In hindsight, this was a curious omission, but when Google rolled out the diagonal swipe gesture to trigger the assistant in Android Q / 10, the only way to turn it off was to change the navigation mode or just turn it off. the assistant as a support application. . Now, starting with Android 12 Beta 3, this is something you can turn off separately if you want.

If you’re unfamiliar with or choose to lead a gesture-free life, the somewhat newer, iOS-inspired gesture navigation system also adds a corner gesture to trigger the Google Assistant – handy, given that you can’t long press a home button that isn’t there. Slide inward anywhere around a 45 degree angle from the corner, and it clicks, easily activating the wizard. And it’s not just about Pixels; newer Android phones have this feature if you enable buttonless gesture navigation.

Left: Beta 2. Right: Beta 3.

The new toggle resides in the deeply nested gesture settings submenu (Settings -> System -> Gestures -> System Navigation -> the cog next to gesture navigation) and does exactly what you expect. Press it and pouf, the gesture of corner-in is no longer. If you try the maneuver while the function is deactivated, it is instead taken into account as a gesture to change the application.

While it’s nice that Google added the option, the fact that it wasn’t something people were initially shouting about is also a bit odd. After all, it has basically been force-activated when Assistant is set as your “Assistance” app while gesture navigation is enabled so far. The only way before turning it off without doing the trick with root or ADB was to disable one of those two things altogether. But in the future, you will now have the choice of whether or not to use the angle trigger – if, for example, you like Android 12’s new iPhone-like power button shortcut better and don’t want two. actions for the same.