How to Enable Apple’s New Wrist Flick Gesture in WatchOS 26
In 2023, Apple introduced Double Tap to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2. It allows the user to perform common actions, like answering calls or starting music, by quickly touching their thumb and index finger twice. It was an intuitive way to confirm an action on the watch without having to press a small touch button, but what if you needed to dismiss something? With watchOS 26, Wrist Flick solves that problem.
Also available on Apple Watch Series 9 (and later) and Apple Watch Ultra 2 (and later), Wrist Flick is sort of the evil twin of Double Tap . If you get a notification you don’t like or an incoming call you want to silence, you can now quickly turn your wrist to dismiss it, as if throwing it in the trash.
To try it out, first install watchOS 26 on your Apple Watch. Using a paired iPhone running iOS 26 , open the Apple Watch app, go to General > Software Update , and initiate the update to the new watchOS. You can also just turn on Automatic Updates , and if your iPhone is running iOS 26, the watch will automatically choose a time to update while it’s charging (likely overnight).
After installing watchOS 26, put on your watch and go to Settings > Gestures . Turn on the Gesture feature.
That’s it. You just have to wait for the notification, ringtone, or timer you want to turn off to go off, and you can turn it off with a quick flick of your wrist. It may take some practice, but basically, you need to quickly rotate your wrist away from you, as shown on this page on Apple’s website.
When used in conjunction with Double Tap, the goal is to eliminate the need to fiddle with the Watch’s touchscreen for most basic actions, so you don’t have to interrupt your workout (or, if you’re like me, sitting leisurely on the subway) to tap it. The only limitation is that while Double Tap has some basic display features that let you customize exactly what it does, Wrist Flick doesn’t currently offer that level of control, instead sticking with Apple’s default “dismiss” behavior. That means you won’t be able to use it to, say, go back one tile in your Smart Stack, like you can set Double Tap to move forward one tile. Hopefully, Apple will expand its functionality soon.