Pixel Watch 4 gains hands-free gesture controls in December update
Google introduces Double Pinch and Wrist Turn gestures alongside faster AI-powered replies on its latest smartwatch.
Google just made the Pixel Watch a lot easier to use when your hands aren’t free. With its latest update now rolling out, the company is adding two fresh one-handed gestures—Double Pinch and Wrist Turn—designed to help users handle calls, notifications, and messages with minimal effort.
Alongside the new gestures, Google is also upgrading the Pixel Watch’s AI-powered message replies, making responses smarter and more context-aware. The update is part of Google’s broader push to make wearables feel less fiddly and more intuitive—especially for moments when pulling out your phone simply isn’t an option.
What can these gestures actually do?
The Double Pinch gesture works by tapping your index finger and thumb together twice. With this simple motion, you can scroll through notifications, dismiss alerts, snooze your alarm, manage a timer or stopwatch, pause your music, select a smart reply to respond, and answer or end phone calls—basically handling most everyday watch tasks without ever touching the screen.
Meanwhile, the Wrist Turn gesture lets you quickly flick your wrist away and back to silence incoming calls or dismiss notifications. Think of it as the digital equivalent of waving someone away when you’re busy.
Image Credit: Google
What’s clever about Google’s implementation is the contextual hints that pop up on your screen. Helpful prompts appear to let you know exactly when you can use a Double Pinch, so you’re never guessing when a gesture is available. You can customize how often these reminders appear—daily, weekly, monthly, or just once.
The gestures are similar to features already available on Apple Watch's Double Tap and Samsung's gesture suite on Galaxy Watches, but Google differentiates itself with these contextual on-screen hints that guide users on when gestures are available.
Smarter replies that actually make sense
Beyond gestures, Google is upgrading Smart Replies on both the Pixel Watch 3 and 4. In what Google calls “a first for smartwatches,” Pixel Watch 3 and newer watches will now use an on-device Gemma-based language model to generate Smart Replies for Google Messages and more, even when you aren’t tethered to your phone.
Image Credit: Google
The stats are impressive: the new model is twice as fast and nearly three times more efficient in terms of memory usage compared to the previous generation.
More importantly, the replies are context-aware. If someone asks you to pick up lemons, instead of generic responses like “OK” or “Thanks,” you’ll see suggestions like “How many lemons do you need?” or “Regular ones or Meyer lemons?”
That’s the difference between AI that feels mechanical and AI that actually understands what you’re talking about.
But there’s a catch. The new gestures are exclusive to the Pixel Watch 4, which launched with AI-powered Gemini features built in. If you own a Pixel Watch 2 or 3, you’re out of luck on the gesture front, though Watch 3 owners do get the smarter Smart Replies.
It makes sense from a technical standpoint—the Pixel Watch 4’s new hardware likely enables better gesture detection through improved sensors, but it’s still frustrating for anyone who bought a Pixel Watch just last year. Google frames the update as particularly timely for the holiday season: “Whether you’re walking the dog, carrying your holiday shopping, making cookies or wearing mittens, it’s as easy as looking, tapping and sending.”
Bottom line
Google is clearly borrowing inspiration from Apple and Samsung here, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. These gestures solve a real problem: trying to interact with a tiny screen when your hands are occupied or dirty.
Whether you’re cooking, exercising, or just carrying stuff, being able to control your watch with simple finger taps or wrist movements is genuinely useful. The update is rolling out now through the Pixel Watch app and Google Play Store.
If you own a Pixel Watch 4, it’s worth enabling and testing these gestures to see how they fit into your daily routine. And if you are just thinking about getting one, well, features like this might just tip the scales for you.
Oyinebiladou Omemu
