During his recent Wonderlust eventApple has unveiled the upcoming Apple Watch Series 9, and with it an ingenious new way to control the wearable called Double Tap.
This feature allows users to perform the “most common actions on (their) Apple Watch Series 9” by simply tapping their index finger and thumb on one hand twice quickly. You don’t even have to touch the screen. As seen in the official announcement trailer, the gesture can be used to turn off alarms, set timers, answer calls (or end them if you’re too loud), and even take photos via the Camera Remote feature. Apple goes further states in his post that using Double Tap on the watch face opens the Smart Stack and tapping again allows you to scroll through individual widgets.
This is just the beginning of what Double Tap can do. No one knows the full potential of the technology at this point. What we do know is that it’s quite fun to use. TechRadar’s US Editor-in-Chief Lance Ulanoff managed to try out Double Tap at the event, and you can see his first reaction below.
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♬ original sound – TechRadar
Apple explains that Double Tap is “powered by the wearable’s faster Neural Engine.” It features an upgraded ‘machine learning algorithm’ that can detect ‘small wrist movements (plus) changes in blood flow’ caused by a person’s index finger and thumb performing the tapping action. From there, the engine collects that information and processes it with additional data obtained from the internal “accelerometer, gyroscope and optical heart sensor.”
Unknown mechanics
Aside from the mechanics, it’s unknown how exactly the Apple Watch 9’s Double Tap feature will work. Obviously you’re touching your digits together, but there’s more to it than that. Double-tapping the watch face launches Smart Stack, but can that input be changed to something else, like opening a particular app? Do the gestures only work for certain functions or can they affect everything on the device?
Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long before we get answers to our questions. The Apple Watch Series 9 is currently on sale with prices starting at $399. However, Double Tap is not currently available. It will appear “in a software update next month.”
The other big star of Wonderlust 2023 was the iPhone 15. We got a firsthand look at the titanium-clad iPhone 15 Pro as well as the powerful 5x periscope zoom camera on the Pro Max model. Be sure to keep an eye on our coverage of the event.