The Pixel Watch family is gaining some expanded gestures with a new update, powered by AI and ready to give you even more convenience when wearing the watch on your wrist. Devices like the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch 4 are already powerful companion devices to have, but there’s always room for a little improvement, and that’s exactly what Google is doing with this update.
Google has confirmed that the Pixel Watch 4 will gain expanded gestures like new double pinch and wrist turn functions. Google is also rolling out a tutorial for the Raise To Talk gesture that invokes Gemini. This is already available on Pixel Watch 4, and anyone who has the device can access it out of the box. That being said, Google is rolling out a step-by-step tutorial “as a refresher” to make this more accessible to everyone. So, chances are you’ll see this tutorial pop up on your own watch at some point soon.
Expanded Pixel Watch gestures will include a double pinch to manage incoming calls
Having things you can do with the watch one-handed makes the watch even more convenient. Think about it. You’re probably, more often than you realize, wearing the watch when you’re carrying something in one of your hands. So, what would be useful in that moment? A one-handed gesture for your watch. Raise to Talk for Gemini was the first of these gestures for the Pixel Watch 4, and now you’ll be able to use a new double pinch gesture and a new wrist turn gesture along with it.
You can use the double pinch to answer and end phone calls. This gesture will also stop alarms, and there are several scenarios where this would come in handy. Say you’re cooking and your hands are all covered with some of the ingredients of the dish. Then an alarm goes off. You probably don’t want to gunk up your watch display by hitting the snooze button. Now, you don’t have to. You can simply double pinch and continue what you’re doing. No cleaning of your hands required.
Double pinch does a lot more, too. It can also stop timers, scroll through text chats, and even dismiss notifications. Google is also making smart replies even smarter . Now, smart replies will use Google’s Gemma-based language model to generate message replies when you don’t have your phone on you. Google says this will be available on Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch 4.
