A method for operating a device, wherein a graphical user interface is generated and displayed on a display area. The user interface has at least one operating object assigned to an application program for controlling the device. Output data are generated and displayed in the region of the assigned operating object, wherein the application program has a function having exactly two activatable program states. The first program state is activated and the output data are generated based on the activated program state. An input gesture is detected based on the user interface. The operating object has a first region and a second region and the input gesture is assigned to the first region or to the second region.