With Android 10, Google wants to exert control over how gesture navigation will be implemented especially by non-Google devices. Google Mobile Services have outlined the tech giant’s future for Android navigation and this will affect phones from Samsung, and OnePlus. The latter and Huawei have way better gestures than Google’s own.
With Android Pie, Google brought a messy gesture-based navigation system which later got shipped with Android 10 that adds a new and improved gesture navigation system that Google wants unified across devices that will run Android 10.
It is worth noting, the new sytem isn’t that perfect. You can’t swipe right on an app like Twitter(or any app with a slide-out menu) to access settings and profile without triggering the “Back” gesture but there’s a way to reduce the sensitivity in the gesture settings.
According to documents obtained by 9to5Google, Google says that “any Android device using GMS that launches on Android 10 will need to ship out of the box with either the classic three-button or the new Android 10 gestures. If a device ships with the gestures by default, the three-button setup must be supported as an optional setting”
Google cuts the cord on Android Pie’s two-button navigation
If a phone is getting upgraded from Android Pie that uses the two-button navigation with the iconic pill to Android 10, it retains this feature but for new phones shipping with Android 10 already baked in, they’ll be no option to use it.
This statement means that custom gesture navigations by Samsung and OnePlus will be enabled only through settings moving forward.
However, Google will make it harder to find third-party getsures as they’ll be buried deep in settings as they’ll be absent during the first time you setup your new phone.