After watchOS 10 side button opens control center and not my recent apps

I guess you now quickly double click the Digital Crown instead 🤷🏻

At this time the behaviour has changed and there is no way to reprogram the Side Button.

Point this out to Apple https://apple.com/feedback

nothing anyone here can do.

Thank you, that’s correct. Double click the crown and you will see your recent apps.

daisy0 wrote:

I'm so sad they did this. I can't find a fix for it and I liked my apple watch for my heart issues. I may switch to a Garmin instead at this point.

Apple does not read this user-to-user technical support forum for feedback.

But you can send Apple feedback via:

Feedback - Watch - Apple

If enough users send feedback, it is more likely a decision maker will see it, and maybe take action.

Functionally, swapping the right button with the swipe up function has made multitasking between apps much more difficult.

Since you cannot swipe up from within an app, first you have to return to the main watch face via the Digital Crown, then swipe up to get to recent apps, which are now at the bottom of the list, and there are only three. Having an Ultra and using it for workouts, I can no longer go from an active workout to a timer, stopwatch, or whatever with one click. Now it’s click for the main screen, then swipe up and scroll, then click. Worse is to go to the full app list and try to find your app while running, biking, whatever.

in my opinion, this change is a fail. Apple has taken a useful button for many apps and converted it to a quick method to change a few settings. Do people really need a button for airplane mode and silence? Please rethink this, Apple.

sw1573 wrote:

Absolutely horrible!! I hate it. What was the purpose? I can never get the double click. The button was just not designed for that. Come on Apple!

Getting the press and release timing just right can be an issue. You can make it more reliable by changing:

Settings -> Accessibility -> Side Button Click Speed

“Side Button Click Speed” can adjust the press and release timing, so you get the Control Center display every time. Adjusting The "Side Button Click Speed" is also useful for Apple Pay’s double press and release. There is “Default” (sub second timing of needed), “Slow” (up to a second between press and release), and “Slowest” (up to 2 seconds between press and release). I like the “Slow” setting.

NOTE: Slow and Slowest settings do not mean you have to wait a full second or 2 seconds between press and release. It just means you do not need to be super fast.

Apple Watch -> Settings -> Accessibility -> AssistiveTouch can be used to access things like:

o Control Center

o Apple Pay

o Emergency Services and the Power Off icon (labeled "Hold Side Button")

o and many other things...

Use AssistiveTouch on Apple Watch - Apple Support

Apple does not read this user-to-user technical support forum for feedback.

But you can send Apple feedback via:

Feedback - Watch - Apple

If enough users send feedback, it is more likely a decision maker will see it, and maybe take action.

Very frustrating! This may be tin foil hat stuff, but I think this is a ploy to get me to buy an Apple Watch Ultra. The old, take away a feature that works and only make it available on newer devices.

From the Apple support page, "Use the buttons and screen on your Apple Watch":

Press the side button...

"If you have Apple Watch Ultra or later, you can customize the Action button to access your favorite features quickly."

Tin foil hat jokes aside, this is not how the Action Button works on the Apple Watch Ultra. It only allows you to select the following options for assigning to the action button; The main distinction is that we are looking for access to "Favorite Apps" and the quote you posted mentions "Favorite Features".

Unfortunately this removal was done by watchOS 10, not the model of watch you own.

SaumilAher wrote:

Apple really needs to rethink the strategy with watch OS 10 update it was horrible mistake to interchange buttons, and should go back the side button fuction to app switch.

You need to tell Apple.

Feedback - Watch - Apple

I agree with you all. I use the control center all the time and having to push that side button all the time is annoying. Pushing a button in is much harder than swiping down a screen when you have arthritis. Hopefully they change this in the next update.

Still not as simple as click once on the side button under the crown. Why not make the double click crown the silent/airplane mode action? I get that one crown click is similar to two crown clicks in result (full list vs recent) but that big fat one-click easy access Ultra side button is the place for recent items, as it was before.

Have you ever tried to double click the crown in the middle or end of a run? Maybe it’s just me but I don’t always get the timing right and have to do it a few times to actually get to the recent app list.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Ultra is becoming nothing more than a larger watch version, rather than the Garmin competitor we were promised.

Getting n ultra isn’t by better. I loathe my Apple Watch now. Simple things that worked one way for years are no longer there. It is literally the entire reason I use my watch. It has been months and while I wear my watch every day still I use it’s functions less and less and I still try to go to short cuts the old way first every single time and then give n Ugh when I’m reminded it’s different lol. I have owned the 3,6, and now ultra and when it goes I think I will go. At the very least no more Apple Watch. If the y don’t work well together any more then I don’t need it.