With iOS 17.1 and watchOS 10.1 being released today, for those that own an Apple Watch Series 9, you can now use the new Double Tap feature.
To check out the options, go to the Apple Watch app and select Gestures/Double Tap.
Release Notes: Double tap gesture can be used to perform the primary action in notifications and most apps so you can answer a call, play and pause music, stop a timer, and more (Available on Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2)
I wonder what the reason is to only have it on the new models when there's a similar already existing option in AssistiveTouch settings that uses these gestures to control the watch, which works on earlier models.
Double Tap specifically leverages the new models’ on-device ML processing capabilities, which requires the new chip. I haven’t tried it myself, but I’ve also read that Assistive Touch is both less consistent/accurate and burns through more battery.
Ah, that makes sense! AssistiveTouch didn't work well for me either when I tried it, I wanted a way to control the watch when I didn't have my other hand free (mostly while cooking) but it's pretty much just faster to use Siri if possible or free the hand. Which makes sense, since it's an accessibility feature for I assume when you can't use one of your arms at all.
Would love to compare these and see the difference. Also I wonder if AssistiveTouch on the new models also uses the ML now.
Yep, that’s exactly it. I’ve used DoubleTap a bit and it picks up my taps very reliably, but it’s of course much more limited in what it can control. Tbh my main use case is for stopping timers while I have my hands busy cooking, and it works brilliantly for that.
I’m also curious whether AssistiveTouch uses the onboard ML now. It would make a lot of sense since Siri does, but I haven’t seen anything saying one way or the other and haven’t compared the performance between models.