[gnicholas]

The gesture thing (double tap?) seemed like an odd announcement, since they pretty much already announced that feature a year ago. They tried to tie this feature to the AW9, as if the new processor made it possible. But it seems basically identical to the accessibility feature they announced last year: https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/use-hand-gestures-control-a...

[AnonC]

The double pinch recognition (enabled in Accessibility) seems a bit hit or miss on Apple Watch 8. Maybe they improved it a lot more in Apple Watch 9, because in the event they mentioned the use of the gyroscope, accelerometer and heart rate sensor to detect the motion.

[gnicholas]

I imagine it will be a better experience, but it's a bit deceptive to talk about it like it's a new feature, when it's really just an improvement of an existing feature. And I wonder if the new OS update will improve the performance of this feature on older AWs.

[AnonC]

> And I wonder if the new OS update will improve the performance of this feature on older AWs.

Given Apple’s way of adding new features as exclusive to new devices or making some features better in new devices, I believe it’s quite unlikely that older Apple Watches will see any improvement on this gesture.

[gnicholas]

I generally agree, but if this was an accessibility feature that was not fully-baked at launch, I could see them improving it quietly on all devices.

[nmlt]

They also said something about analyzing blood flow for the gesture, I think.