OEM gestures allowed]Google's new Google navigation gestures in Android Q will be mandatory for all devices

3-button navigation will be available as an option

At the Google I / O Developer Conference last year, Google unveiled the first Android P beta with Google's new browser controls. Google's new gestures seemed half-confusing, as they did not free up any extra space on the screen and did not replace the back button either. The new gestures introduced in Android Q beta 3 are however different. The new implementation of Google "Full Gesture Navigation" no longer has buttons that the user can press, the bottom is much smaller and the bottom bar is much thinner. The new gestures are much more like those of iOS, but it's not a bad thing, because Apple has from the beginning.

Since Google unveiled its new gestures during the speech, we wondered what would happen to the Android ecosystem with the introduction of yet another gesture control interface – especially the one that Google asks developers to make the necessary changes. Now we have learned that Google is doing their gesture control is mandatory for all Android devices Q. Google's navigation gestures are now Android's navigation gestures. As a reminder, here's how Google's new gestures work, as detailed in our previous article on all the changes we've spotted in the latest beta.

• Swipe vertically from the bottom to go home
• Swipe horizontally left or right to go back
• Slide your finger diagonally from the lower left or right corner until your finger reaches the middle of the screen to activate Google Assistant.
• Swipe horizontally left or right on the lower taskbar to quickly switch between applications.
• Drag and hold to access the overview of recent apps

During the session "Supporting Mobile Usability with Dark Theme and Gestures in Android Q" today, Ronan Shah, Google Product Manager for the Android System Interface Team, confirmed that only 2 navigation methods will be supported on the Android platform: Google's new gestures and traditional 3-button gestures.

"In the future for Android, we will support 2 navigation modes in the future. The first is 3 buttons, you know that Android users like 3 buttons. We know that it is super usable and that it meets many accessibility needs that gestures simply can not do. On the other hand, we also know that the gestures are numerous, we will support the mode 1 gesture, which corresponds to what you saw, evolving in Android – and only that one. – Ronan Shah, Google.

Mr. Shah goes on to explain why they decided to prevent OEMs from implementing their own gesture controls.

"Users want more and more immersive experiences on Android, and device manufacturers have tried to address this issue from a software perspective, among other things. And what they did is build their own gestural navigation. And each device maker has a different impression of how gesture navigation should work. What we recognize on the platform side is that it becomes foolish for a developer. Thinking of N different gestures when you try to develop, design, test, for your application, it just goes crazy. This is why we introduced this type of navigation in Q and we will standardize the ecosystem from the Q of 3 buttons and advance our model. – Ronan Shah, Google.

This makes a lot of sense because the new gesture navigation in Android Q will force many developers to rework their applications to handle conflicts. Applications with sidebars do not work well with the new gesture of the Back button; developers must move away from this user interface or disable gesture controls with the new setSystemGestureExclusionRects API. Since developers must now consider this issue, it is best to no longer implement gesture control so you do not have to wonder how to handle gesture behavior on non-Google devices. Each device manufacturer has its own system of navigation gestures. So it's good to know that Google normalizes gestures in Android Q around a single template.

Unfortunately, this means that the impressive gesture controls of OnePlus, Huawei, Xiaomi and Motorola will not be available in their respective Android Q versions. On the other hand, it's great that Google requires the inclusion of traditional navigation mode to 3 buttons as an optional mode. Previously, Google had removed the 3-button navigation of their own smartphones Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, but both devices now have access to the traditional mode without resorting to tricks.

Thanks to Andreas Proschofsky from DerStandard for the heads up!

Update 1: OEMs will not be forced

Despite what has been said on stage, Google has confirmed AndroidAuthority that they will not explicitly prohibit the actions of third parties. Instead, Google considers third-party gestures "as a powerful user option". So while OEMs will be obliged to offer traditional 3-button navigation and Google's new gestures, they habit not be able to provide other navigation movement options. Users will choose between 3-button navigation mode and Android Q gestures during setup, but it is not clear if OEMs are allowed to display their own gestures during setup.

This is a strange attitude on the part of Google, which directly contradicts what has been said on the Google I / O scene. Allowing equipment manufacturers to continue to propose their own actions does nothing to help. to standardize the ecosystem, contrary to what Google claimed to want to do to I / O. So developers will have to support multiple gesture modes from multiple device manufacturers, which is exactly the problem that had to be solved by forcing a unified gesture mode in Android Q.