With the introduction of the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple highlighted one of the few features exclusive to this model: gesture control. It’s a feature that’s useful, but far more limited than fully controlling your device with a series of very varied gestures. And while it’s been talked about a lot, it’s not exclusive to Apple.
In fact, Samsung has something called “Universal Gestures,” a gesture control system for the Galaxy Watch4, Galaxy Watch5, and Galaxy Watch6 that the company wanted to highlight in time for International Day of People with Disabilities. If you have one of the latest Samsung watches, read on because this is an extremely interesting feature, and We’ll tell you how to control your Galaxy Watch without touching the screen.
Gesture control as an accessibility system, though useful for everyone
Mobile phones and smart watches have more and more accessibility options reach a wider audience. These are mostly visual options that improve the perception of what the screen shows, but there are also control tools.
Gestures are one of them and it is something very useful in a watch because e.g. allows control without the need for physical buttons or a touch screen. However, these facilitation options can also be used as a resource.
In several situations in recent weeks I found it very useful to control the watch with one hand. Whether you’re walking your dog, carrying shopping bags or grabbing a hot coffee on the street, having gesture control at your disposal is very convenient. And that’s what Samsung is trying to remember, as we read in the GSM Arena.
Galaxy Watch universal gestures are activated in accessibility options. To do this, you need to go to the settings menu and select the “Accessibility” tab. Once inside, we go to “Interactions and Skills” and find “Universal Gestures”.
And actions we can take They give us virtually complete control over the device. These are the default options, although they can be customized:
- With a shake of the wrist, we activate the ability to use universal gestures.
- When we put our index finger and thumb together, we move on to the next option.
- By double-pressing the index finger and thumb, we go to the previous action.
- Clench your fist and choose.
- By double-squeezing the fist, we open the menu of notifications, applications or spheres.
I have to admit that in the beginning This gesture control takes some getting used to and of course it’s much faster to use the touch screen or rotary bezel to navigate and select.
However, I think it’s a good idea to activate them so you can use them in certain situations, and also as an accessibility option for people with functional diversity, it’s great because it allows for regular smartwatch use.