The Apple Watch 8 has its own hidden version of Double Tap, but there are differences
One of the most intriguing new features of the Apple Watch 9 is Double Tap, which lets you interact with the smartwatch without touching it (or talking to it). I tried Double Tap and I liked it. However, some have pointed out that Apple Watch’s gesture controls aren’t new.
They’re not wrong, but they’re not entirely correct either.
As a reminder, the Double Tap capabilities are powered by the Apple Watch Series 9’s (and Apple Watch Ultra 2’s) new S9 SiP (system in a package), or, more specifically, the Neural Engine on that chip. The Cupertino tech giant unveiled the new smartwatches and Double Tap at its ‘Wonderlust’ event on September 12, saying the gesture control “requires” S9-specific improvements, including power efficiency, latency, accuracy and machine processing ability learn tasks faster.
In practice, all I had to do was raise my hand and double-tap with my thumb and index finger to enable things like answering and ending calls and tapping through tasks. What impressed me most was how it just worked, without any other intervention.
While the S9 chip is new, this concept clearly isn’t. In 2021, Apple unveiled a new collection of accessibility technologies, including “AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch.” Here’s how Apple described it (I added bold for emphasis):
With AssistiveTouch for watchOS, users with upper body limb differences can enjoy the benefits of Apple Watch without ever having to touch the screen or controls. Using With built-in motion sensors such as the gyroscope and accelerometer, along with the optical heart rate sensor and machine learning on the device, Apple Watch can detect subtle differences in muscle movements and tendon activity, allowing users to navigate through a sequence with an on-screen cursor. of hand gestures, such as a pinching movement or a clamping movement. AssistiveTouch on Apple Watch makes it easier for customers with limb differences to answer incoming calls, control an on-screen gesture pointer, and access Notification Center, Control Center, and more.
Based on when Apple announced these features, we can assume that Apple started supporting these capabilities on the Apple Watch 6, which was released in 2020. This means that every Apple Watch through the Apple Watch 8 will likely support AssistiveTouch.
When I checked my Watch app on an iPhone running iOS 16 (and an Apple Watch running watchOS 9), I found AssistiveTouch hidden under Accessibility. It has a relatively comprehensive set of hand gesture controls, including Pinch, Double Pinch, Clench and Double Clench. However, Double Tap is noticeably absent. You can configure each control and even set an activation gesture, which launches AssistiveTouch capabilities.
Even though I had AssistiveTouch enabled, I had trouble getting it to work. I tried several gestures and also disabled a feature activation gesture, meaning I didn’t have to perform one specific gesture to enable the AssistiveTouch capabilities. At one point, a message appeared on my iPhone 14 Pro asking if I wanted to enable AssistiveTouch, but the Watch app crashed before I could tap it.
Ultimately, I was never able to get AssistiveTouch to work on the Apple Watch 8. This is in stark contrast to Double Tap, which just works.
The AssistiveTouch controls remain in iOS 17 and as far as I know they now work better with the Apple Watch 9 and the new S9 chip. Apple isn’t commenting on this, but what we do know is that AssistiveTouch is still different from Double Tap because it’s designed as a comprehensive Apple Watch navigation system. This makes sense, as people with disabilities may need to use more than just the casual and occasional gesture when their other hand is occupied. For them, this may be the only way they can communicate with the best Apple Watch.
Apple has a long and commendable history of effective support features in its product lines. I’m not entirely sure why Apple hasn’t reminded or reminded us that it has supported Apple Watch features in the past when it unveiled the Watch 9 and Double Tap.
To set things right. Double Tap and AssistiveTouch share some similarities, but while AssistiveTouch runs on all Apple Watches since the Watch 6, DoubleTap only works on the Apple Watch 9 (and Ultra 2), courtesy of the new S9 SiP.
I hope this clears things up.