For years, the Apple Watch‘s biggest changes have arguably involved new health tracking capabilities. But something different happened in 2023. The Apple Watch Series 9‘s headlining new feature didn’t have anything to do with health at all.
Instead, Apple debuted a new way to interact with the watch through a gesture called Double Tap, which arrived on the company’s new watches through a software update on Oct. 25. Simply tap your index finger and thumb together twice, and you’ll be able to dismiss notifications, answer calls and summon your widget stack. The gesture essentially adds an invisible button to your Apple Watch.
At face value, Double Tap may not seem like a monumental change. But when you take into account other additions Apple has made in recent years, like the Apple Watch Ultra’s Action button and WatchOS 10’s widgets, it’s clear the company has been rethinking what it means to interact with the Apple Watch. The first Apple Watch went on sale more than eight years ago, and in that time, Apple has learned a lot about the difference between how a mini computer that sits on your wrist should behave compared with a larger one that fits in your pocket.
I’ve been using Double Tap since it arrived on the Series 9, and I’m starting to understand the promise behind it. The less you have to rely on touch-based interactions like tapping, typing and scrolling, the easier it should be to use the Apple Watch’s tiny screen. However, the version of Double Tap that exists today feels like a starting point. Using it for several days, and previewing it back in September when I reviewed the Series 9, left me wanting more customization options and other improvements.
A clip from Apple’s September event, showing how Double Tap works.
From left: The Apple Watch Series 9 in stainless steel and in aluminum.
The other is that Double Tap just doesn’t feel intuitive yet. Touchscreens have played a major role in our lives for about a decade and a half, meaning we’re conditioned to tap and swipe on screens when we feel the buzz of an incoming notification or see our screens light up. But tapping the index finger and thumb together? Not so much. It’s going to take time to build a new habit.
That said, I have been using Double Tap in some scenarios, mostly to dismiss notifications. When I’m focused on a work-related project and receive a reminder to stand up or get an Apple News alert on my wrist, Double Tapping has allowed me to swiftly cast aside these alerts without breaking my concentration. The idea that you can check a text message, come up with a response and send it without touching the watch once is also significant. This worked well in my experience and didn’t require multiple tries.
It’s moments like these that make me interested in what Double Tap means for where the Apple Watch is going. The Apple Watch feels more ambient and intuitive in this scenario, since it doesn’t require me to press a specific button to get the job done. It just knows that I want to respond to my new message and send it when I tap my digits.
But there are also ways Double Tap could become more useful. For one, it doesn’t always respond right away. I noticed this happening most often with alarms, but there have been instances when I’ve performed the gesture multiple times to summon my widgets or dismiss a notification, too. For what it’s worth, colleagues who’ve tested the Series 9 and Ultra 2 haven’t reported the same issues.
Using Double Tap on the Apple Watch Series 9.
Taken together, Double Tap, the Action button and widgets represent an effort toward making the Apple Watch more intuitive and easy to interact with. And that’s a good thing. Even though Double Tap isn’t perfect, it’s another sign that Apple isn’t just copy and pasting a shrunken-down iPhone experience.
Before Apple makes an announcement, it’s nearly impossible to know what the tech giant has in store for future products. But I have a hunch the company will be focusing on new gesture-based interactions even more in the coming years, thanks to its upcoming Vision Pro mixed reality headset.
Right now the idea of Double Tap and what it means for the Apple Watch’s direction excites me more than actually using it. But I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple refines and develops it.
