For years, Android smartphones have given users the option to choose their preferred navigation mode. Between gestures and buttons, choosing between these two modes can fundamentally change how you navigate your smartphone’s UI. Gesture navigation is the “newer” method compared to the three-button mode that was a staple on earlier Android smartphones, but even so, some prefer the arguably simpler button navigation.
Which navigation mode do you prefer to use on your Android smartphone?
3-button vs. gesture navigation
When you first set up your phone, you’re given the choice to use the 3-button navigation or gesture navigation.
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With 3-button navigation, the main home button is in the middle and will always take you back to your home screen when tapped, or activate Gemini with a long press. Then, on one side, you have the back button, which simply takes you back to the last screen you were on, or you can remove your on-screen keyboard. Finally, there’s the Recent Apps button, which could appear as a square, a three-line icon, or something in between, depending on the OEM. Tapping this will show you your open apps.
Many OEMs even allow you to switch the button order.
With gesture navigation, you still have the same functions, but the buttons are gone and instead replaced by a single bar at the bottom of the display. To go back home from an app, you swipe up and quickly let go, almost as if you’re flicking the app upwards and away. To go back, swipe from either side edge of the display, or swipe and hold to preview the screen you’ll be sent to (you can cancel the back gesture by moving your finger back to the edge of the screen).
Finally, you can open the Recent Apps view by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and holding for a second before letting go.
Android fully supported gesture navigation following the release of Android 10, as well as the popularity of the iPhone X, which revamped Apple‘s iPhone lineup by removing the physical button found in previous models. It may have seemed like a daunting move for some, but many took to it and still default to gesture navigation. One benefit of this method is that it provides a full-screen experience, since the bottom navigation buttons don’t take up space.
That said, there are, of course, those who prefer the simplicity of the three-button mode, as they’ll spend less time accidentally swiping out of an app or dealing with failed attempts to register a gesture. Some people with certain motor disabilities may also find gesture navigation difficult, although the same can be true for others regarding three-button navigation.
Of course, you can change this after the fact in the phone settings, but we creatures of habit, we tend to stick with what we know. So what navigation method do you prefer? Drop us a comment and let us know why!