Set up your gesture FX.

01 Get started

CosNFX is a standalone Wear OS app; it runs on the watch itself, so a phone or Wi-Fi is optional.

1. Install CosNFX from Google Play onto a compatible Wear OS watch. Google Play shows availability for your device. Gestures are tested and tuned on Galaxy Watch 7; rehearse on your own watch before a performance.
2. Open it. You land on the HUD: a ring of gesture buttons around the active identity's name, with the watch's IP address and a 6-digit PIN at the bottom (those two are for the browser control panel, later).
3. When you're ready, tap the identity name to arm the watch, then try one gesture. Tap the name again to disarm before adjusting your setup.

Those screen instructions describe the current store release. In the next interface update, the character artwork fills the main screen and connection details move to a swipe menu. Learn the new controls.

The artwork becomes the watch screen

The profile name and gesture numbers appear briefly when you change profiles, then fade to reveal the scene. Tap a gesture area to show its numbers and hold instruction again. Hold that area to enable or disable its gesture; a short tap does not toggle it.

• Tap the center to arm or disarm. The soft circular indicator replaces the old center button. Its appearance can be Off, Brief or Always; the center remains a control even when the hint is hidden.
• Swipe left or right on the character screen to choose another profile.
• Swipe vertically between the character screen and the Mission Control, Sound and Visuals pages. Soft edge highlights appear with the temporary profile hints to suggest available swipe directions.
• Mission Control: find the watch's address and PIN, use Open phone to open the browser on the paired phone, or view Pro and profile-pack options.
• Sound: select Watch, Phone and Web outputs, then choose the destination for an optional support sound.
• Visuals: switch Effect, Pad FX and Rotate on or off. Open Appearance for backgrounds, Artwork or Icons controls, and the center indicator. The state marker and label show the current setting.

Scene uses the new artwork where available. Art and Emblem remain options, alongside Upload, Color and Black. Your saved profile choices are preserved when you update.

02 Arm & disarm

The watch only fires effects while it's armed: so it stays quiet while you get into costume.

• Tap the center of the watch screen to arm, and tap again to disarm. The current release shows the identity name here; 2.18.0 uses a soft circular indicator with a temporary name.
• In Mission Control or the phone companion, use the Stage centre control to arm or disarm.

03 The gestures

A fresh install enables all seven built-in gestures. Existing setups keep their saved settings. Perform them with the arm you wear the watch on:

• Underhand flick: a quick rotation of the wrist.
• Overhand flick: rotate the wrist in the opposite direction.
• Forward strike: a straight thrust ahead.
• Down-punch: drive a fist down, like a landing.
• Fist pump: pull your fist down and toward you.
• Fist-clench: a firm clench, like pulling a trigger.
• Raise: point your wrist upward and hold briefly. The upright hold is 200 ms; movement time and audio playback add to the total response. Lower your arm before the next Raise. An elbow bend can trigger it below head height.

Each gesture plays that identity's sound for it. Set the correct wrist in System and check that the gesture is enabled. Underhand, Overhand, Down-punch, and Strike also offer free calibration.

04 Identities

An identity is a character preset: its colour, its sound kit, its energy field, and its backdrop. CosNFX ships with 30 (heroes, monsters, and mages), and they're your starting point.

The free library includes 38 fullscreen watch effects and the new seven-sound Superhero kit. Saved effect selections are preserved when you update. Select an effect in Look to try a new choice. Creature uses Devouring Maw by default; an existing saved effect stays selected until you change it.

• Switch identities from the Stage profile switcher in Mission Control or the companion app.
• Build your own from scratch, or duplicate one and change it; new, duplicate, rename, and delete all live in the profile bar.

05 Mission Control & the companion

You configure everything from one of two control surfaces; use whichever you have handy.

Mission Control (any browser)

1. Put the watch and your phone or laptop on the same Wi-Fi.
2. In a browser, open the address displayed by CosNFX (for example http://192.168.1.11:8080). In 2.18.0, swipe to the watch's Mission Control page to find it; in the current store release, it is on the main HUD.
3. Enter the 6-digit PIN the watch displays. You're in: a full control panel with four zones: Stage, Show, Library, and System.

Companion app (Bluetooth)

Install the CosNFX companion on your Android phone to edit identities, gestures, sounds, looks, props, and calibration over Bluetooth, even with Wi-Fi off. It also provides phone audio, visuals, and camera-flash effects. The paired phone is already trusted; the PIN step is for browsers. Uploading media and testing a prop action open browser Mission Control and need the same Wi-Fi.

Mission Control follows identity changes made on the watch while protecting unsaved edits. The phone's VFX Stage uses the selected profile's visualization, including the new effects.

Find a control

• Stage: select an identity, tap a pad to edit its gesture and sound, or scroll to Look for backdrops and effects.
• Show: record custom gestures, build combos, configure Battle, and wire Props.
• Library: browse sounds and visuals. Use browser Mission Control to add your own files.
• System: choose your wrist, audio outputs, power saver, and Calibration. The phone companion also has the Pro upgrade here.

Unlock Pro

On the watch, Unlock Pro opens the phone companion to finish checkout in Google Play. If it does not open, start CosNFX on the phone and tap Unlock Pro in System. Install watch and phone under the same Google account for the shared purchase; Google Play shows your local price.

06 Sounds & your own audio

Each pad can have a main sound and an optional support sound. Audio routing decides which device carries each layer.

