Main points
- watchOS 10.4 brings quality of life improvements and new emoji.
- New features include a “Tap to show full notification” setting and adjustments to Apple Pay.
- Fixed bug with hallucinatory touch and contact sync issues.
After weeks of beta testing, Apple today released watchOS 10.4 to Apple Watch owners around the world, adding new features and bug fixes on top of the previous watchOS 10 software release. The new software update is compatible with all the same models, including the latest Apple Watch Ultra 2 and Apple Watch Series 9, and is free and available to everyone.
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Like most of Apple’s a la carte releases, watchOS 10.4 doesn’t bring too many earth-shattering features, but it does add some notable quality-of-life improvements. This could also be one of Apple’s last major updates before launching its next big product, watchOS 11, at WWDC 2024 later this year.
Evolution, not revolution
Like every other software update Apple is delivering to iPhones, iPads, and Macs this week, watchOS 10.4 adds support for a number of new emojis for those who already use them. Additions include a brown mushroom, a phoenix and a broken chain, while there are also two bobble heads to make it easier to say “yes” or “no” without having to type in words etc. The full list was finalized in September as part of Unicode 15.1.
On the feature front, Apple Watch users can now enable “Tap to show full notification settings,” allowing them to double-tap to expand notifications. Apple has also tweaked how Apple Pay works, noting in the company’s release notes that “Using Apple Pay with AssistiveTouch’s Confirm feature will require a passcode for increased security and will not support double-clicking the side button.”
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Additionally, Apple has added the option to disable the Apple Watch’s double-tap feature when using the Apple Vision Pro, a gesture that some people find easy to accidentally trigger when using a spatial computer. For those who don’t know, Vision Pro uses finger clicks instead of mouse clicks.
The update includes several bug fixes worth mentioning, starting with an issue that caused some users to experience ghost touches on the Apple Watch display. Finally, Apple says that an issue that prevented contacts from syncing correctly has now been fixed.
Users with a compatible Apple Watch model can now download watchOS 10.4 through the software update mechanism within the Watch app on iPhone.