Apple Watch update finally brings feature new buyers have been waiting for

Apple has finally released the headline feature of its new Watch.

The Apple Watch Series 9 was launched last month, alongside new iPhones and other products. But Apple said that its top feature – the ability to navigate the Watch without touching it, by pressing your fingers together in a gesture Apple calls “Double Tap” – was not actually available.

Apple said the feature would instead come later this year. And now with the latest software update numbered WatchOS 10.1, it has finally launched.

The feature will also come to the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Apple says that older Watches that lack the latest chip do not have the processing power to accurately recognise the gesture, and so it will not be available on those devices.

The new Double Tap feature is intended to be used when the user only has one hand free. Apple has pointed to the example of carrying a cup of coffee or walking a dog.

To use it, the Watch’s owner taps their two fingers together to select whatever is on screen. The Watch’s sensors are able to detect that gesture – using the accelerometer, gyroscope, and optical heart sensor – and the software will register it as an input.

That input allows users to take whatever action is displayed on screen, so long as it is in one of Apple’s apps. Pressing it will end a phone call, snooze an alarm, or replying to messages, for instance.

Apple has not said whether future updates will bring the option to use the feature with third-party apps. But for now, users can control notifications from third-party apps but not the apps themselves.

The feature is turned on by default but can be switched off in settings. It is automatically off in some apps, such as during workouts.