Apple Watch Series 5 will include gesture control

Apple has been busy developing wrist movements and gesture controls for the Apple Watch – detailing more than 100 figures in a recent patent application.

These patents could, one day, allow you to control Apple Watch functions by specific wrist movements without needing to touch the display – useful if you're other hand is occupied with something else.

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Apple has been working on these gestures over the past few years, but the recent application, first discovered by Patently Apple, shows how users could reply or ignore messages, as well as answer calls.

Some of these gestures are natural and intuitive, while others seem slightly more obscure.

For example, in the diagram below you can see how a simple choice, like whether to reply or dismiss an incoming message, could be controlled with a simple tilt of the wrist.

Tilt away from you to respond, or towards you to dismiss the message.

Other, however, seem a little more complicated than they need to be.

For example, to select something from a menu you'll need to either continually bending or flick your wrist to move the cursor, then wait for a "progress ring" to form on an option to select it.

Another example is the ability to answer an incoming call by clenching your fist.

You'll need a firm clench, however, and you'll need to clench until a progress ring is fully formed.

Of course, it's not guaranteed any of these gesture controls will make it to the final product, with various teams at Apple testing them to determine which wrist movements are intuitive, and which are confusing.

This patent was originally filed in the first quarter of 2018, and as Patently Apple states, "the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time".

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