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Here are all the ways to interact with the Apple Watch

Here are all the ways to interact with the Apple Watch

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This is too many ways

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Apple released its WatchKit SDK today, giving us our first glimpse at how developers will build apps for its forthcoming smartwatch. If there's one main takeaway, it's that using the Apple Watch requires you to understand a huge library of new interactions. A (non-exhaustive!) list:

  1. Short Look
  2. Long Look
  3. Glances
  4. Notification actions
  5. Vertical swipes
  6. Horizontal swipes
  7. Edge swipes
  8. Taps
  9. "Taptic Engine" haptic feedback
  10. Siri
  11. Force Touch
  12. Digital Crown scrolling
    Digital Crown button
  13. Single-click the side button to open Friends app
  14. Double-click the side button to use Apple Pay by waving watch at NFC reader

One of the best things about the iPod when it first came out was explaining how it worked — it was so simple, and people figured it out so fast. Same with the iPhone and iPad. You get the feeling that won't be the case with the Apple Watch.