this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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I’ve been really disappointed by the new Double Tap feature since I got the S9 last month. On top of not having many use-cases, the watch didn’t recognize every time I did the gesture which made it really frustrating to use.

I just realized though that I like to wear my bands on the slightly looser side, which I guess makes it way harder for the watch to recognize when you do the gesture. Tightening up my band has helped tremendously and the watch basically never misses it now.

The lack of many use-cases still is a bummer though. How are you guys using it?

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[–] Applecations@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

My main use case is skipping songs (I found I use skip more than play/pause so I modified that), and it advances on long notifications which is somewhat nice, though it is still taking my time to use more of it. I still think it needs more use cases, but it’s okay in its current state.

[–] free-icecream@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

The fact that they got all the tech news outlets touting this as a “feature” is a hilarious display of apples marketing push. It’s not even a feature. It’s a sidenote.

[–] SaneRabbit2@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Very inconsistent

[–] Castaway78@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

For me, the primary use case is dismissing a timer. But when the watch is vibrating, it is not able to recognize the double tap.

Aside from that, I have no use for it.

[–] waggs32@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Getting to the Smart Stack page from the home clock page to see the date has been useful.

I been using the snoopy face and it doesn’t have the date at a glance.

[–] RunningM8@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It’s a beta feature for the Vision Pro, it’s shocking how they rolled this out for the watch first and called it a feature lol.

[–] GeneralZaroff1@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

….it uses completely different mechanisms. Vision Pro uses cameras to track movement. The watch uses the back health sensors and I’m assuming the accelerometer

Fun fact. It’s also not the first double tap movement. They tested it with accessibility at a lower accuracy as well.

[–] haolekookk@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

If you don’t think this is going to be include or help support Vision Pro you are delusional.

[–] fluffster93@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Accessing Smart Stack, dismissing timers and notifications, play/pause from now playing screen. I use it so often at work

[–] Tasty_Delivery283@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

It’s a pretty lame idea

[–] efito832@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

100%. When walking the dog, cooking and anytime my other hand is busy.

[–] Free_Researcher_5@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I was using the Accessibility version of it to trigger Apple Pay one-handed occasionally, but it was mainly more of a magic trick than useful

[–] checker280@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Can you double snap for an added flair?

[–] xroalx@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Well, I tried, I can do the gesture pretty consistently, but it does not work with snapping, at least not for me.

What a sad day.

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[–] swiftsorceress@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I honestly prefer using assistive touch to double tap. Has the same gestures, but also adds a lot more options.

[–] cmatthewssmith@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I’m not using it at all but I still love my new Ultra 2.

[–] steveisblah@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

It’s not that helpful at all. If the double tap feature could be routed to specific commands, like activating Siri, I’d use it a lot. But even when I get a notification, I can even get to “Dismiss”. It always activates the top option so in that regard it’s completely not helpful at all.

I expected more.

[–] lovatone@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I use it to turn off alarms.

[–] jdbrew@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Yea. I use it every day now. I’ve set up my widgets so that I can see the information I want than I just raise and double tap through them to see what time looking for. I’ve also been doing the double tap to dictation to respond to texts without having to touch the screen. I’ve also use it to pause/play music or podcasts while doing dishes so I don’t have to dry my hands off first

[–] A_tOWn1@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I would use it constantly to skip songs if it was set up properly in the Smart Stack. However, it is not.

The problem is you can only set the gesture to advance OR select. I know what you’re thinking… “just pin the Now Playing app to the top of the Smart Stack”. Great idea! Then at least I could gesture 3 times(lol) to skip a song.

  1. Open the Smart Stack
  2. Select Now Playing (I use Spotify for music and would rather pin Spotify but the skip song feature only works in “Now Playing”)
  3. Skip

Unfortunately, even with the Now Playing app pinned there is another default Widget that appears in the Smart Stack when playing media that always takes priority at the top, no matter what. This widget makes it impossible to skip because with the gesture set to “select” and the only option on the widget being pause/play, that’s all that can be done. If the gesture is set to “advance” I can scroll down to Now Playing but cannot open it.

https://preview.redd.it/ou1jkklee63c1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dff72f37bef1907074aa73409543080233a0ea17

[–] eds3@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Apple is turning us into robuts

[–] cr8tvt@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I can’t justify enough to upgrade for a double tap so I’m staying with the first Ultra. I wasn’t surprised when Apple didn’t add this feature as they wanted me or some of us to upgrade for this. I understand that there are other upgrades besides this but I’m excited for the Ultra 3.

