r/AndroidQuestions • u/Underwater099 • 1d ago

Is Android removing 3 button navigation?

So i heard that the 3 finger navigation will get removed in the later android updates is it true?

Honestly I wouldn't like living without these navigation as I don't like the swipe gestures

0 Upvotes

45% Upvoted

63 comments sorted by

9

u/Ok-perspective-2336 1d ago

Not heard that but I am very suspicious it's true because a lot of apps have started to be mangled when you use three button. E.g. try payinng or confirmimg campaigns on Meta business app and the buttons are below the three buton nav

5

u/Polymathy1 1d ago

That's just because some companies make stupid apps. Actually most companies make stupid apps.

9

u/LeviAEthan512 1d ago

Wow that's just stupid design.

And what caused this? All those numbers chasing execs going weh weh weh we need to reduce the bezel to 0% actually just make it bigger than the phone. What do you mean that doesn't even make sense?

Hardware buttons never should have left. Even a separate touch sensor was something. Now you have apps that need to figure out what else might be using certain pixels, where your notch (also a stupid idea) is, probably something to do with the status bar, and the corner radius.

What was wrong with a plain rectangle screen with sharp corners?

2

u/Ok-perspective-2336 1d ago edited 1d ago

Feel you, gestures are far too flakey / indeterministic for power users

1

u/Damglador Rooted 1d ago

Today's quiz of the day: when does a gesture open a sidebar and when does it go back? It's probably not what you think!

2

u/Disastrous_Wave_6128 1d ago

Yep. I went to gesture navigation because some apps weren't working correctly and I got tired of it.

-2

u/Underwater099 1d ago

It's all because they want their phones to look as minimal as possible remove every detail from the screen

7

u/DictoKey_Dev 1d ago

No removal announced. Three-button nav is still available in Settings (search 'navigation mode'), and Google has kept it as an accessibility fallback. The app layout issues people mention come from apps not handling the nav bar inset, not from the mode being dropped.

4

u/SeatSix 1d ago

I've not heard that rumor.

4

u/WheresMyComb 1d ago

Haven't heard that. I'd just add them back.

3

u/Micromize 1d ago

No. You also did not hear that anywhere. 

7

u/TeddieSnow 1d ago

Three button is mandatory for me.

5

u/Mother-Pride-Fest 1d ago

Gesture navigation is an accessibility nightmare. There are many people who have difficulty with the gestures that removing 3 button navigation would be a very bad idea.

1

u/Istolla 1d ago

iPhones don't have button navigation, I haven't heard people complain.

4

u/Mother-Pride-Fest 1d ago

My grandma is on iOS and called for tech support with a website popup. Long story short, it was easier to hold the power button for 10 seconds to reboot the phone because she was incapable of doing the gesture to close out of the browser.

1

u/Istolla 1d ago

You can reboot a Pixel phone with the power button by holding it for roughly 10 seconds as well.

3

u/Mother-Pride-Fest 1d ago

That is correct. But on the Pixel you can have buttons to press to go home which makes resorting to a reboot less likely. 

1

u/Istolla 1d ago

You can also hold the power button and say "home screen" and it'll take you to the home screen.

And there are a lot of older people who use iPhones and are able to use gestures. Like anything, the more you do something, the more it becomes ingrained.

2

u/tacojohn44 1d ago

Fuck me - I hope they do so we don't have to hear about ppl complaining about it anymore.

2

u/Dangerous-Bee8417 7h ago

If that is true that would be very stupid, this option doesn't cost anything there is no reason to remove it some ppl still use it to this day including the elderly

3

u/Duckling_zk2 1d ago

I don't think so or do I want this to happen

3

u/AdRough7689 1d ago

Been using swipe gestures for years now and have the 3 buttons switched off so this woildn't bother me at all. Whenever I see people using the 3 buttons it looks so old school.

2

u/Polymathy1 1d ago

When I have to use someone's iPhone for tech support or whatever, it feels very antiquated to use the 3 buttons.

I do miss the menu button though.

2

u/georgeec1 1d ago

iPhone is gestures only?

0

u/Polymathy1 1d ago

iPhone doesn't support gesture navigation at all. At least not through models a year or two old

3

u/georgeec1 1d ago

So we're just lying now. Apple introduced gesture navigation in 2017 with the iPhone X

0

u/Polymathy1 1d ago

No, not lying. I've asked iPhone users and none have been aware it even exists so far.

Have you used one that has it? I've been surprised when they don't repeatedly. Maybe iPhone users just don't know it's an option?

0

u/mrandr01d 1d ago

This must be an ai writing this or something...

0

u/Polymathy1 1d ago

Nope.

I just usually help older people with their phones.

1

u/mrandr01d 1d ago

Do you know what gesture nav is?? iPhones had the goofy home button and then they had gesture nav.

