These are the new iPhone-like gestures in the next version of Android Q (video)

Google has been introducing a gesture-based user interface since Android Pie, following in the footsteps of the iPhone X, who was the first to replace their home button with a gesture.

Now in the second generation of their effort, Google, who had already replaced the Home button with a gesture, is moving to replace the Back button also. The change was revealed by a leaked and hacked January 2019 build of Android Q found by XDA-Developers.com.

They have posted the above video, which revealed the following gestures in Android Q.

• Tap pill: Go home
• Long press pill: Launch Google Assistant
• Short swipe up of the pill: Open horizontal recent apps overview
• Long swipe up of the pill: App drawer
• Slide pill to the right: Scroll through recent apps
• Quick slide pill to the right: Open last app
• Slide pill to the left: Go back

At present some changes are only experimental, but given that button-less phones are now more common than those with hardware buttons, the move to a gesture-based rather than software-button based user interface appears long overdue.

What do our readers think of the change? Let us know below.