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?

  • unfunfionn@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I like the feature but find it unreliable and the implementation is a bit messy for my liking. I use it for timers (when it works, which is usually after 2-3 attempts) and for dismissing notifications. The issues I’m having:

    • It doesn’t dismiss timers at the first attempt, it always takes 2-3
    • For many notifications, it doesn’t dismiss them, it opens them. I find this really inconsistent and rarely what I want, since double tap means I can’t use both hands and opening a notification is more interaction than I’ve already indicated I’m capable of at that moment
    • I don’t find the widgets/stacks useful. I would much rather double tap to open and scroll through the notification list. I put two weather widgets in the stack to at least make double tap slightly useful for now.
    • For my morning alarm, the screen doesn’t always wake up immediately and double tap doesn’t work when the screen is asleep, so this is a bit pointless. It feels like a bug though.
    • Why can I start a workout with double tap but I can’t end one? At least show me the screen with the End and Pause buttons and let me double tap End, then it’s relatively certain I’m not ending it by accident.
  • bbristow6@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Using it to pause/play either my music or whatever’s playing on my Apple TV is super handy. Also my side button is basically shot because it’s all filled with crap, so using the double palm tap+double palm tap+finger tap+double palm tap is “handy” to get to my control center. Yes I typed out all the steps because it is pretty annoying how many steps it takes

  • A_TalkingWalnut@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I’ve been using it for months via the accessibility options. I love it and it’s become second-nature.

  • JHCL56@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I was excited for it but the Accessibility version, which I just discovered a few weeks ago, seems better 😕 I might switch back to the Assistive for now as Double Tap just seems to annoy me atm

  • Ubelsteiner@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Well… it’s helped me spontaneously skip 30 seconds ahead in my podcasts when I’m least expecting to.

    I wish it could just be used to control notifications instead. If a notification comes in, just use double tap to dismiss and move on to the next notification (if there is one). If a notification came in a little while ago and I raise my wrist and it’s just showing the watch face, I’d like to double tap to pull down the notification shade to see the last notification.

    Really though, I think it would be more convenient if Apple implemented wrist gestures, like Android Wear used to have. Double twist the wrist one way and it brings up the widgets, the other way brings up notifications - double twisting again in the same direction will scroll through whichever you’re looking at. Then the double tap feature could just be used for selection of a notification, wrist gestures could be used again to scroll through the notification and then to cycle between a few options like “dismiss”, “reply with voice”, “reply with text”, with double tap again functioning as select. Multiple notifications could be read, replied to or dismissed without having to use your other hand (or nose).

  • PlatypusTrapper@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    The back tap or double tap on iPhones is really inconsistent for me. I’d be surprised if it worked any better on the watch.

  • mno86@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Apple Watch has not been useful to me since the last watchOS update made the changes it did.

  • Qwerky42O@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Yeah, when I remember that it is there. I’ve used an AW since 2018 and this feature is only a couple months old. Gonna have to train myself. But it is rather nice when I do remember it, makes replying to messages much easier.

  • Comfortable_End1350@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Tried it but it isn’t consistent enough for me. Don’t want to look like an idiot double tapping multiple times in a row. I have the ultra 2

    My wife has more success with it on her series9 and it is handy when you’re outdoor with gloves on etc.

  • adom86@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    It’s a piece of poop. Worked first time by chance then look like an absolute fool for a few mins trying to get it to work again. Totally forgot about it to be honest.

    I guess my band is on the loser side so would explain it like you said.