Let A and $$A'$$
A
′
be abelian varieties defined over a number field k of dimension $$g\ge 1$$
g
≥
1
. For $$g\le 3$$
g
≤
3
, we show that the following local-global principle holds: A and $$A'$$
A
′
are quadratic twists of each other if and only if, for almost all primes $$\mathfrak {p}$$
p
of k of good reduction for A and $$A'$$
A
′
, the reductions $$A_\mathfrak {p}$$
A
p
and $$A_\mathfrak {p}'$$
A
p
′
are quadratic twists of each other. This result is known when $$g=1$$
g
=
1
, in which case it has appeared in works by Kings, Rajan, Ramakrishnan, and Serre. We provide an example that violates this local-global principle in dimension $$g=4$$
g
=
4
.