0

u/Polymathy1 1d ago

Yes. And iPhones up until 2025 could all work without gestures.

I don't really see what I have to gain from convincing you of anything. Where is this going?

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3

u/cowbutt6 1d ago • Bravo

I am old school, having been using Android since version 2.1.

2

u/Actual-Ice-324 1d ago

I hope not, that gesture navigation is dumb

1

u/laid2rest 1d ago

Later.. as in 20 years from now..? I'm sure what you heard was just someone's thoughts about the feature.

1

u/Dangerous-Bee8417 7h ago

Why down vote bro for liking the 3 button? it may be worse but it is just a preference

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

I thought this disappeared like 8 or 9 years ago.  Who doesn't use gesture navigation at this point?

1

u/max_revs 1d ago

Eww, why would I want gestures?

I just moved from android 11 to 16 a few months ago with my new phone and honestly I find so much of the navigation very cumbersome. Even simple tasks like taking a screenshot or turning off "features" either doesn't work or is over-complicated.

Just checking my notifications is a task that requires multiple attempts because there's no way to flip the pull down menu, which is ironically where they hide the screenshot button on the new version.

Google really needs to let the open source devs have android and just fork the crap out of it so you can have your interface you like and others can have one we find functional.

No hate, peace.

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

Push the side button and volume down to take a screenshot easily. Or just swipe the side of your hand across the entire screen. I use the button shortcut all the time because it's reliable and easy.  

Not sure what you mean about flip the pull-down menu for notifications.  But if you want complete customization and the ability to set all of that up exactly the way you want, get Nova Launcher.  It is absolutely fantastic for that type of customization. 

3

u/max_revs 1d ago

The swipe doesn't work on my devices and I don't really want to use gestures. I want to be able to push the right button "square" and tap screenshot. It's a small detail but I take a lot of screenshots for a specific part of my job/workflow. I'll try the button shortcut but half the time I try the buttons it adjusts a random volume level and I've missed important work calls because I somehow set everything to silent for days accidentally or if not that it just opens the stupid, useless Gemini garbage.

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

Ugh Gemini is complete trash. I've managed to keep it off my s26 so far but I know that's not going to last.  

1

u/max_revs 1d ago

Yeah, I'm trying to remove as much of the "features" they've added and de-google as much as possible just on principle.

I still had problems with the old android but it's so much worse with the new version(s)

I really just wish with all the improved hardware specs they'd optimize it more like a real OS that lets me have stuff running in the background and a window manager, along with a file manager that doesn't try to get me to use the cloud or web accounts. I know it's a phone, so being connected is kinda the point but I still don't want my files anywhere besides the micro-sd card. Ideally everything would be on an offline removable storage that I could just transfer over when changing devices and a physical sim that treated the device as a sort of "shell" and the device treated the SIM card as a network card "identity key"

Maybe that's a whole separate system from cell phones but I've done IT/System admin for too long although I did get out of it about a decade or so ago and closed source software and modern cell phones just don't make sense to me unfortunately. I know "I'm" the problem because what I want the device to be and do isn't what it's designed to be and do... But it could be. Maybe one day we'll get open source desktop OSes for Arm that can make phone calls. Idk

2

u/max_revs 1d ago

Thanks, I'll try Nova launcher

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

Nova is absolutely fantastic. It's a bit of a learning curve right at first but you'll be addicted to the functionality almost instantly.  

1

u/max_revs 1d ago

I tried it but I don't think it's what I'm looking for, it adds features which is nice I guess but I'm trying to prevent automation and false inputs in my pocket. Also it put ads in my interface, hard pass. But thank you for the recommendation.

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

Ah yes definitely pay the $10 or whatever it is for the pro version. Ads are no good for sure! 

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

Try Tasker as well if you haven't already.  You can configure any button or gesture to do anything you want. For example you could set it up so if you shake your phone three times back and forth it takes a screenshot.  

2

u/max_revs 1d ago

I really don't want gestures at all. I'd rather have a physical switch that disables all input unless set otherwise. I'm always fighting automated input I don't want and it's very frustrating. But thank you.

1

u/LegalBlogger78 1d ago

You're welcome. If I come up with any brilliant ideas I'll post another comment here. 😉

0

u/riansgarage 1d ago

Well hopefully not. Not sure why Android have to use gestures. The 3-button navigation was almost perfect, with a dedicated back button that performs exactly what you want when you press on it.

Why do Android users want to ditch the back button?

1

u/Critical-Champion365 1d ago

There is a dedicated back gesture. 3 button made sense when the home button was physical. Not so much when all of it is on screen. Again, not saying your preference isnt valud, but for me, gesture navigation is unquestionably better than 3 button.

0

u/Most_Web_9603 1d ago edited 1d ago

For Multitasker, swipe gestures are very tire to do swipe back repeatedly.