Provided are a gesture recognition apparatus and method. The gesture recognition apparatus includes a first communication circuit configured to communicate with a wearable device worn on a first body part of a user, a memory in which a gesture recognition program is stored, and a processor configured to execute the gesture recognition program, wherein the processor receives motion information from the wearable device through the first communication circuit, checks a position of the wearable device, determines whether a gesture is to be recognized according to the position of the wearable device on the basis of the motion information, and executes a function corresponding to the gesture.