watchOS 27.2 beta 2 brings back the Apple Watch app switcher with a new gesture

And, in watchOS 27, Apple removed the shortcut that opened the switch with a double-click on the digital crown, a change that the most veteran users of the watch did not like at all, accustomed to jumping between recent apps with that quick gesture. watchOS 27.2 beta 2 doesn't restore that exact shortcut, but it does bring back the full feature through a new gateway: long-pressing the bottom of the screen.

This is how the switch opens with the new touch gesture

To access recent apps you no longer need to touch the crown: all you have to do is long press the bottom of the screen while you are inside any application. When you do this, the interface appears with the list of recently used apps, ready to navigate between them without leaving the context in which you were.

Once the switch is open, the internal handling barely changes compared to previous versions of watchOS: you turn the digital crown to scroll through the cards of recent apps and, if you swipe left on one of them, the button appears x to close it and remove it from the list. So the real difference is only in how you invoke the function, not how you use it once you have it in front of you. If you had already gotten used to this mechanic in previous generations of the watch, you won't have to learn anything new except the input gesture.

Why the crown double click is still stuck

The reason behind this decision is not official, but the most commented leaks suggest that Apple would be reserving the double click for its future function. Audio Intelligencestill unconfirmed by the company. For now, this physical gesture maintains its current use: pressing the crown continues to open the dynamic grid of apps that arrived with watchOS 27.

That grid recommends five applications based on your activity and location, in addition to offering quick access to Siri and the entire app drawer. With the switch back, the Apple Watch now combines two different navigation systems: one designed to discover relevant apps at all times, and another to recover at a glance what you were using seconds before. In any case, the correction comes after long-time watch users criticized the disappearance of the shortcut since they installed watchOS 27, losing the fastest way to return to the previous app without going through the entire application drawer.

When will watchOS 27.2 arrive in its final version

watchOS 27.2 is still in beta for developers, so there is no guarantee that the gesture will remain exactly the same until the stable version arrives. The dates that circulate place its public launch between end of October and beginning of Novemberin line with Apple's usual update schedule for its operating systems.

If you've been using the Apple Watch for weeks without the switch, beta 2 is the first way to get it back, although it will force you to get used to a new gesture after years of double-clicking burned into muscle memory. Let's see if Apple polishes the mechanics a little more in the next betas before the function reaches all users, because at the moment the gesture change is the only drawback we can take away from this return. Meanwhile, anyone who has the beta installed can now try it first-hand on their Apple Watch.