Get watchOS 10.4 update to fix false Apple Watch screen touch and Double Tap issues
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Apple is on a software update spree with watchOS 10.4, macOS Sonoma 14.4, tvOS 17.4, visionOS 1.1, and even HomePod software 17.4 bringing new features and bug fixes across the ecosystem.
After the grand iOS 17.4 update that brought unprecedented opening of Apple's walled software garden, it's now time for the venerable Watch line to get some much-needed feature and interaction experience improvements, too.
New watchOS 10.4 update features
- 28 new emojis
- Tap to Show Full Notification
- Apple Pay passcode
First, the important things. With watchOS 10.4, your Apple Watch now gets to display 28 cool new emojis in iMessage or other chat apps on the wearable.
In addition, Apple says that "watchOS 10.4 includes new features, improvements, and bug fixes," and chief among those might be the new Tap to Show Full Notification function. While this simply allows you to double tap on the Apple Watch display to expand the notification, it is a much needed easy-of-use update that users have been clamoring for.
Another Watch interaction addition deals with security while using Apple Pay on your Watch. The Confirm with AssistiveTouch option will now ask for a passcode instead of relying on double-clicking of the side button to authorize Apple Watch payment that can be abused.
False Apple Watch touch and contacts sync fix
Speaking of security and bug fixes, the big one in the watchOS 10.4 update is the Apple Watch "ghost touch" problem resolution. The software team from Cupertino somehow managed to adjust the Apple Watch touchscreen sensitivity to prevent the infamous false touches that a lot of Apple Watch users are intimately familiar with.
A fairly recent phenomenon, the Apple Watch false touch bug made the screen content moving on its own with no finger input from the user. At times, the issue was so bad that some Apple Watch owners were getting locked out of their accounts while trying to unsuccessfully key in their passcodes.
Apple doesn't say what was behind the Watch ghost touch issues that made the screen move around all by itself, and simply lists that the watchOS 10.4 update "resolves an issue that causes some users to experience false touches on the display."
The other big bug fix that comes with the watchOS 10.4 update is the Apple Watch not syncing contacts for "some users," as Apple made some unidentified communication issue resolutions to remedy this.
Apple Watch and Vision Pro double tap finger gesture
Besides the false touch issue, Apple also resolved a potential conflict between two of its fairly new devices and features. If you are wearing an Apple Watch and using the Vision Pro "spatial computer" AR/VR headset, the finger gesture conflict has now been fixed.
With the Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, Apple brought the Double Tap gesture to control and navigate your smart timepiece. Coincidentally, it also made pinching your fingers a mainstay of Vision Pro navigation as well.
Fast-forward to shortly after the Vision Pro release, and now Apple has realized that wearing a Watch and Vision Pro together can result in unintended commands to either of them. In watchOS 10.4, a new Ignore Double Tap option can be switched on for the time when you are using Apple Vision Pro together with the Apple Watch.
"When this is on, the double tap gesture will be temporarily ignored while using Vision Pro," tips Apple. The only real Apple Watch bother that needs to be fixed now is the excruciatingly slow pace of the watchOS updates that often results in all your Apple gear's software being up-to-date already while your Watch is still applying minor features and ironing out bugs for too long of a time.
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