Along with watchOS 10.1 comes a new feature to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2: the double tap. This is one of the main new features of these two new models and is a function that allows us to do many interesting things. Although it can, more or less, be activated on any Apple Watch, in the new models it is part of the system.
By simply pressing twice the thumb and index finger of the hand in which we wear the Apple Watch, our watch will be able to do different things. You can activate this function both from the Apple Watch itself in Settings and from the Watch app on the iPhone, entering the Gestures section.
Double tap on the Apple Watch: all you can do
The Double tap feature of watchOS opens up a whole range of possibilities by allowing you to use the Apple Watch without having to touch it. This can be useful in a multitude of circumstances, especially when we are performing any task that does not allow us to use our hands.
Here’s what you can do with just a touch of your fingers on your Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2:
- Open the Smart Group from any sphere and scroll through its widgets.
- Answer and hang up phone calls.
- View a message in a notification, scroll through longer notifications by double tapping again, reply with voice dictation and send a message.
- Pause, resume and stop a timer.
- Pause and resume a timer.
- Snooze an alarm.
- Play and pause music, podcasts and audiobooks.
- Switch to the new altitude view in the Compass app.
- Take a picture with the iPhone using the camera remote in the Camera app.
- Start or stop automatic workout reminders.
- Perform the main action of notifications, such as replying to a message received in a messaging app and postponing reminders even in third-party software.
- Record a voice memo from the Voice Memos application.
- Change flashlight modes.
Apple also indicates that although double-tap is designed to automatically select the main action in most apps and notifications, there are situations where we can customize it to our liking. We will be able to select a different function between scrolling through Smart Group widgets or selecting the first available one; and between playing or pausing media content during an active session or skipping to the next track.
At the moment the feature is not compatible with third-party apps, beyond notifications, although hopefully in a future update Apple will allow developers to use this feature within their apps. It can be very interesting in many apps for the Apple Watch.