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How to Use Gesture Navigation on Android

Tap each step to follow along in order.

  1. Open the System menu in Settings

    Open the Settings app and go to "System" or "Display." The exact menu location can vary a bit depending on the phone manufacturer.

  2. Find the navigation mode menu

    Look for "Gestures" or "Navigation mode," where you can choose between 3-button navigation and gesture navigation.

  3. Switch to gesture navigation

    Selecting "Gesture navigation" removes the three buttons at the bottom of the screen, leaving just a thin home bar.

  4. Learn the home and recents gestures

    Swipe up briefly from the bottom of the screen to go home, or swipe up and hold for a moment to open the list of recently used apps.

  5. Use the back gesture

    Swipe inward from the left or right edge of the screen to go back to the previous screen.

  6. Adjust back-gesture sensitivity

    If the gesture isn't being recognized reliably, tap the settings icon in the same menu to adjust how wide the left and right edge zones are, independently of each other.

  7. Switch back to 3-button navigation

    If gestures feel uncomfortable, you can always return to the same menu and select "3-button navigation" to go back to the familiar button layout.

Gestures vs. buttons: what actually changes

Gesture navigation frees up the bottom of the screen for more usable space, but the back gesture in particular can feel unfamiliar at first. Since you can switch back to buttons at any time from the same settings menu, there's no harm in giving it a try.

It gets easier with a few days of use

Most of the friction with gesture navigation comes from muscle memory built around physical or on-screen buttons -- most people find the back and home swipes start feeling automatic within a few days, and adjusting the edge sensitivity clears up the majority of misfires early on.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I switch between apps with gesture navigation?

Swipe left or right along the bottom of the screen to quickly cycle through your recently used apps.

My back gesture keeps conflicting with something else on screen.

In some apps, an edge-swipe menu can overlap with the back gesture zone -- reducing the edge recognition width in the navigation settings usually fixes this.