Google’s Pixel Watch 4 Update Changes How You Use Your Watch

Google has started to deploy a software update for its Pixel Watch series that is slated for December 2025, thereby imparting the new one-handed controls as well as a renewed onboard artificial intelligence system. The update is primarily for the Pixel Watch 4 but the prior versions, like the Pixel Watch 3, can also enjoy some of the new features.

The deployment is dependent on the Wear OS 6.1 and it is going to be a gradual process with different users experiencing the updates according to their geographical areas and devices.

This time Google is disclosing more hands-free control over the Pixel Watch 4 by introducing two more gestures that operate without touching the screen: Double Pinch and Wrist Turn.

The Double Pinch gesture executed by touching the thumb and index finger together two times in a row, provides the user with the ability to navigate through the notifications, dismiss alerts, postpone alarms, manage timers and stopwatches, and do music playback, and finally, send the first suggested reply in Google Messages. The same gesture has also been claimed by Google to be the future support for answering and ending phone calls. When the feature becomes available, visual indicators will show up on the watch face to assist the users.

The Wrist Turn gesture allows the user to silence an incoming call or revoke a notification by turning the wrist away and then back. The update automatically activates both gestures after installation.

To ensure the adoption, a built-in “Raise to Talk” tutorial has been included by Google on the Pixel Watch 4 which provides step-by-step instruction for users to learn gesture-based actions directly from the watch.

In addition to the gesture updates, Google is also enhancing the Smart Replies feature on Pixel Watch devices. The function that proposes short replies in Google Messages now uses a new Gemma-based AI model.

Google's new model has approximately doubled the reply processing speed of the previous version while the memory usage is substantially reduced at the same time. Moreover, the company confirmed that this model-based Smart Replies are enlarging their area of usage to the Pixel Watch 3, which implies that last year’s device would also be benefitting from the on-device enhancements.

Google's December 2025 software cycle includes the Wear OS 6.1 update and it will be gradually rolled out. Depending on the region and model, users may experience different times in seeing the features.

With the new changes, Google is promoting more touch-free interaction and local AI processing and thus making the Pixel Watch day-to-day tasks faster and more convenient to do without much dependence on cloud services.