Apple in watchOS 26 has added a new one-handed wrist-flick gesture to easily dismiss notifications, but the gesture only works on newer Apple Watch models.
When you raise your wrist to check a notification but aren’t ready to respond, you can now simply flick your wrist – turn it over and back – to dismiss it. The quick gesture lets you dismiss notifications and incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, and return to the watch face.
It works by using the accelerometer and gyroscope in your watch, along with a machine learning model that analyzes your wrist movement. However, the functionality is limited to Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
The watchOS 26 interface adopts Apple's new Liquid Glass design, while Apple Intelligence powers a new Workout Buddy feature that provides personalized, spoken motivation. There's also a new layout for the Workout app, and it now offers music to listen to based on your tastes and workout type. Apple Watch now also supports Live Translation in Messages.
watchOS 26 is available for testing now through the Apple Developer Program, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month.
While not too much has been reported about the next Apple Watch models, there are a few rumors about potential design changes and watchOS 27 features.
Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 models are expected to be released in September, and we have outlined some of the key rumored hardware and software changes below. A new Apple Watch SE is not expected this year, as that model was...
With watchOS 26.5, Apple is introducing a Pride Luminance face, and it's one of the most versatile and customizable watch faces. There are pre-configured color options, but the face also supports custom colors.
You can select 1 to 12 colors from a palette that has every color of the rainbow, some in-between shades, and black, white, brown, and gray.
The colors you pick are distributed...
Apple today released watchOS 26.5, the fifth major update to the watchOS 26 operating system that came out in September. watchOS 26.5 comes a month and a half after Apple released watchOS 26.4.
watchOS 26.5 can be downloaded for free on an iPhone running iOS 26.5 by opening up the Apple Watch app and going to General > Software Update, or initiating an update in the Settings app on the...
[Y]ou can now simply flick your wrist – turn it over and back – to [...] dismiss notifications and incoming calls, silence timers and alarms, and return to the watch face.
The functionality is limited to Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2
Wow. Not a good wow, though. One might, naively, expect such a feature to work even on much older models.
Wow. Not a good wow, though. One might, naively, expect such a feature to work even on much older models.
Agreed, this is complete BS. All Apple Watch models from the series 0 have had Lift to Wake, which uses the exact same accelerometer as this feature given the gesture required to activate it. Limiting it to the 9 and newer is 100% artificial gatekeeping out of greed.
