Introduction

I remember surfacing from an amazing reef dive, excited to see my photos, only to find they all had that washed-out blue look. Sound familiar? Underwater photography is tricky, and not all of us want to spend thousands on a big camera rig or fuss with complex gear. As a dive center owner and an avid diver, I wanted an easy way to capture beautiful underwater memories without going pro in photography or draining my bank account. That’s what led me on a quest for a better solution, and ultimately to my favorite piece of kit: a smartphone housing called the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max. In this post, I’ll share why this particular housing became my go-to for underwater phone photography. You’ll hear about the common struggles we all face with underwater photos, why using your phone makes a ton of sense, what I learned testing different housings, and why the SeaTouch 4 Max stood out for me. By the end, you’ll see how a simple phone housing can help capture those dive memories without the cost or complication of pro camera setups.

The Struggle with Underwater Photography

Let’s be honest: taking great photos underwater isn’t easy. Water gobbles up light and color, so your vibrant reef scene often turns out dull blue or green. I’ve had plenty of disappointing shots with weird color balance, even on sunny days. Getting enough light is a constant battle; sunlight fades quickly with depth, and everything beyond a few feet can look blurry or foggy. Sure, professional underwater cameras with big strobes can solve these issues, but they’re expensive and complicated. Most recreational divers (me included) aren’t aiming to become NatGeo photographers. We just want some decent photos to remember the dive and maybe share with friends on social media. Yet traditionally, our choices were either cheap action cams (which often gave so-so results) or high-end rigs (which require serious money and know-how). It’s no wonder many divers give up and settle for memories in their heads instead of photos in an album. I felt there had to be a middle ground, something that produces nice images but doesn’t require a second mortgage or an engineering degree to operate. This is the struggle that set me looking for an alternative path.

Why a Phone Housing Makes Sense

Enter the idea of using your smartphone for underwater photography. If you think about it, modern phones have amazing cameras built in. Your phone can shoot high-resolution photos and 4K video, handle low light reasonably well, and you’re already familiar with how to use it. So why not take it diving? The concept is simple: put your existing phone into a dedicated underwater housing to keep it dry and take advantage of that camera you already own. For a regular diver, this approach has a ton of appeal. First off, it’s convenient. The phone is in your pocket every day, and you know its interface by heart. There’s no new camera system to learn; you just use the camera app or photo apps you already love. Second, it’s immediate. After the dive, you can pop the phone out and instantly share your pics or send them to your dive buddies (no need to transfer from an SD card or wait until you’re home). And perhaps best of all, it’s cost-effective. A quality phone housing might run a few hundred dollars, which is a fraction of what a full camera setup would cost. It’s a way to leverage what you have (that powerful phone camera) and make it work underwater. For recreational divers who primarily want memories and social-media-worthy shots, using a phone inside a housing just makes sense. It’s the familiar device you already carry, now adapted for the underwater world.

The Search for a Practical Option

As the owner of a dive center, I had the chance to test out several smartphone housings in real dive conditions. We tried a few big names, like the Oceanic+ Dive Housing and the ProShot case, among others. Each had its approach and features, but I was specifically looking for something practical for everyday dive trips. My checklist was straightforward: the housing should be intuitive to use (both for me and the students or casual divers at our shop), it must have a safe, reliable design (nothing is scarier than imagining your phone getting flooded 60 feet down), and it had to be compatible with different phone models and apps. Flexibility was also key. I wanted a housing that could grow with me as I got more into underwater photography. That meant the ability to add accessories like lenses or lights, and not being locked into a single app or a single phone brand. We put each contender through its paces on boat dives and shore dives, paying attention to things like how easy it was to set up, how it felt in-hand underwater, and the results we got from the photos. It was an enlightening process; some housing was too complicated, others too limiting. In the end, one housing emerged as the clear favorite for our needs: the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max.

What Made Divevolk Stand Out

The Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max underwater housing features a unique full touchscreen back. This design lets you use your phone as if it were naked, even deep underwater.

When I first got my hands on the SeaTouch 4 Max, I could immediately tell it was different. Here’s why it impressed me (and outshone the other options we tried):

• Full Touchscreen Control: This is the killer feature. The SeaTouch 4 Max has a special membrane on the back that allows you to use your phone’s touchscreen underwater. That meant I could operate the phone just like on land, tap, focus, change settings, you name it. Most other housing doesn’t allow this; they rely on clunky buttons or Bluetooth controls. Being able to use the native camera app or any app I wanted was a game-changer. I didn’t have to relearn a new interface or be limited to a proprietary app. It’s literally like having my naked phone underwater, with full access to all its functions (only it’s safely encased and dry!). One thing to note: because it uses your touch, you can’t wear thick neoprene gloves with this housing. I dive mostly in warm water, so it’s fine, but in cold water, you’d want to use a special capacitive touch glove or the little finger sleeve Divevolk provides to make the screen register your touch.

