Apple Drops Apple Watch Double-Click App Switching in watchOS 27 for 2 New Models
Updated
Updated · TrustedReviews · Sep 18
Apple Drops Apple Watch Double-Click App Switching in watchOS 27 for 2 New Models
3 articles · Updated · TrustedReviews · Sep 18
Summary
watchOS 27, released Sept. 14, removes the Digital Crown double-click shortcut that switched between the current and previous app, replacing it with the dynamic app grid.
Apple reassigned that gesture to Live Rewind, a new feature coming later this year on Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 that can transcribe the previous 15 seconds of spoken audio.
Older Apple Watch models still lose the shortcut when upgraded even though Live Rewind is hardware-dependent and unavailable to them, leaving no setting to restore app switching.
Series 12 and Ultra 4 go on sale Sept. 18, but users who dislike Live Rewind for privacy reasons also cannot keep the old double-click behavior, putting pressure on Apple to revisit the change.