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Learn how to use the new wrist flick gesture in watchOS 26 to silence calls, dismiss alerts, snooze alarms, and more without touching your Apple Watch screen.

watchOS 26 (currently in beta) brings a new wrist flick gesture to dismiss notifications, snooze alarms, go to the watch face, and more when you’re too busy to interact with the screen. Available on the Apple Watch Series 9 and newer and Apple Watch Ultra 2 running watchOS 26, the gesture uses built-in accelerometer and gyroscope sensors and a machine learning model running on-device.

Wrist flick is a very simple gesture, and you’ll get the hang of it in no time, so follow along with us as we show you how to use it on your Apple Watch.

How to use the wrist flick gesture on Apple Watch

Using the gesture couldn’t be simpler. First, raise your wrist to check a notification. And then, quickly flick your wrist forward and back towards your face to dismiss the notification. Wrist flick is turned on by default on supported Apple Watch models. You can toggle in by going to Settings > Gestures > Wrist Flick directly on the watch or the Gestures menu in the companion Watch app on your paired iPhone.

Use cases for the wrist flick gesture

I frequently use the wrist flick gesture to perform these actions:

• Dismiss a notification.
• Snooze an alarm.
• Dismiss a timer.
• Close the Control Center.
• Dismiss the Smart Stack.
• Return to the main screen in the Workout app.
• Silence an incoming phone call (first flick) or decline it (second flick).
• Go to the watch face; sometimes the first flick takes me to the Home Screen and the second one to the watch face.

Wrist flick plays nice with the double-tap gesture

Flicking your wrist will decline an incoming call, but what if you want to answer it hands-free? In such situations, the double-tap gesture is your friend. With it, you can answer calls, reply to texts, and scroll through your Smart Stack simply by double-tapping your index finger and thumb together.

Unfortunately, the new wrist flick gesture in watchOS 26 is unavailable on the Apple Watch SE models, Apple Watch Series 8 and older, and the first Apple Watch Ultra. This could be because older watches lack the power to run the local machine learning model efficiently, resulting in a slower response time.

How do you like the wrist flick gesture in watchOS 26? And what about the finger tap gesture? Do you use it at all? Let us know in the comments down below!

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/05/wrist-flick-gesture-apple-watch-tutorial/

Apple appears to be close to launching a generative AI assistant feature for technical support within its official Support app for the iPhone and iPad.

MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris spotted an updated version of Apple’s legalese terms and conditions page, with a new page titled “Terms of Use for the Support Assistant” on the web outlining the risks associated with using generative AI.

“You understand and agree that generative models may occasionally generate incorrect, misleading, incomplete, offensive or harmful outputs,” reads a passage in the Services section. “To the extent you choose to use Support Assistant, you do so at your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with any applicable laws.”

The Apple Support app is about to launch a ChatGPT-style AI assistant

It adds customers shouldn’t rely on outputs from the chatbot as their only source of information or as a substitute for professional advice. You will need an Apple account to use the AI chatbot. The terms of use page was last updated on July 15, meaning a launch will be imminent. This functionality is likely to launch first for customers in the United States, as the page hasn’t been published in any other countries.

The feature probably uses OpenAI technology, as the page states that the chatbot shares information “with our partners who we work with to provide Support Assistant.” Shared information includes pseudonymized serial numbers and redacted chat transcripts with your name, city and state (if you provided this information in the chat) because “this data is used to create the conversational experience.

Last month, MacRumors spotted code strings in the official Apple Support app for the iPhone and iPad indicating the app will gain a ChatGPT-like support chatbot based on generative AI models. Currently, the Apple Support app doesn’t include AI agents, with AI only used for the live chat feature to gather initial information and answer basic questions before a human agent takes over.

An AI-powered assistant might further cut down on wait times and resolve many customer problems without requiring support from a human agent, including answering technical questions about Apple products, payment methods and more.

“Support Assistant is intended for technical support purposes only, and can provide you with answers related to certain Apple products and services,” reads the terms of use page. “Do not use Support Assistant for emergency situations. You may interact with Support Assistant for lawful and appropriate purposes only.”

The company has tons of product documentation available in every language on its support website, which it likely used to train the support chatbot.

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/08/05/apple-support-assistant-close-to-launching/