watchOS 26 Features New Gesture to Dismiss Notifications

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.

wrist flick dismiss notifications
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.

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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.

Related Roundup: watchOS 26
Related Forum: Apple Watch

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Top Rated Comments

System603 Avatar
20 weeks ago

[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.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Johnny907 Avatar
20 weeks ago

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.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
stocklen Avatar
20 weeks ago
why is it on the series 9 and NOT on the Ultra 1?
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Oblivious.Robot Avatar
20 weeks ago

However, the functionality is limited to Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
But of course, my series 6 is too old and weary to learn new tricks, eh Apple? :rolleyes:
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
spittt Avatar
20 weeks ago
For a second there, I thought the gesture might be the middle finger.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spock Avatar
20 weeks ago
This is 100% a software locked feature, any Apple Watch can do this as they all have an accelerometer in them.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)