A method for operating a sanitary fitting, and to a sanitary fitting. The sanitary fitting is equipped to deliver a water jet and has at least one manual actuator for manual regulation of at least one water jet flow rate or a water jet temperature, and a sensor arrangement that is equipped for sensor-controlled regulation of a predefined water jet flow rate and a predefined water jet temperature. The sensor arrangement is equipped to detect the presence of an object in an external detection area and a control unit is provided to distinguish whether the object detected first is a water jet or a different object.