Google Brings Back Gesture Control with Pixel Watch 4 December Updates

Google has released the December update for its Pixel Watch 4, which incorporates Wear OS 6.1, based on Android 16 QPR2. The update, which started rolling out from 9^th  December 2025, will entail some new gesture updates, with a focus on one-handed gestures, including Double pinch and Wrist turn, along with raise to talk for chatting with Gemini. The purpose is to facilitate the users’ control over their watch without the prerequisite of touching it, making it stand out among its previous models. Always-on display (AOD) has been upgraded inter alia so that music controls and the stopwatch can be seen without actually turning on the screen, preserving its battery life. Further, Google has enabled Gesture hints for Double Pinch.

An Array of Cutting Edge Features

Double Pinch and Wrist Turn Gestures allow people to carry out tasks such as scrolling or dismissing notifications, managing a timer or stopwatch, snoozing alarms, clicking pictures via Pixel Camera app, and accepting or declining calls effortlessly. For the double pinch gesture, all you have to do is simultaneously tap your index finger and thumb twice.

The wrist turn gesture is simpler and specific. When you flick your wrist away from the body and back, you can get rid of the unwanted interruptions of incoming calls and notifications. Although this feature draws a parallel with the earlier Android Wear navigation, the Wrist Turn Gesture is refined for enhanced accuracy on the Pixel Watch 4.

Finally, the raise to talk gesture, as the name suggests, enables you to talk with AI just by bringing your wrist up to your face without the friction of pressing any button or saying ‘Hey Google’. Talking about AI, its smart responses have been amplified, pertaining to the new Gemma-AI Model, accounting for response speed that is twice as fast as the earlier watches without undermining its quality while mitigating the memory usage by up to 3 times.

A Direct Aim at Apple Watch

The Double Pinch gesture by Google effectively mirrors the  “Double Tap” feature rolled out by Apple, which was considered a bold and distinctive move back when the latter released it. By giving access to the same technology to its users, Google seems to have stolen the light shed by Apple back in October 2023.

This is not all, Google’s Wrist Turn gesture corresponds to Apple’s Wrist Flick, both aimed at closing any unnecessary pings. Last but not least, the Raise to Talk Gesture is an adaptation of Apple’s Raise to Speak feature that enabled people to talk to its AI model named Siri 7 years ago. At that time, Google was still struggling with its Android Wear, its OS Model back then.

This trend indicates that Google is working on its accessibility and compatibility features, emerging as one of the toughest competitors Apple will encounter in the coming years. The intelligent synching with Gemini AI Model speaks volumes about the smarter, faster, and context-aware responses Pixel Watch 4 owners can leverage using the AI in contrast with Apple, which is more inclined towards its hardware.