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

Home » Android

Reading time icon 1 min. read

Calendar icon Published on

by Surur Davids 

published on

Share this article

Readers help support MSpoweruser. We may get a commission if you buy through our links. Tooltip Icon

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser sustain the editorial team Read more

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.

Surur Davids

Surur Davids Shield

Smartphone Expert

Surur Davids is the founder of WMPoweruser which later became MSPoweruser.com. He's a smartphone expert with over a decade of experience.

User forum

0 messages