• Use Any App (Native or Third-Party): Since the touchscreen works, I’m not locked into a single camera app. I can use the phone’s native camera for quick snapshots or switch to any number of third-party apps for advanced control. For instance, I started using an app called UWACAM that’s optimized for underwater shooting. It offers nifty features like real-time color correction to combat that blue/green cast and even an AI-powered fish identification tool. But the best part is I have the choice. If tomorrow a new and better camera app comes out, I can use it with this housing. That kind of flexibility just isn’t there with many other housing options that force you into their ecosystem. With SeaTouch 4 Max, the housing is essentially transparent, letting you interact with your phone however you want.

• Well-Thought-Out Design (Safe & User-Friendly): The Divevolk housing’s physical design is straightforward and reassuring. It’s built from sturdy polycarbonate with aluminum elements, and it’s depth-rated to 60 meters (200 feet) far beyond the depths I’ll ever need, but it’s nice to know it can handle it. To set it up, you put your phone into a snug plastic tray that aligns it perfectly, then insert that tray into the case and screw the lid closed. The compression O-ring creates a tight seal, and even though there’s no electronic vacuum pump to double-check the seal, I found the design very reliable. In our tests, we took it on multiple dives, and it stayed bone-dry inside. The tray-and-lid system also means there’s less chance of messing up the O-ring seal compared to some fiddlier cases. It’s kind of foolproof, great when I’m handing it to a customer or friend to try. Another perk: opening and closing it is quick. The tray system lets me pull my phone out between dives to charge the battery or respond to a text, without fully disassembling mounts or clamps. It’s easy access without compromising on water-tight safety.

• Expandable Platform for Accessories: As my underwater photo skills grew, I really appreciated that the SeaTouch 4 Max wasn’t a dead-end system. Divevolk makes a whole lineup of accessories that integrate with this housing. There’s a lens and filter adapter clamp that attaches around the housing, giving you a 67mm thread to add wet lenses (like wide-angle or macro lenses) and attach color filters. I’ve used the red filter for blue water dives and a macro wet lens for tiny critters – both worked great to boost the phone’s capabilities. You can also mount video lights or strobes onto a tray, which the adapter makes possible. I fitted a simple tray with dual handles and mounted two video lights, and suddenly my phone setup looked (and performed) almost like a mini pro rig! The housing even has dual tripod threads, which came in handy when I tried a pole cam setup and when shooting steady macro video. They’ve thought about future expansion, so you’re not limited to just bare-bones shooting. Even vertical orientation is supported (there’s a vertical mount option), which is useful for shooting smartphone-style vertical video for Instagram or TikTok.

• UWACAM App Integration: I mentioned the UWACAM app earlier as a third-party tool, but it’s worth highlighting because Divevolk actively supports it. They collaborated with the app developers, so the housing and app work seamlessly. UWACAM gives you advanced controls (manual exposure, focus, RAW shooting, etc.) and special modes just for diving. One of my favorites is the automatic color correction (“UWACOLOR”) that adjusts the white balance on the fly, making the blues less overwhelming so coral and fish colors pop. If you’re like me and not keen on fiddling with editing afterward, this is super helpful. The app even has a fun feature where it can identify fish in your photos using AI (I tried it with a snapshot of a lionfish, and it correctly popped up with the species!). This feature requires an internet connection, and to be able to use all the app’s features, you will need a subscription. The key point: the Divevolk doesn’t force you to use their app, but it plays nicely with the best tools out there, and it’s nice to have an app specifically tuned for underwater use.

• Price and Value: If all this made you assume the SeaTouch 4 Max must cost a fortune, here’s the kicker: it’s one of the more affordable housings of its class. The housing itself sells for around $199 USD new, which in the dive gear world is pretty reasonable. I remember seeing some competitors go for $300 or more, not including accessories. For what you get (a solid, deep-rated case with full touchscreen capability), I felt it was a great value. Even adding the optional lens adapter and a red filter didn’t break the bank. Considering that many divers already have a smartphone, this housing essentially turns that phone into a versatile underwater camera for a couple of hundred bucks. In my case, I already had an iPhone, so I just saw it as investing a bit more to unlock a new, easy way to take photos underwater, without buying a whole new camera.

• A Minor Quirk – The Sliding Filter Arm: I like to keep things honest, so I’ll note the one minor issue I encountered. I use a red filter that attaches via an arm (it slides in front of the phone’s camera when needed). Occasionally, I noticed this filter arm can slide on its own if it gets jostled. Essentially, the filter might creep down or wobble out of position mid-dive. It’s not a deal-breaker, more of a small annoyance. I solved it by double-checking the tightness of the clamp before each dive and that mostly kept it in place. It’s something to be aware of if you add the filters. In a perfect world, they’d design a click-in lock for that arm, so it stays put. Other than that little quirk, I’ve been extremely satisfied with the whole setup.

