The thing that every Android 10 user will notice first is the thing that has garnered the most attention over the course of the betas for Android Q (the codename for Android 10). That’s the new gesture navigation system, of course. It’s been contentious in part because all change is, in part because it breaks the way many Android apps work, and in part because it’s a little confusing.
The new gesture system on Android 10 — which is optional — replaces all the buttons at the bottom with a single white bar, just like the iPhone. Also like the iPhone, you can swipe up to go home, swipe in a kind of a hook move to get into an overview screen, and swipe straight across to quickly switch between apps. Unlike iOS, Android uses an app drawer. To access that, you swipe up from the bottom when on the home screen.
Those gestures miss the most important (and, surprisingly enough, the most-used) button on Android 10: back. Google’s solution is to make the entire left and right sides of the screen dedicated to going back when you swipe in from the edge.
Lastly, Google Assistant also has a new gesture in Android 10: swiping in diagonally from either of the bottom corners. On the home screen, two little curved lines sometimes appear to remind you that extra gesture exists.
So:
- Swipe from the bottom: go home or go to the overview screen
- Swipe up from the bottom on the home screen: open the app drawer
- Swipe across the bottom: switch apps
- Swipe from either side: go back
- Swipe diagonally up from the bottom corners: Google Assistant
- Swipe down from the top: open Quick Settings and notifications
This all seems very complicated because it is very complicated. It’s a lot to keep in your head. But after you use Android 10 for a few minutes, it all feels intuitive and fluid. The animations aren’t quite as nice as they are on an iPhone, but not so much that it’s ever truly bothered anyone.
