Apple Watch

The Ultra 2 and Series 9 watches from Apple now support double tap gestures.

Double-tap gesturing is now available on the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches thanks to Apple's WatchOS 10.1 update.

The purpose of the double-tap gesture is to improve user convenience by enabling one-handed watch control. All they need to do is twice tap their watch hand's thumb and index finger together.

When the user's other hand is engaged and cannot be used to operate the watch, this is incredibly useful. In addition, it has a pleasant contactless function that comes in handy if the user's hands are filthy.

Apple provided a list of several functions that can be assigned as the primary action for the double-tap gesture:

Navigating through the widgets in the Smart Stack by opening it from any watch face.

taking calls and hanging up.

Using dictation to respond, sending a message, viewing a message from a notification, and scrolling through longer notifications with a second double touch.

Stopping, starting, and stopping a timer.

stopping and starting a timer again.

Setting off an alert.

putting audiobooks, podcasts, and music on and off.

Changing to the Compass app's new Elevation view.

Using the Camera Remote in the Camera app to take an iPhone picture.

Turning on or off the workout reminders automatically.

completing the main task associated with notifications, like responding to receiving messages from chat apps and ignoring reminders, even those from outside sources.

The user's display must be awake for this gesture to function, and according to Apple, it should have "minimal impact" on the Series 9 or Ultra 2 watches' battery life.

The S9 SiP chip, which is found in the Series 9 and Ultra 2, powers the double-tap gesture and uses 25% less power than its predecessor. When executing the double tab gesture, the watches' 4-core Neural Engine, which is equipped with a machine learning algorithm, is able to recognize even the smallest variations in wrist movement and blood flow.