As is often the case with upcoming iOS updates for iPhones, there is a lot that is revealed on the stage at the annual WWDC keynote. And there is a lot that isn’t. That seems to be the case this time as well, and it seems Apple has left some things unsaid, ripe to be discovered by people who may be testing out the iOS 14 developer beta version that is available. One such new feature is called Back Tap. It turns out that your iPhone, when running iOS 14, will be able to respond to taps on the back for custom tasks. It is an accessibility feature, and fully customizable for two taps on the back of the iPhone, or three taps on the back of the iPhone. iOS 14 officially releases later this year for all users.
If you are one of those brave souls who is already testing the developer beta of iOS 14, you can head to Settings -> Accessibility -> Back Tap to configure what two taps or three taps would do. In a way, Back Taps is a feature that would be helpful for those with limited motor skills, but really, pretty much everyone could set this up to do a task quickly. The possibilities include setting these up to take screenshots, put the phone on mute, open a particular app, start an Apple Music playlist or even a lot of HomeKit customization that could include activating shortcuts to manage the smart lights in your home. It is a fairly wide canvas of possibilities, but a lot will depend on how deeply Apple integrates Back Tap.
One thing that does worry us is the possibility of false positives in case the phone bumps against something else as you keep it on the table or slide it into your chinos pocket. Or how well this works when you may have a thick case slapped on your iPhone. At this time, it isn’t clear which iPhones will support the Back Tap feature, or if at all this will make it to the final version of iOS 14 when it releases later this year.
Hat tip to Federico Viticci for sharing the Back Tap details on Twitter
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