In time for International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), Samsung wants to remind us that its Galaxy Watches are suitable for everyone, thanks to the so-called Universal Gestures. The feature improves accessibility and lets you navigate without having to touch the display or rotating bezel (or virtual bezel).
You can enable the Universal Gestures feature in the Settings menu under the Accessibility submenu. The two main gestures are “making a fist” and “pinch”. The first selects an object by closing the fist twice, opens the Action menu or activates universal gestures.
The pinch moves to the next highlighted item while a double pinch returns to highlight the previous item.
As you can see, the Action menu shows different actions available depending on the active app or menu. These gestures are quite clear and even people without disabilities might find them useful.
However, there is a problem. Essentially, you can’t use universal gestures and have Google Wallet active on your Galaxy Watch. The exploits can only be activated if you have not set the screen lock, while using Google Pay requires the screen lock for obvious security reasons.
It’s also worth noting that Universal Gestures are different from the gestures found in the Advanced Features menu. They let you answer calls, ignore alerts, or launch an app on the fly with other hand gestures. These can also be used with the screen lock active.
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