Apple quietly killed one of the Apple Watch’s oldest tricks. The Digital Crown double-click action no longer switches between apps in watchOS 27, and longtime users already miss it.
The change lands in watchOS 27, and is related to a new feature in the brand-new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, but it is not limited to those models. So the gesture disappears for all those who update, and the feature meant to replace it won’t even work on most people’s devices.
What the Apple Watch Digital Crown double-click used to do
For years, Apple Watch users could double-click the Digital Crown, and the watch would swap between your current app and the last one you used. Either that or open the App Switcher showing recent apps.
For some, the gesture has become pure muscle memory, and many will now miss it after upgrading their Apple Watch to watchOS 27.
It was never a headline feature; neither did Apple advertise it in a keynote. It was simply one of the small, hidden tricks that normal users picked up over time.
Why Apple freed up the gesture
The reason ties to a new feature Apple planned for later this year for the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4. Called Live Rewind, it can transcribe the last 15 seconds of audio picked up by the watch.
Users are meant to activate it using the same double-click of the Digital Crown. The ease of convenience could be why Apple pulled it from app-switching duty across every watchOS 27 device.
Live Rewind is part of the broader Audio Intelligence feature set that also includes Siri Recap. But neither feature is live yet, even on brand-new hardware.
Who loses out, and what happens next
The timing seems to have created an odd gap for everyone. Older Apple Watch models, from the Series 9 onward, don’t support Live Rewind at all. The feature is locked to the newer chips inside the Series 12 and Ultra 4. Those owners also lose the app-switching shortcut and get nothing in return.
The new Series 12 and Ultra 4 owners are not better off at launch. Live Rewind won’t be available when the watches ship on September 18.
That means double-clicking the Digital Crown does the same thing as a single click for now. It opens the new dynamic app grid, showing five suggested apps with the Siri icon in the center.
Apple hasn’t said anything about bringing back the shortcut in a future update, though there will likely be calls from users for it to do so. But for now, longtime double-click users are stuck relearning old habits. Until then, the dynamic app grid is the closest thing Apple Watch owners have to their old multitasking trick.
Anurag Chawake is a tech-focused writer specializing in smartphones, apps and consumer technology. His interest in computers began during the Windows 98 era, eventually leading him to explore everything from operating systems to mobile devices and PC hardware. Anurag previously contributed to The Indian Express, covering Apple, Android, gaming and the broader technology landscape.
One response to “watchOS 27 kills the Digital Crown double-click, and Apple Watch owners aren’t happy”
I, and my daughter, just want them to put the Walkie-Talkie app back