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Dumb question about haptic and map directions....

Attirex

Attirex

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 8, 2015
1,052
3,007
Hey, guys:

Per the official Apple Watch user guide, haptic taps for indicating left and right turns (apparently) works as follows:

"Follow directions. After you tap Start and head off on your first leg, Apple Watch uses taps to let you know when to turn. A steady series of 12 taps means turn right at the intersection you’re approaching; three pairs of two taps means turn left."

However, in my (somewhat limited) experience, I swear I feel only three taps, regardless of direction to be turned. Am I doing it wrong? Am I just not sensing the different sets of taps? It's quite possible this is user performance error, as I'm kind of a moron.

Thanks!
 
My experience with this is varied..and honestly I'm not sure what taps mean what anymore. They are different quite often. I don't think I've ever felt 12 taps though!
 
I can definitely tell the difference but because they are unexpected I can never remember which are which
 
Anyone finding that the haptics for directions sometimes doesn't work because the phone display woke itself up to display the turn notification?
 
This is my experience:

a right turn is: tap, tap, tap, tap, tap......

a left turn is: tap tap, tap tap, tap tap....

I do not think there is a 12 tap, 6 tap like apple says. If it is this hard for people to tell a left from right turn, or you have to actively think about what the taps mean, it does not work like it should. They should just do taps for right and a long hold for left.
 
mattopotamus said:
This is my experience:

a right turn is: tap, tap, tap, tap, tap......

a left turn is: tap tap, tap tap, tap tap....

I do not think there is a 12 tap, 6 tap like apple says. If it is this hard for people to tell a left from right turn, or you have to actively think about what the taps mean, it does not work like it should. They should just do taps for right and a long hold for left.
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is the watch always beeps 6 time regardless of whether it's right or left (people can correct me if I'm wrong, as I have always have my iPhone and Watch on mute). That's why it's advisable to mute the sound until you train yourself to discriminate the difference in taps.

It's the actual haptic pattern that's different. Right is continuous taps whereas left is a series of taps with a couple of pause in between. Don't bother counting the number of taps because they're too fast.
 
And eventually it just clicks. First few days I was trying to count that taps, after a week I just knew were to turn, works well even for roundabouts and exits on the motorway (in the UK)
 
I have the sound off.

Mine is definitely distinct. Left is tap, pause, tap, pause, tap.

Right is tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, etc. quickly.

It's very distinct to me. Do you have prominent haptic on?
 
rijc99 said:
Anyone finding that the haptics for directions sometimes doesn't work because the phone display woke itself up to display the turn notification?
Click to expand...

I tried it while driving yesterday. My phone was locked, but it seemed like every time I approached a turn the lock screen would light up and show me the next turn. After each turn, the phone would sleep again.

Meanwhile, the watch was tapping it's little heart out. No idea what it was trying to tell me. "Look at your phone, dummy!", maybe? :)

I'll try it again when I'm not in a hurry.
 
I used it for the first time today. First off, it takes FOREVER to load the directions. After that, it's just a lot of confusing tapping, some of it coming WAY before my actual turns. IMO it wasn't useful, though I can see the potential for it once it's been refined a bit more.
 
I think it works this way. If the sound is on, you receive a haptic tap of several taps and audio that is ascending in pitch for a right turn and descending in pitch for a left turn.

If you set the watch on silent mode, you receive 12 taps for a right turn, or a series of three pairs of double taps for a left turn.

I tried this out this weekend and it seem to be consistent. Let me know if any of you have experience different patterns.
 
99turbo said:
I think it works this way. If the sound is on, you receive a haptic tap of several taps and audio that is ascending in pitch for a right turn and descending in pitch for a left turn.

If you set the watch on silent mode, you receive 12 taps for a right turn, or a series of three pairs of double taps for a left turn.

I tried this out this weekend and it seem to be consistent. Let me know if any of you have experience different patterns.
Click to expand...

Thank you! This explains a lot and replicates the behavior I've noticed.
 
Last edited:
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