• Pick from the library: a big built-in set of themed effects, all free. In Mission Control or the companion, open Stage, tap a pad, and choose its sound.
• Bring your own Pro: upload your own WAV, MP3, or OGG in browser Mission Control → Library, then assign it to a pad in Stage, so a character sounds exactly the way you hear it.
• Set a per-gesture volume and sensitivity in the pad editor.

07 Control the look

Shape what the watch shows in Stage → Look. In 2.18.0, the watch's Visuals swipe menu also provides quick effect, background and control settings.

• HUD backdrop: a cinematic scene, the identity's emblem, a solid colour, or black.
• Your own art Pro: upload a PNG, JPG, or GIF through browser Mission Control → Library, then choose it as the backdrop.
• Energy field: a translucent effect that idles softly and bursts on a gesture; pick its style or turn it off.

Background and animation controls

Each setting is saved with the identity.

• Uploaded image only: show your selected image without the built-in Scene or Emblem backdrop.
• Black: hide all background artwork without removing your saved image selection. The visualization and button effects have their own controls.
• Button effects: turn off gesture-pad bursts and firing animations while keeping the controls and sounds available.
• Automatic rotation: choose Off to keep the visualization fixed to the watch screen as you move your wrist. Motion within the effect continues.

For a black background without animated effects, choose Black, turn the visualization off, and set Button effects to Off. The controls remain usable. In 2.18.0, choose the center indicator style in Visuals → Appearance → Center indicator.

08 Custom gestures Pro & combos

Record a custom gesture

1. In Show → Gestures & combos, tap Record Gesture.
2. Perform your move once (about a second) and the watch learns how you throw it.
3. Name it, then assign it to a button and give it a sound, just like a built-in.

Chain a combo

Build a sequence of gestures, with your own timing between them, that fires a finisher sound when you land the whole chain. In Show → Gestures & combos, add gestures and waits, choose a finisher, and save. Combos are free.

09 Calibrate to you

Calibration is free for Underhand, Overhand, Down-punch, and Strike. Fist clench, Raise, and Fist pump use built-in detection (Auto). Calibration is saved with the current identity.

1. Choose your wrist in System, arm the watch, then open System → Calibration and tap Calibrate beside one of the four gestures.
2. Hold the starting pose you plan to use, then perform the gesture when the countdown reaches GO.
3. Rehearse it several times. Use Redo if needed, or Reset to defaults to clear this identity's learned motions.

10 Route & multi-device audio

Choose the outputs in System → Audio output and the support layer destination in Support sound. In 2.18.0, you can also use the watch's Sound swipe page. Watch, companion, and one browser client are available without Pro.

• Route the sound to the watch, your phone, or any browser running Mission Control, in any combination.
• Split the main and support layers across devices (for example, the watch plays the main hit while the phone carries the support layer).
• Extra Mission Control screens Pro: connect additional browser clients on other phones or screens and a gesture plays across all of them, turning the room into a surround rig.

11 Props: lights, smoke, DMX & OSC Pro

Fire real-world gear on the same gesture, over your Wi-Fi. In Show → Props, give each gesture an action:

• HTTP: a GET/POST/PUT to a device on your network: WLED LED strips, Philips Hue, Home Assistant (drive smoke machines & fans through a smart plug), and ESP32/Arduino builds.
• OSC: send an OSC message to QLab, lighting software, or Ableton.
• DMX via Art-Net: address a channel on a lighting console or Art-Net node to hit a fixture directly.

Enter and save the target for a gesture, then use Test to check that prop action. In the phone companion, Test opens browser Mission Control on the same Wi-Fi. During performance, the gesture triggers the configured sound and prop action.

12 Battle mode Pro

Link two or more watches over Wi-Fi for versus play. Each participating watch needs purchased Pro access.

1. In Show → Battle, turn Battle mode on and set a shared code; add each opponent's IP.
2. Arm up. A strike deals damage to a linked opponent: their health ring drops and their damage sound plays.
3. Hold a Raise with your wrist upright as a strike lands to block it. Health regenerates while you're disarmed.

13 Battery & power saver

• Power saver (System → Battery) lets the screen sleep while you stay armed; gestures and sound keep firing; tap to see the HUD again.
• At a low battery the watch enables power saver on its own to keep you running longer.
• For the longest life, set the HUD backdrop to black and leave the energy field off.

14 Troubleshooting

Mission Control won't load

Confirm the watch and browser are on the same Wi-Fi, open CosNFX on the watch, and check its Wi-Fi connection. Some models reduce Wi-Fi use while paired over Bluetooth; use Always on if your watch offers it.

The companion shows "offline" on the charger

When the watch sits on its charger, its screen may return to the charging face and the system can pause the app or its connection. Open CosNFX on the watch to reconnect. If Mission Control is still unreachable, check Wi-Fi and the watch's power-saving mode.

A gesture won't fire

Make sure the watch is armed, the gesture is enabled, and the wrist setting is correct. For Underhand, Overhand, Down-punch, or Strike, try calibration. Fist clench and Fist pump use built-in detection; adjust their sensitivity in the pad editor and rehearse. Raise uses a brief upright-wrist hold: lower your arm between attempts, then point your wrist upward and hold. It does not require a full arm lift or a still starting pose, and an elbow bend below head height can trigger it. The watch senses wrist orientation, not hand height.

A sound plays the wrong thing or a thin fallback

Re-pick the sound in Mission Control; uploaded files should be WAV, MP3, or OGG.