Week 361 was posted by Charanjit Chana on 2024-09-23.
Double Tap is one of those killer features of the Apple Watch now. One handed operation for getting through notifications as they come in or bringing up just-in-time information via the smart stack. In some apps it provides access to key functions too.
With watchOS 11 though, Apple have prioritised actioning notifications instead of dismissing them. For example, if you get a calendar notification with a location attached, the primary action is to open directions which is rarely what I would want to day-to-day. Not for meetings, maybe on holiday that would be useful, but I haven't found a way to revert back to making the dismiss option the one that is prioritised.
This is true for message notifications too, although maybe replying was always the prominent action, but apart from the first year after getting me Series 2, I very rarely interact with message notifications and defer to my phone for that. My use of WhatsApp has clearly changed a lot in the intervening 10 years as messages were usually 1-2-1 with people and rarely were there multiple texts coming in in quick succession.
I'll give it a chance as it is, but I do feel there should be a choice for how these notifications work. Even if it was configured per app.
Live Activities are great-ish
I was excited to see Live Activities make it to the watch and they work exactly how I would want.. but they are too prominent by default because once they're there, the Smart Stack stays visible. Luckily, this is configurable, and I'm happy to double tap to bring the Live Activities up. There is a state where they appear over the watch face, but I haven't figured out why or how long because eventually (pretty quickly I think) they disappear into the Smart Stack.
Overall, there's not much that's changed really in watchOS 11, but Double Tap feels like it was re-defined rather than refined.
Update
Auto-launching media apps
Since starting the write up for this article, I hadn't noticed the situation with audio apps. Previously apps like Podcasts, Music or even Amazon Music could launch on the watch giving you access to controls immediately. Annoying at first, but actually when you're out and about, exactly what you need. That's gone and been replaced by a Live Activity in the Smart Stack instead. All you can do is play and pause which is actually the action I use least. Now it requires a tap to launch, either from the icon in the notification area, or by bringing up the Smart Stack first. I don't mind change, but not having the options to choose the best experience for you is frustrating.
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