Hands-On Apple 245 transcript
Please be advised that this transcript is AI-generated and may not be word-for-word. Time codes refer to the approximate times in the ad-free version of the show.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:00]:
Press the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch right now and you know exactly what you'll get. It's your apps. This fall, well, that stops being true because watchOS 27 puts a new screen behind that press. And if you've ever blinked on which button opens Control Center versus the Smart Stack versus Siri, well, then you're like me and this is the update that will scramble what little muscle memory you had. So before it ships, before we get there, let's go ahead and rebuild this whole mental map from scratch. It comes down to one sentence: press for apps, turn for widgets, side for control, hold for Siri. Stay tuned. Podcasts you love.
Mikah Sargent [00:00:48]:
From people you trust. This is TWiT. Hello and welcome to Hands On Apple. I am Micah Sargent, and today we are taking a look at your Apple Watch because, as I mentioned during the cold open, watchOS 27's right around the corner. And I know that I'm not alone in struggling to figure out how in the world to make the buttons and the presses lock into my brain. So we're gonna talk about it today because it's likely that you kind of know part of the mental map of how to set this up and what you, uh, what you can do with each of the buttons. So, uh, let's head over to iOS to take a look. All right, here we are on iOS, and the reason why I said iOS and not watchOS is because we're going to use the Apple Watch mirroring feature.
Mikah Sargent [00:01:53]:
So I'm going to, uh, triple-click the side button to bring up our accessibility shortcuts and turn on Apple Watch mirroring. Now, I tested this earlier, so we should get a connection here. I'm very hopeful. And we did. Yay. And let's talk about the kind of the 4 things that you reach for regularly. It's apps, it's the Smart Stack, it's Control Center, and it is Siri. And well, 3 of them out of those 4 get a button.
Mikah Sargent [00:02:23]:
First, what happens if we press the Digital Crown? Well, pressing the Digital Crown, this brings up A new app screen that is dynamic. This is the sort of dynamic app switcher that gives you the ability to choose some of your most used apps or tapping the little button at the bottom. And remember, this is in the next version of watchOS. Pressing that little button at the bottom will bring up your list of apps. Now, what happens if we press the Digital Crown again, it takes us back to the home screen. If we hold down the Digital Crown, that activates Siri on the Apple Watch. And if we scroll up on the Digital Crown, that brings up the wonderful set of Smart Stack options. And if we press the side button, boop, that brings up Control Center.
Mikah Sargent [00:03:31]:
And within Control Center, we're able to, of course, scroll with the Digital Crown through our options in Control Center. So again, one click on the Digital Crown brings up our app switcher. A swipe or a scroll up on the Digital Crown brings up the Smart Stack. A press of the side button brings up Control Center. Oh, I should also mention that a double press on the side button brings up Apple Pay, and pressing and holding the side button gives you access to both Emergency SOS and Power. Yeah, it gets a little bit confusing. Oh, and then if you've got an Apple Watch Ultra, you've also got an Action Button that you can set up to do what you like. Moving along, let's talk about this new Dynamic App Grid, which again is activated how? By clicking the side or the Digital Crown once.
Mikah Sargent [00:04:34]:
See, we gotta be careful there. Now, when you press that Digital Crown, 5 app icons, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all surround the Siri icon in the middle. And these app icons are chosen by both recency and context, so it's a little bit smart. That's what makes it dynamic. The idea is that these are going to be the apps that you're likely to use the most, and so having to scroll through that huge grid is just not as easy. In order to kind of see what else is going, you can actually just turn your Digital Crown up to access your full list of apps. So clicking the Digital Crown and swiping up takes you to your list of apps. Swiping back down brings you back to the dynamic.
Mikah Sargent [00:05:26]:
Of course, you can tap the— if we scroll down all the way, there's a grid view option here. Oh, nice. if you like grid view instead of list view. So we tap the Digital Crown and we are taken to our dynamic app list, and then tapping the button at the bottom brings up the grid view. I like the list view, so we'll switch it back to that. Now, bearing that in mind, there isn't a setting currently to turn off the dynamic app grid. Don't know if that's going to change, but as it is, this is here. If you organized your original grid deliberately, well then keep in mind that you can get to the grid simply by clicking and then swiping up.
Mikah Sargent [00:06:25]:
That said, we don't know for sure yet if this will be in the— if it will be something that's going to allow it to be changed in the final version. That may very well be the case. Speaking of muscle memory, there are some gestures as well that's part of the experience. You may already know about double tap, which is where you pinch your index finger and your thumb together twice, and if there's nothing on screen, then it takes you to the Smart Stack. If there's something on screen like a call or music, then double tapping by taking your fingers and pinching twice will let you view the Smart Stack. While you're in the Smart Stack, 2 pinches will take you to the next item in your Smart Stack. But what's new in watchOS 27 is the ability, let's go back actually to the, this, well, let's do— Settings. We'll do this reminder and tapping once.
Mikah Sargent [00:07:37]:
Okay, I think it's between, so it's not— there we go. Tapping once will actually pull open that item and let you view it. So on top of the double tap, there's now a single tap gesture. The third gesture does let you flick your wrist away, sort of like flipping your wrist back and away will dismiss, silence, or back out of a screen. But I find that one to be a little bit less, I don't know, doable in public without it looking like you're swatting away flies or something. So again, turn the crown for the Smart Stack or double tap to access the Smart Stack. Pinch twice or double tap to move through those items. And then of course, tapping once will bring you to that specific app within the Smart Stack.
Mikah Sargent [00:08:32]:
Now, the— it's important to understand too that single tap is only going to work while you're inside of the Smart Stack. So it's not something that is accessible elsewhere. And honestly, I think that's good because it's a lot more likely that you'll accidentally do a single tap. than you are to do a double tap. And being able to kind of move through, I think people forget about those gestures. They're really cool, really fun to play around with. So I want to do a little bit of a review here as we kind of move forward into the new way of things. Remember that I had the sentence for you: press for apps, turn For widgets, side— that side button— for control, and hold to activate Siri.
Mikah Sargent [00:09:29]:
So that's press for apps, turn for widgets, side for control, hold for Siri. That is something that's a little mantra that's playing through my head as I get used to the new way of doing things in watchOS. And of course, I always like to leave you with a little bit of homework. So before watchOS 27 ships this fall, go ahead and run that one-handed loop thing. You know, the crown turn or the pinch pinch and then the pinch pinch and then the pinch pinch. And maybe you'll get really good at the wrist flick too and be able to do it subtly. Think about looking at the different parts of the control, if you're— of the Apple Watch, if you're having trouble with that muscle memory. So saying that little mantra, press for apps, turn for widgets, side for control, hold for Siri.
Mikah Sargent [00:10:19]:
It's one of those things that's going to kind of keep you locked in. And hey, here's something for you. If you are someone who has figured out a different mantra, or perhaps you've got a mnemonic for this, please do let me know in the Club Twit Discord. Give me a shout and tell me how you have remembered the different options that you have in front of you. Uh, the Smart Stack, I'm still getting used to it. It's been around for a while. I'm still getting used to it. But with this muscle memory in place, I think it'll be better.
Mikah Sargent [00:10:52]:
Thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Hands On Apple. I will of course be back next week with another episode, but until then, it is time to say goodbye. Goodbye.
