Google testing iPhone-like gesture bar, swipe-to-go-back gesture in Android Q

Google is testing more changes to how Android handles gesture navigation in Q, and things could become more like iOS.

According to XDA senior member ‘paphonb,’ Google is developing an iOS-like ‘swipe-to-go-back’ gesture. Currently, the gesture isn’t functional, but the animation is present.

paphonb was able to turn on the gesture in the Android Q system image and recorded a video of the animation in the Android Studio emulator.

XDA Developers was able to enable the gestures on a Pixel 2 XL running the second Android Q beta with the following ADB commands:

adb shell settings put global prototype_enabled 1
adb shell settings put global quickstepcontroller_edge_width_sensitivity 48
adb reboot

It’s worth noting that the ‘sensitivity’ number in the command, which measures how close you have to be to the edge of the screen to trigger the gesture, is dependant on screen resolution and density. For the purpose of this ADB command, XDA used the number for demonstration purposes.

Further, some Android phones, like those from Huawei, have similar back-gesture

The video also shows the iPhone X-style gesture bar Google is testing. In its current form, it doesn’t have a back button. Likely, the back gesture is meant to work with it — although it doesn’t work either, so if you choose to enable that, be aware you won’t have a back button.

That said, paphonb discovered that Google has changed how the gesture bar adapts its colour. Previously, the bar changed colour based on what the app told it to be. Instead, the gesture bar changes colour based on what’s actually behind it.

You can enable the gesture bar and the new colour adaptation with the following ADB commands:

adb shell settings put global quickstepcontroller_showhandle 1
adb shell settings put global navbar_color_adapt_enable 1

Ultimately, this could mark a significant shift in Android’s gestures. While some may dislike the iOS-like style of the new gestures, the iPhone is frankly a joy to use, and if Google follows Apple’s lead on gestures, it’ll make Android Q better. We’ll likely learn more about Google’s plans at I/O in May.

Source: XDA Developers