AssistiveTouch is not new. It was already available on iPhone, iPad, for some time. Now it is fun to use on AppleWatch too.

Have you been in situations where you want to activate something on your Apple watch and could not bring your other hand across and also do not want to voice activate Siri? Then these situations are ideal for AssistiveTouch where you can clench your first or pinch your fingers to complete actions on your Apple watch.

Apple has been adding new functions gradually to the AppleWatch over the years. They added the capability to unlock the iPhone using the AppleWatch (which I use daily).

Now we can use hand gestures to enable actions.

Hand gestures

Here is the list of hand gestures.

• Tap (Pinch): Touch your pointer finger to your thumb once to move to the next item on your screen.
• Double Tap (Double Pinch): Tap your pointer finger and thumb together twice quickly to move back to the previous item.
• Clench: Close your hand into a fist once to select or “tap” the highlighted item.
• Double Clench: Close your hand into a fist twice quickly to bring up the action menu (such as pressing the Digital Crown or scrolling

What actions can be taken via AssistiveTouch?

Here is a list of actions that you can do using hand gestures with AssistiveTouch:

• Tap the display
• Press and turn the Digital Crown
• Swipe between screens
• Hold the side button
• Access the Notification Center, Control Center, and App Switcher
• Show your apps list
• Use Apple Pay and confirm double-clicks on the side button
• Activate Siri or run a Siri shortcut

Setting up AssistiveTouch

In the settings app on the watch go to Accessibility and select AssistiveTouch. Select hand gestures. I activated it via the iPhone via the watch app. The path is similar.

Now give it a try and comment how it went for you