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The Apple Watch lets you touch yourself

Published May 7th, 2015 9:30AM EDT
Apple Watch Features

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Earlier this week, we told you about a new subsection on the popular site Reddit where lonely Apple Watch users can go to find people to send their heartbeats to. Apple’s new watch includes a nifty feature that will measure your heart rate and send the beat to another Watch owner, but the device is so hard to come by that many people don’t have any friends who own one.

The “lonelyheartbeats” subreddit is nice, but what happens if you get really, really lonely? As it turns out, the Apple Watch lets you (digital) touch yourself.

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“Digital Touch” is a feature on the Apple Watch that is similar to the aforementioned heartbeat function, but it’s more flexible. With Digital Touch, you can tap out a pattern on your Apple Watch’s display that is then transmitted to your friend. The taptics motor on his or her Watch will vibrate in the exact same pattern you tapped out on your Watch, and then your friend can respond.

But what happens if you don’t have any friends with an Apple Watch?

As it turns out, there’s a little trick that lets you use the Digital Touch feature to send taps, drawings or even your heartbeat to yourself. And ironically, perhaps, we discovered the trick on the lonelyheartbeats subreddit.

To use the Digital Touch feature on yourself, simply open the Apple Watch companion app on your iPhone and add your own contact information to one of the slots on your Friends list. Then choose that contact on the Watch and send some taps. When you’re done tapping out a pattern, you’ll feel the same pattern tapped back to you a moment later.

Hopefully at some point in the near future, Apple will manage to have enough Watches built to meet demand. In the meantime, have fun Digital Touching yourself.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.