The Apple Watch is packed with smart features that make your daily actions a little faster and easier. Did you know that you can even control your Apple Watch without touching the screen? Useful gestures let you respond to notifications, control apps, and perform actions purely with movements of your hand and wrist.
These functions are especially useful when your hands are full, for example while cooking, exercising or on the road. Apple has built in several gestures for this, such as Double Tap and Flick Wrist. In addition, you can easily cover the screen to stop or temporarily hide actions. We explain how it works.
Double tap and control your Apple Watch
Requires an Apple Watch series 9, Apple Watch SE 3rd generation, Apple Watch Ultra 2 or newer
With Tap Double you can perform essential actions by tapping your thumb and index finger together twice quickly. You can use this gesture for various functions, such as answering or ending a phone call, opening notifications, playing or pausing music, and controlling timers or alarms.
When a notification arrives, you only have to tap twice to open a message or confirm an action, for example. In addition, you can also immediately consult the smart stack of widgets with a double tap from the watch face. This is particularly useful if you only have one hand free.
Double tap enable and manage
- Open Settings on your Apple Watch
- Go to ‘Gestures’
- Tap ‘Double tap’
- Enable the option
- Adjust the desired options
Rapid wrist movement
In addition to Double Tap, you can also operate your Apple Watch with a quick wrist movement. By turning your wrist you can dismiss notifications, close apps, or return to the watch face without touching the Apple Watch screen or any buttons. It is a solution that many Apple Watch users will be happy with, as it solves some frustrations.
For example, if you lift your wrist to view a notification but don’t want to respond yet, you can quickly turn your wrist back and forth to dismiss the notification. This new gesture is the opposite of the Double Tap gesture, which you use to answer notifications or take calls.
Enable quick wrist movement
Requires an Apple Watch series 9, Apple Watch SE 3rd generation, Apple Watch Ultra 2 or newer
- Open ‘Settings’ on your Apple Watch
- Go to ‘Gestures’
- Enable the ‘Quick wrist flick’ option
Cover screen
Available on all Apple Watch models
Want to quickly mute a notification or turn off the screen? Then you can simply place your palm on the screen of the Apple Watch. This gesture requires a free hand, but makes it easy to hide notifications, ignore calls, or turn off the screen in some situations.
You can enable screen covering by going to Settings â–¸ Gestures â–¸ turn on ‘Hold Cover’. This gesture is useful in situations where you don’t want to be disturbed, such as during a meeting or in a quiet room.