watchOS 26 Features New Gesture to Dismiss Notifications

[TJFDenver]

my spidy sense says this is just the tip of the iceberg ... probably gonna start seeing lots of new features not available or 100% available on older (supported) hardware

 

[Spock]

This is 100% a software locked feature, any Apple Watch can do this as they all have an accelerometer in them.

 

[Rradcircless]

To this day I still try to flick notifications away because I thought that was always supposed to be a feature. Apple Watch goes back to the watch face when you lower your hand (or when you're actively looking at it) and yet it didn’t have a gesture to dismiss notifications that same way?

 

[spazzcat]

my spidy sense says this is just the tip of the iceberg ... probably gonna start seeing lots of new features not available or 100% available on older (supported) hardware

No spidy sense need seeing how Apple has always locked some featuers behind new hardware.

 

[AgeOfSpiracles]

Had a Series 0. Wore it for a while, but it was slow and I didn't like the size of it on my wrist. The glass kept getting caught on things. Notifications was cool, though, and it meant I didn't miss any calls either because I didn't realise my phone was vibrating.

Recently been getting back into fitness and if the new Watch later this year features blood pressure monitoring, as are the rumours, then I think I'll jump back in. Looks like the BP monitoring will only be vague (e.g. warnings about sudden rises or falls), but that's still useful.

And features like this wrist flick really indicate that they've got the usability about right, too.

Series 0 was almost a proof-of-concept, and was severely lacking even when it was new. If you go from that experience to a Series 10, you're going to have a great time.

 

[lancastor]

Why hide the notification? It makes much more sense to show the notifications with this gesture.

So you could see an incoming message one-handed.

 

[joshml]

I've been asking/wanting this feature for years. When I'm biking or working out, I might not want to see a notification and don't have both hands to get rid of it quickly. So finally.

Also the double pinch thing is still not useable either... I hope they fix that.

 

[Grayburn]

No new watch faces 🫩

 

[DribbleCastle]

No new watch faces 🫩

True, but reports are that they've added a moving second hand to many watch faces while the watch is in sleep state per this video. Of course, requires Series 10 hardware.

 

[Grayburn]

True, but reports are that they've added a moving second hand to many watch faces while the watch is in sleep state per this video. Of course, requires Series 10 hardware.

Doesn’t do nothing for me as I don’t use always on.

 

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

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.

My gripe exactly, the OG AW Ultra doesn’t have an accelerometer and gyroscope???

Those sensors and their readout methods have been improved over Apple Watch generations. Lift-to-wake looks for a static position and thus can probably be done with 1 Hz polling of simple face orientation; a wrist flick is a faster motion that would need several sampled points to differentiate it from other arm movements, so even with the cue of a new notification being displayed, you would still need an accelerometer with better sensitivity and a readout system that draws less power with frequent queries versus older models.

 

[Rooster 🐓]

Those sensors and their readout methods have been improved over Apple Watch generations. Lift-to-wake looks for a static position and thus can probably be done with 1 Hz polling of simple face orientation; a wrist flick is a faster motion that would need several sampled points to differentiate it from other arm movements, so even with the cue of a new notification being displayed, you would still need an accelerometer with better sensitivity and a readout system that draws less power with frequent queries versus older models.

….the advances in polling mhz and sensor technology since 2022 😂

 

[twistedpixel8]

The best and only exciting feature of the underwhelming watchOS 26.

And that feature has been added only for the very latest watches, because reasons.

 

[macduke]

Honestly find myself sometimes doing this naturally to get something to go away. Good on them for picking up on a natural behavior for many. This will be great for alarms. Was annoyed the tap gesture only seemed to work for snoozing alarms. My current method of silencing an alarm for good when my hands are otherwise occupied or dirty is to use my nose.

 

[genzai]

why is it on the series 9 and NOT on the Ultra 1?

because series 9 came out after Ultra 1, and has a newer chip that is also in the ultra2 and that, for real reasons or not, also enabled the one handed gestures- so it seems related to this logic to me.
g\