone has a fix. Linking to a spot is optional but worth doing; it means your swim shows up in the "Recent Swims Here" section on that spot's page, which is how the community builds up a picture of what a location is actually like.
Hit Start and the recorder begins logging your position every few seconds. You'll see your route line appear on the map as you move. The status bar shows elapsed time, total distance, and current pace in min/100m — the open-water standard (not min/km, which pool swimmers are used to). Tap Pause to rest on a buoy or float without splitting your route; tap Resume to continue. When you're done, hit Stop, then choose Save or Discard.
For clean GPS data, give the phone 10–15 seconds to acquire a signal before you press Start — you'll see the position dot settle. A clear view of the sky matters more than anything else; GPS struggles under thick cloud cover or tucked inside a wetsuit pocket. The best setup is a waterproof phone pouch worn on your wrist or clipped to your tow-float line with the display facing outward. The recorder automatically filters out GPS jitter by ignoring any sample closer than 2 metres to the previous one, so minor positional wobbles don't inflate your distance.
Once saved, the swim appears on your profile and on the linked spot's page for other swimmers to see. If you're swimming a spot that isn't on the map yet, it's worth submitting it first — you can't link a swim to a spot retrospectively. The submit flow takes about three minutes; see the Contributing Your First Spot tutorial if you haven't done it before.
If you'd rather not carry your phone in the water, record with a Garmin or Apple Watch and import via Strava instead — see the Connecting Strava tutorial for that flow. Strava-imported swims show the same distance and pace stats on your profile; they just don't have a live route line on the map. Either way, the first swim you log is the hardest — after that it becomes a reflex.