Using bangle.js with gloves?

Hi! Yes, the lack of buttons on the Bangle is a bit frustrating if you're wearing gloves. It's something I'd like to try and fix in a later version of the watch.

How do these taps work, I mean physically?

There's one accelerometer in the watch, and it measures the movement of the watch in either direction. left/right/top/bottom/front are all checked and forwarded to your code as events when single, or double-tapped.

Reliability is ok but it can be triggered by the watch getting bumped. Double-tap is more reliable but there's a specific 'frequency' of double-tap you have to learn for it to register

But bear in mind if you're wearing thick gloves that will cushion the tap on the Bangle which might affect how well it responds - but all the thresholds for detection are configurable.

Could I write an app that runs in the background and translates these taps into touch/swipe events, transparently to other apps?

Yes, you can generate touch/swipe events that would then be passed on to any apps. You can also override the built-in 'scroller' used in menus (as well as dialogs) to make it work better with taps.

There's also a 'Layout' module which some apps use and that supports multiple buttons with cycling though them to focus one - you could tweak that to make it work with the taps too.

I imagine some apps would need modification though - for example some of the clocks use 'clockinfos' which while they work with swipes, expect to be tapped on to activate them (so you'd need a specific X/Y to make them work).

I'm not entirely sure what you're planning on using the watch for, but I'd imagine you might want to make your own clock face or modify another (which is very easy) and to then fit as much functionality in to that using taps as possible.