Today, at its big iPhone 15 launch event, Apple also unveiled the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, and the most interesting feature is called “Double Tap.” Simply pinch your fingers together, right there in thin air, and you can control your Apple Watch screen without even touching it. It’s a fun little gimmick, handy for when your hands are full. But it’s actually all about Apple Vision Pro.
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For as long as virtual reality has been a mainstream product, there has been a big user interface challenge: How do you control it? Meta’s Quest 2 and Valve’s “Vive” and “Index” headsets have historically used handheld controllers with traditional buttons and some finger-sensing tech. Announced earlier this year, Apple’s Vision Pro headset took a different approach, using external cameras to track the motion of your hands directly.
With the new Double Tap feature on the Apple Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Apple is exploring a new way to use the movement of your hands as input. While Apple didn’t explain exactly how it works, it almost certainly uses the watch’s accelerometer to carefully process the movement of your wrist and hands.
Why does this matter? For one, it will give Apple a ton of extra data on how people use gestures like this, as well as how they are executed physiologically. But perhaps more importantly, it will give developers a reason to start implementing hands-free pinch gestures into apps far ahead of the Vision Pro’s official launch, and even if their apps have nothing to do with Apple’s expensive and niche “spatial computer.”
What’s more, it’s an opportunity to train us as well. By the time Apple Vision Pro hits store shelves (and potentially the mainstream, after a few years and a few versions), anyone with an up-to-date Apple Watch will already be well-versed in using their bare hands to navigate devices. That’ll only make the Apple Vision Pro feel more intuitive and natural, and other devices that still use controllers feel awkward and alien.