On a Tuesday in early February 2024, Apple placed a second test version of its watchOS 10.4 update into the hands of developers, only a week after the first. It is a small step in a long, patient process by which software is shaped before ordinary people ever touch it. Behind the new emoji and the gesture-based characters lies a quieter concern: when one device's hand movements begin to crowd another's, the maker must decide which motion gets to speak. The answer arriving here, a setting that lets users silence the Double Tap gesture when wearing Vision Pro, hints at how carefully companies no
Apple Seeds Second watchOS 10.4 Beta to Developers, One Week After the First
A lime, a phoenix, and a setting to keep gestures from colliding
On a Tuesday in early February 2024, Apple placed a second test version of its watchOS 10.4 update into the hands of developers, only a week after the first. It is a small step in a long, patient process by which software is shaped before ordinary people ever touch it. Behind the new emoji and the gesture-based characters lies a quieter concern: when one device's hand movements begin to crowd another's, the maker must decide which motion gets to speak. The answer arriving here, a setting that lets users silence the Double Tap gesture when wearing Vision Pro, hints at how carefully companies now stitch together their growing families of devices.
On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, Apple sent the second beta of watchOS 10.4 to developers, one week after the first. The quick turnaround keeps the update moving through its testing stages.
Getting the beta onto a watch takes deliberate steps. Developers open the Apple Watch app, head to General and then Software Update, and switch on the watchOS 10 Developer Beta toggle. Because it depends on an Apple ID tied to a developer account, ordinary users are left out. Once enabled, the update downloads from the same screen, but the watch needs at least 50 percent battery and must rest on a charger during installation.
The update brings new emoji, including lime, an edible brown mushroom, a phoenix, and a broken chain, along with two gesture characters: a vertical head shake for "yes" and a horizontal one for "no."
The most telling addition ties to Apple's newest hardware. A Vision Pro setting lets users disable Double Tap on Apple Watch, because its hand gestures may interfere with the headset's own controls. The change suggests Apple is smoothing gesture conflicts across its products before the update reaches the public. Whether more betas follow remains open, but the next release will show how the 10.4 feature list continues to take shape.
On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, Apple pushed out the second beta of watchOS 10.4 to developers. It arrived one week after the first beta of the same update, a quick turnaround that keeps the software moving along its testing path.
Getting the beta onto a watch takes a few deliberate steps. A developer opens the Apple Watch app, goes into General settings, and finds the Software Update section. There, a toggle for the watchOS 10 Developer Beta has to be switched on. The process requires an Apple ID tied to a developer account, so it is not open to ordinary users.
Once the beta channel is enabled, the watchOS 10.4 update can be downloaded from that same Software Update screen. Installation comes with two physical conditions. The Apple Watch must have at least 50 percent battery, and it has to be sitting on an Apple Watch charger while the software installs.
The update itself carries a handful of visible changes. New emoji are part of it: a lime, an edible brown mushroom, a phoenix, and a broken chain. Two gesture-based characters are also included, one showing a head shaking vertically, the familiar "yes" nod, and another shaking horizontally, a "no" head shake.
The other notable addition is tied to Apple's newest hardware. A setting related to Vision Pro lets users turn off the Double Tap feature on Apple Watch. The reason given is that the hand gestures used for Double Tap might interfere with the headset's own hand-based controls.
That setting suggests Apple is working through gesture conflicts between its products before the update reaches the public. Whether further betas bring more changes remains to be seen, but the next release in the sequence will show how the 10.4 feature list continues to take shape.
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