The Pixel Watch 4 is getting new one-handed gestures and better smart replies

Google has started to roll out the first update for the Pixel Watch 4 since the wearable launched last August. WearOS 6.1 is available for the Pixel Watch 2, 3, and 4 models, but only the Pixel Watch 4 will be getting a pair of new one-handed gestures, while improvements made to smart replies are limited to the Pixel Watch 3 and 4.

Double pinch works similar to existing gestures on Apple and Samsung smartwatches. You can scroll through alerts, snooze an alarm, send the first suggested smart reply to a message, control music playback, and take a photo by tapping your index finger and thumb together twice. Google says it will also “soon be adding the ability to answer and end calls” using a double pinch.

Wrist turn also sounds similar to the wrist flick gesture introduced to the Apple Watch with watchOS 26 last September. Quickly turning your wrist away from you and back can silence incoming calls or dismiss a notification on the Pixel Watch 4. To make them easier to learn, wearOS will display on-screen hints so you know exactly when these gestures can be used.

Smart replies are being improved with the introduction of a new custom on-device language model based on Google’s Gemma. It generates a list of suggested responses based on the context of a chat without relying on a connection to your phone and Google says it’s now twice as fast and utilizes one-third as much memory as the model smart replies previously used. The quality of the replies should also be better overall, potentially making the feature even more useful as an alternative to dictating or typing out a response yourself on a small screen.