Why Others Didn’t Make the Cut

During my search, I gave a fair chance to other phone housings, but each had drawbacks that ultimately led me to prefer the Divevolk. Here are a couple of notable ones we tried and why they didn’t win me over:

• Oceanic+ Dive Housing: This one had a lot of hype, partly because it comes from a well-known scuba gear brand. It isn’t just a housing but tries to double as an underwater dive computer interface via the Oceanic+ app. Sounds cool, but in practice, it felt overbuilt. The unit was bulky and heavy – honestly, it felt like I had a brick attached to my camera tray. While sturdiness is good, the heft made it less travel-friendly and more tiring to handle on long dives. Moreover, the Oceanic housing relies on a companion app for all its functions, and that app was a letdown. In my tests (and echoed by others), the app was laggy and limited. Some features were locked behind a paywall, and navigation through the app felt sluggish. For the price of that housing (which was higher, around the $500 range at the time), I expected a more polished experience. In short, Oceanic’s option was too heavy, too complex, and too restrictive for what I wanted.

• ProShot Housing: On the opposite end of the spectrum was the ProShot case. This one is a simpler, no-frills housing aimed at making underwater shooting easy. It’s lighter and more compact than the Oceanic, which I liked. And it’s solid for shallow dives or snorkeling. However, the simplicity comes with trade-offs. The ProShot has no touchscreen access at all – as soon as it goes underwater, your phone’s screen won’t respond to touch, so you’re forced to use their proprietary camera app and the phone’s volume buttons to control everything. That app (called ProShotCase) works alright for basic photo and video, but you can’t use your regular camera app or any other apps. I found that limiting, especially since I enjoy using features from different apps (like Lightroom for shooting RAW or FiLMiC Pro for video). Also, the ProShot doesn’t have much in terms of expansion. There are some lenses you can attach (they have a wide-angle lens accessory), but it lacks the more versatile mounting options that Divevolk offers. No standard 67mm threads, for instance, so you’re mostly limited to their own add-ons. For a casual snorkeler, the ProShot might be fine, but for me and my dive shop, it felt too basic and not future-proof. We wanted something our divers could grow with, and ProShot just didn’t check that box.

Of course, there are other housings out there (Kraken Sports, SeaLife’s SportDiver, etc.), each with their pros and cons. In our evaluation, the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max hit the sweet spot by offering the usability of a simple system with the capability of a more advanced one. The other options either overcomplicated things or didn’t offer enough. It reinforced that in the world of gear, “best” is relative to what you need. For our needs, Divevolk was the clear winner.

Final Thoughts

Is the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max the perfect underwater camera system for everyone? Probably not, every diver has slightly different needs and budgets. But for me and the divers I work with, it checked all the right boxes. It made underwater photography fun and accessible again. I love that I can hand it to a newbie on a shallow dive and they come back with decent shots, yet I can also use it myself on deeper, more challenging dives with added lenses and lights and get rewarding results. And all of this without spending a fortune or hauling a huge Pelican case of camera gear onto the boat. Importantly, I want to clarify that I have no affiliation with Divevolk. I’m not sponsored by them. I just sell their products in my dive center, like the other products I mentioned in this article. This recommendation comes purely from my personal experience and enthusiasm. When I find something that genuinely works, I’m excited to share it with fellow divers. Underwater photography should be enjoyable, not frustrating. For me, using my phone in a well-designed housing was the gateway to capturing the underwater world with ease. If it helps even one diver snap a great pic of a sea turtle or a coral garden and keep that memory forever, then writing this was worth it. At the end of the day, the best camera is the one you have with you, and thanks to the SeaTouch 4 Max, I always have mine with me on a dive.

Pro Tips for Better Underwater Phone Photos

Even with the right housing, getting good shots underwater takes a bit of know-how. Here are a few quick tips I’ve learned that can dramatically improve your underwater phone photography:

• Get Close to Your Subject: Water reduces clarity and steals color, so the less water between your phone and the subject, the better. If you see a cool fish or coral, get as close as you safely can. Your shots will be sharper and more colorful because you’re not shooting through a big haze of water. (Plus, marine life often looks larger and more detailed up close.)

• Stabilize Yourself and the Camera: Underwater, even slight movements can turn a photo blurry. Try to hold the housing with two hands and stay as still as possible when snapping the pic. If there’s a surge or current, tuck yourself into a steady position (while respecting the reef, of course). Some divers use a tray with handles for extra stability it really helps if you’re shooting video or macro subjects.

