WWDC 2020 – How to use Back Tap on iOS 14 to launch Google Assistant.
Apple is known for adding hidden features to its software that it never officially talks about on stage. With the announcement of iOS 14, the mobile OS has received some interesting updates such as sound recognition, better permission controls, widgets, and more. One of my favorites is Back Tap, which lets you start actions with a simple tap on the back of your iPhone. If you are interested in setting it up on iPhone, follow this guide.
Back Tap setting on iPhone
This feature is only available on all iPhones released after the iPhone X except the 2020 iPhone SE. You will also want to use iOS 14 on your iPhone, which you can do by following this guide.
After you update your iPhone, go to the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down to find Accessibility and tap to enter the menu. Under Physical & Motor, tap Touch Menu.
Scroll down and you will find the Back Tap option. You can set up double tap and triple tap and assign an action. For example, you can assign a screenshot to be taken, launch shortcuts, open applications to press “Back”.
In my case, I assigned Double Tap to launch the shortcut and Triple Tap to take a screenshot, because sometimes it’s easier.
Set up Google Assistant on iPhone with Back Tap
I like Siri, but Google Assistant is better at recognizing context. Apple, being Apple, doesn’t let you install a third-party Digital Assistant, but there is a neat workaround. We can’t launch apps with Back Tap directly, but we can use Siri Shortcuts to create a shortcut that launches Google Assistant every time we double-tap the back of the iPhone.
Go to the App Store and install the Google Assistant app if you haven’t already.
Next, we’re going to create a Siri shortcut for the Assistant, open the Siri Shortcuts app and press the + button to create a new shortcut. Click Add Action and search for Google Assistant. You will find several different actions, just select OK Google.
Now click Next, give the shortcut a suitable name and click Finish. That’s it, your label is ready. We just need to map it to the Double Tap action in Accessibility Settings.
Just go to Settings Accessibility Touch Back Double tap Shortcuts ** Your shortcut name **. That’s it, and now every time you double-tap on the back of your iPhone, it launches a shortcut, which in turn opens the Google Assistant app. Neat, right?
Last words
It was a quick way to set up Back Tap triggers on your iPhone. There are many possibilities to use this feature, but I mainly use it to take screenshots and call Google Assistant. And what about you? What are you going to map to Back Tap? Let me know in the comments below or drop me a line on Twitter.