[–] Ansonm64@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I haven’t used it even once. Don’t know what it does actually.

[–] Koleckai@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I only remember that Double Tap Is a feature when I see a Reddit topic about it. At least 90% of the time, my watch sits on my wrist and I never interact with it.

[–] 0Penguinplays@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I don’t use it on the regular and the only time I used it to take a photo it didn’t recognize the gesture

[–] atomicflounder@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I have yet to figure out how to pause/unpause the Apple TV remote from it. They show it in the commercial, but I can’t get it to go

[–] ExcitementLarge6439@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Unfortunately no I had high hopes but I don’t have raise to wake active on my watch so double tap doesn’t work I wish they made it where if your screen is on “sleep” mode and a timer or txt comes through double tap would work.

[–] Ken-Popcorn@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

It only works sporadically, and when it does it doesn’t seem to do much useful

[–] Dakine_Lurker@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I use it for texting all the time. Big fan.

[–] causal_friday@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Double Tap works for me. I remember to use it approximately 1 time out of every 100, though. Reading the comments is useful, though. I didn't know it could dismiss timers. I might remember to try next time!

[–] Durendal_et_Joyeuse@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Was so excited for the feature when it was announced, and now I keep forgetting that it's an option when it might be useful.

[–] jszzsj@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Doesn’t work half the time so i stopped trying.

[–] esmori@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

It' useless. Half baked feature.

[–] oorhon@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I use it on SE 2 as accesbility feature. Really useful for accepting calls or stoppong alarmms and denying notifications.

I know it is not the same with s9 but does the job.

[–] arianrhodd@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I'd forgotten about this option (thanks for the post), just got my s9 last week. I went into the watch app to set it up, and under Gestures, the only option I have is "Cover to Mute."

I checked and phone (14 Pro Max) is up to date (iOS 17.1.1), and watch is up to date (watchOS 10.1.1).

Any ideas why I can't Gesture? Is there some other setting I need to adjust first?

[–] MiepGies1945@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I wish double tap switched watch faces.

[–] eggsaladsandwichism@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Turned it off after a couple of weeks due to it not working half the time.

[–] plazman30@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Don't use it. I keep forgetting it's there. If I force myself to use it, I'll develop the muscle memory and I will find it to be more useful.

[–] Neuromancer2112@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I tried it once just to see if it did anything - it did pick up the double tap, but I didn't notice what it did, so I'll probably never use it...

[–] pjo336@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Havent used it a single time outside of "oh yeah i forgot about that, i should try it"

[–] detBittenbinder23@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I enjoy double tap mostly for selecting to start a workout when I’m on a walk and the watch asks me if I want to record it. It’s been pretty consistent for me, some times it won’t recognize it with gloves on but I just do it again with a little more umph and it will work. It’s helpful when I’m wearing a jacket and my right hand has to pull my sleeve up to show my watch.

I wish it wasn’t so slow though.

[–] googi14@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

As a loose / wedged wearer, that’s disappointing

[–] ClungeWhisperer@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

So far I’ve only used it while I’m walking with my coffee in one hand - i use siri voice command to start workout walk and double pinch gesture to hit start.

I see myself using it to dismiss things while driving or dismissing reminders. I struggle to get it to work if im not sotting or standing upright.

[–] Nipper275847@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I don’t use it. Don’t need it.

[–] radio_yyz@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Accessibility gestures here on 8, double clench i use a lot when paying or looking at things without touching the watch. Id probably use the double tap a lot once i switch to a newer watch.

[–] DeFaLT______@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

I use it to dismiss notification and stop timer (when it work). Since there's not Spotify integration to skip/pause music, it's pretty underwhelming

[–] Thanos0423@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago
[–] akotski1338@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Wasn’t double tap always a thing? I remember using it on my series 6 and it was also quite finicky and only worked half the time

[–] SpecializedMok@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

Dismiss timers when coming

[–] Active-Drive-7749@alien.top 1 points 2 years ago

i dunno why but gestures only work for me half of the time so i disabled them completely

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