• Use Proper Lighting or Filters: Remember that beyond a few meters deep, the reds and warm colors disappear from sunlight. To bring colors back, you have two main tools: artificial lights or filters. A small video light or dive torch can do wonders for illuminating your subject and restoring natural color. If you don’t have a light, use a red filter on your housing lens for depths around 5m–20m; it will help correct that blue/green tint in your photos. Many phone camera apps also let you adjust white balance – some underwater apps even do it automatically. Don’t be afraid to experiment with these; getting the color right can turn a “meh” photo into a wow one.

• Take Multiple Shots and Experiment: Digital is free, so click away! Often, I’ll take 3–4 shots of the same scene with slightly different angles or exposure, because you never know which one will come out best. Try different modes on your phone too – for example, HDR mode can sometimes balance the underwater lighting nicely, and portrait mode might even work on closer subjects to blur the background. Also, review your pics between dives if you can (while you’re at the surface interval). That way, you could adjust your approach on the next dive if everything looked too dark or too blue, etc.

• Maintain Your Gear: This isn’t a photography tip per se, but it’s crucial. After each dive day, rinse your housing in fresh water to get rid of salt and sand. Make sure the O-ring (the rubber seal) is clean and free of debris every time you open or close the case. A little silicone grease on the O-ring now and then keeps it healthy (just a light dab, don’t overdo it). The more you take care of the housing, the more it will take care of your phone and your photos. The last thing you want is a preventable leak ruining your day.

FAQs

1. Is it safe to take my everyday phone underwater? What if the housing leaks?

   Quality underwater housings like the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max are specifically designed to keep your phone dry and safe. The SeaTouch 4 Max, for example, is depth-rated to 60m with a robust O-ring seal. In my experience (and tests), it has been completely reliable. The key is to follow the instructions: make sure the seal is clean, close it properly, and do a quick dunk test in shallow water first if you’re nervous. While there’s always a tiny risk with any underwater gear, using the housing correctly hugely minimizes the chance of leaks. Some divers also choose to ensure their phone or use an older phone for extra peace of mind. Personally, after dozens of dives, I trust my setup and have not had a single leak incident.

2. Will my phone model fit in this housing?

   The SeaTouch 4 Max is designed as a universal housing for many smartphone models. It comes with a sizing kit (adjustable or different inserts) to accommodate a range of phone sizes, from smaller Androids to big iPhone Pro Max models. I’ve used it with both my older iPhone and a newer one after I upgraded – I just needed to switch out the internal tray to fit the new phone. If you have a very large phone or a less common model, it’s worth checking the compatibility list. In some cases, you might need a specific tray or an adapter for a perfect fit (Divevolk even provides 3D-printable tray files for unusual phones). But generally, most modern smartphones will fit just fine. Always remove any bulky phone case before putting your phone in the housing for a snug, secure fit.

3. Do I need to install a special app to use the camera underwater?

   Not with the Divevolk SeaTouch 4 Max. One big advantage of this housing is that it gives you full access to your phone’s normal touchscreen controls, even underwater. That means you can use your regular camera app or any photography app you like. There’s no requirement for a proprietary app. Some other housings (like the ones from Kraken, SeaLife, or ProShot) do require you to use their app or connect via Bluetooth, because those housings don’t allow direct touch input. With Divevolk, that’s not an issue – you can stick with what you know or try specialized apps like UWACAM for extra features. Of course, if you prefer using a dedicated app for convenience, Divevolk’s system works with those, too. It’s all about choice. I love having the flexibility, but if you’re a beginner, you might start with your phone’s stock camera app (nice and simple) and then explore other apps as you get comfortable.

4. How do the photos from a phone in a housing compare to a GoPro or a real camera?

   I get this question a lot at the dive shop. The honest answer: today’s smartphones can produce shockingly good images underwater, especially with a bit of technique (and maybe a good light). In bright, shallow water, you might not notice a huge difference between a phone shot and a GoPro shot; both can be excellent for social media and small prints. Phones often have the edge in terms of smart software (like image stabilization and HDR) and in ease of use. That said, dedicated cameras (like a DSLR in a housing, or even the Olympus TG series) will still outperform phones in certain areas, especially low-light and fast action. A larger camera sensor can capture more detail in a dark wreck or at dusk, and dedicated rigs have true flash strobes for vibrant colors. My view is that a phone housing is perfect for the casual to intermediate shooter who wants memories and fun shots. I’ve gotten vibrant reef scenes, cool macro shots of nudibranchs, and even some decent turtle videos with my phone. But if your goal is professional-level photography or large prints, eventually you might invest in higher-end gear. For most of us recreational divers, though, the phone does the job more than well enough. And the gap keeps getting smaller as phone cameras improve each year!