Apple Watch double tap feature: How to use, set up process, and more

Apple Watch

With watchOS 10.1, Apple introduced a fast and convenient way to interact with Apple Watch — the double tap gesture. Users can tap the index finger and thumb of their watch hand together twice to quickly perform many of the most common actions. Apple has other existing gestures like tap, swipe, raise to wake, and cover to mute that make Apple Watch easy to use. Wondering how double tap on Apple Watch works? Here’s a step-by-step guide. But before that, a few things to keep in mind

• Double tap works on Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 using just one hand and without touching the display.
• You will need an iPhone XS or later models running iOS 17 and above.

How to enable Double Tap on Apple Watch

1.Open the Settings app on your Apple Watch.

2.Scroll down and select Gestures.

3.Tap Double Tap, then switch it On.

4.If an alert appears, tap Turn Off Accessibility Features to proceed.

5. Customise your Double Tap settings:

•Playback: Choose between Play/Pause or Skip.

•Smart Stack: Set it to Advance or Select based on your preference.

How to enable Double Tap using iPhone

1.Open the Watch app on your iPhone.

2.Make sure you’re on the My Watch tab.

3.Select Gestures, then tap Double Tap.

4.Toggle the Double Tap switch to On.

5.If a prompt appears, tap Turn Off Accessibility Features to continue.

6. Customise the settings to your preference:

•Playback: Choose between Play/Pause or Skip.

•Smart Stack: Set it to Advance or Select.

Apple says the double tap gesture works anytime the display is awake. The feature is available all day long with minimal impact to the 18-hour battery life on Apple Watch Series 9 or the 36-hour battery life on Apple Watch Ultra 2, claims Apple.