Have you ever seen a meme about someone who hangs a lot of things on their fingers for no reason at all? I’m not proud to admit it, but I am one of them. No matter how big the bag I carry, I always find my hands full, which makes it difficult to interact with my phone or my smart watch. And I’m not alone there. Therefore, voice-activated assistants and hands-free gestures have become very popular.

With the Apple Watch Series 9, the company has introduced a new method of interaction while adding another: double tap and lift to speak (for siri). It is also deployed on the Siri treatment device, which will allow you to ask assistants for health data and record daily statistics. This is enabled by the new s9 system in a package (sip) that powers the device, which means that it may not be available for older models on watchOS 10.

The 9 series also has a second-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) chip like that of the 1hone 15 series, which allows an updated interface when you ping your paired phone. From the outside, the new Apple Watch looks like it did before, but the new movement itself might be attractive enough to tempt some of you to keep upgrading this year.

Press Twice

Full disclosure: Due to a series of FedEx accidents, I was unable to receive a separate sample of my Apple Watch with double Tap enabled until yesterday. This means that I only spend about a day trying out new movements in the real world. To be clear, the feature will not be available on watches shipped on September 22 and will be activated by radio link in October. Apple is sending reviewers additional units with double tap enabled for coverage and testing purposes, in addition to the actual devices that will be aimed at consumers. But, don’t worry, the rest of this review is based on the Series 9 that I’ve been working on since last Sunday’s Apple event. It was just a double-pressure sample that I received last. Still, I already have a superior idea of when and how it is useful.

When both hands, or at least the watch hands, are busy, double pressing will obviously not be useful. You should at least have a thumb and forefinger available to catch it. But when I’m cleaning my apartment, taking a side plank, lifting a single dumbbell, or reading a book, these movements make my life easier. In fact, I did it just for the fun of continuing to scroll Reddit on my phone in my right hand without having to put the device down to slide something on my left wrist.

The 9 series is good enough to recognize when I caught a quick double, but it took me some effort to find the right rhythm. You can’t touch it too quickly or too subtly, otherwise it won’t register. I dislike it when companies tell us that we are doing something wrong, but in this matter, when we learn a new move, I tend to go to work.

Apple uses a combination of data from accelerometers, gyroscopes and optical heart rate monitors to detect movements and changes in blood flow. This allows the clock to know the difference, for example, when you touch your middle finger with your pointer finger. I was able to trigger a double tapping by pretending to cut my thumb and index finger, and also by cutting the side of the finger instead of the pads.

It is also a good time to clarify that the Double Tap is very different from the Assistive Touch, which was introduced on watchOS. The latter is an accessible feature that has been available for many years on iOS, and allows people with different mobility needs to interact with their respective operating systems. You will have to go to the settings to activate it on your watch, then you can use gestures like pinch and squeeze to navigate. Double clamping will activate the auxiliary key, which will display a preview of the item on the screen. Then the pinching will go through the individual elements, and the squeezing will act as a tapping on them.