Did You Know You Can Control an Apple Watch with Hand Gestures? | How To

One of Apple’s missions is to make its devices friendly and easy to use for everyone. Thanks to its Accessibility features, people can pick up and use an iPhone with little trouble, no matter what their situation is.

But it’s not just the iPhone – other devices like the Apple Watch also have Accessibility features that make it easy to use, even if you have difficulty touching the screen or pressing buttons. 

This feature is called AssistiveTouch, and it can help you control your Apple Watch in a completely different way!

What Is AssistiveTouch?

AssistiveTouch is an Apple Watch Accessibility feature. This feature lets you use the Apple Watch’s built-in sensors to take control of it by using hand gestures. This is perfect if you have difficulty touching the screen or pressing the Digital Crown and side button. 

What Can You Do With AssistiveTouch?

AssistiveTouch lets you do basically anything on your Apple Watch, but with hand gestures. Some actions you can perform with gestures are:

1. Launch Apple Pay.
2. Tap the display.
3. Press and turn the Digital Crown.
4. Swipe between screens.
5. Hold the side button.
6. Access Notification Center, Control Center, and the Dock.
7. Show apps.
8. Confirm double-clicks of the side button.
9. Activate Siri.

And there are plenty more actions you can do. You’ll basically take full control of your Apple Watch with one hand.

Which Apple Watches Support AssistiveTouch?

Unfortunately, AssistiveTouch is a fairly new feature, so many older Apple Watches don’t support it. Currently, the only Watches that support AssistiveTouch are the Apple Watch Series 6, the Apple Watch Series 7, and the Apple Watch SE.

If you want to start using AssistiveTouch, you can turn on this feature right on your Apple Watch. Don’t worry, though; you can also set it up with your iPhone.

How to Set Up AssistiveTouch
on an Apple Watch

1. Press the Digital Crown to open your app library.
2. Go to the Settings.
3. Scroll down and tap on Accessibility.
4. Scroll down again and select AssistiveTouch.
5. Toggle AssistiveTouch on.
6. Tap on Hand Gestures right below AssistiveTouch.
7. Make sure to toggle on Hand Gestures.

How to Set Up AssistiveTouch
on an iPhone

1. Open the Watch app on iPhone.
2. Make sure you’re on the My Watch tab.
3. Scroll down and tap on Accessibility.
4. Scroll down again and tap on AssistiveTouch.
5. Toggle AssistiveTouch on.
6. Select Hand Gestures.
7. Make sure to toggle on Hand Gestures.

After you turn it on, you may notice a blue line around your Apple Watch’s display. This means that it’s already working. 

If you’re not sure how to use it, the first time you set it up, your Apple Watch will give you the option to try AssistiveTouch before turning it on. If not, you can always learn later too.

If you have already turned it on, you can trigger hand gestures by double clenching your fist. That is unless you’ve changed the hand gesture.

How to Learn Hand Gestures
on an Apple Watch

There’s a lot to learn when it comes to AssistiveTouch. Fortunately, your Apple Watch and your iPhone will give you a pretty clear tutorial on what you need to do. Here’s how to use it. 

1. Press the Digital Crown.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Accessibility.
4. Scroll down again and tap on AssistiveTouch.
5. Tap on Hand Gestures.
6. Tap on Learn more right below Hand Gestures.
7. Tap the gesture you want to practice.
8. Follow the instructions on your Apple Watch.

How to Learn Hand Gestures
on an iPhone

1. Open the Watch app.
2. Make sure you’re on the My Watch tab.
3. Scroll down and tap on Accessibility.
4. Scroll down again and tap on Assistive Touch.
5. Select Hand Gestures.
6. Tap on Learn more below Hand Gestures.
7. If you want to practice the hand gestures, tap Try It Out on Apple Watch.
8. Go to your Apple Watch and select the gesture you want to practice.
9. Follow the instructions on your Apple Watch.
10. You can also tap Done on the top left corner of your iPhone to exit.

How to Edit Hand Gestures

By default, the hand gestures will do a specific action. However, you can customize them, so they work best for you. Here’s how:

How to Edit Hand Gestures on Apple Watch

1. Press the Digital Crown.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Accessibility.
4. Scroll down and tap AssistiveTouch.
5. Select Hand gestures.
6. Scroll down and select the hand gesture you want to change. 
7. Select the action you want the hand gesture to do. 

How to Edit Hand Gestures on iPhone

1. Open the Watch app.
2. Scroll down and go to Accessibility. 
3. Scroll down again and tap AssistiveTouch.
4. Tap Hand Gestures.
5. Select the hand gesture you want to change.
6. Select the action you want the hand gesture to do. 

You can change the hand gestures as much as you want. If you feel like you want it back the way it was, follow the same steps and tap Reset to Defaults below the hand gestures. 

How to Use Motion Pointer

The Motion Pointer is basically a cursor that you can control with the movement of your hand. It’s pretty cool and helpful to use, and you can trigger it as soon as AssistiveTouch is turned on. 

1. On your Apple Watch, double clench your hand to open the Action Menu. If it doesn’t appear the first time, try double clenching again.
2. Pinch with your pointer finger and your thumb to move across the Action Menu. 
3. When you reach Interaction, clench your hand once, and another menu will open. 
4. Clench your hand again to select Motion Pointer.
5. Move your hand around to control the pointer on your Apple Watch. 

How to Edit Motion Pointer

If you don’t like how sensitive the Motion Pointer is, or you want to change the actions it does when it’s on the edge of the screen; you can edit it on your Apple Watch or iPhone like this:

Edit Motion Pointer on Apple Watch

1. Press the Digital Crown.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Scroll down and select Accessibility
4. Scroll down again and tap AssistiveTouch.
5. Scroll down one more time and tap on Motion Pointer.

Edit Motion Pointer on iPhone

1. Open the Watch app.
2. Make sure you’re on the My Watch tab. 
3. Scroll down and tap Accessibility.
4. Scroll down again and tap AssistiveTouch.
5. Tap Motion Pointer.

You can edit many Motion Pointer options, but if you don’t like the changes, you can scroll to the bottom and tap Reset to Defaults.