A few days have passed since the release of the Beta 1 build of Android 13 and the first news is already coming to light on which Google technicians are currently working and one, in particular, concerns the ‘Back’ gesture of the robot’s operating system, which could become decidedly smarter.
Mind you, probably the changes in the new version of Android will not be as big as those of Android 12, which — among other things — has revolutionized the design language of the entire operating system and paid special attention to the issue of privacy. However, many small improvements once added together, could still make Android 13 a significant step forward for the user experience.
If we will certainly have a clearer and more detailed overall image of the new major release at Google I/O 2022 scheduled in the month that is about to begin, moving in advance is never a bad idea.
Android 13: Predictive ‘Back’ and Animations
In recent days we have reported the appointments for the next Google conference for developers and, among the scheduled events there is one that interests us here: “Back to the basics of System Back” which will be held on the second day of the I/O, will have as conductors Nick Bearman and Shan Huang and, as you can see in the following image or by opening the dedicated page, there is express talk of predictive “back navigation” and satisfying animations.
The teaser has been interpreted in the sense that Google – whose boundless love for AI and machine learning is something known to everyone (we talked about it in times not suspicious about Google Maps and the security of Google Search) – would intend to make predictive the operation of the gesture ‘Back’ of the Android operating system (and some tests involving machine learning had already been there in the past), combining its activation with the inevitable dedicated animations.
As often happens in these cases, to make our knowledge of these topics clearer is the valuable contribution of the reliable Mishaal Rahman, who, after addressing the issue on Twitter, not hide a certain fear about the difficulties that a novelty of similar magnitude could create for the operation of third-party launchers, took care of it in the deepening linked in the source.
At present, our knowledge of the subject is not yet very thorough and the same source cannot go beyond simple predictions, since the elements available in the Android 13 builds released so far are still too few. In any case, it is already possible to put together a first idea of what Android’s predictive back navigation could look like.
As mentioned, there are two points of interest: the predictive operation of the gesture and the corresponding animations. First, the operating system could try to learn from the user’s actions in order to predict what action he is actually trying to perform by performing the Back gesture with the classic swipe from the right or left edge of the screen.
From this point of view, an improvement would certainly not be a trivial matter: the robot has often been criticized for an unclear and confusing backward navigation: depending on the app or context, the execution of the gesture takes the user to the previous page, or to the previous menu screen, or even directly to the home screen. According to Rahman, with this new mechanism, the system could try to predict the screen desired by the user in performing the gesture.
From here you immediately get to the second point: the animations. In this regard, the source has found some code in the Google Pixel Launcher that refers to a new animation for the transition back to the home. Here is the explanation:
«What I think will happen is that when you will swipe to go back, the app window will resize and follow the user’s finger as they scroll. If the user lets go beyond a minimum distance to invoke the Back gesture, then a different animation will be played: that of Android 12L that closes the app window on the icon in the home or app drawer».
At present, unfortunately, Android 13 Beta 1 lacks the code necessary to test the animation described.
A few comments
As trivial as the change may seem, it is not at all: if it had been simple, Google would have done it years ago. To achieve such a result and then animate the screen correspondingly, Android must instantly track the movement of the user’s finger, instead of waiting for it to pass at an activation point.
The discourse related to apps should not be underestimated: each of them is responsible for the behavior of the Back gesture, aggravating the confusion. In this respect, Android 13 has a new API that should allow the system to check the presence of dedicated in-app gestures and, if not, call into question the system ones. Rahman says he is still not entirely sure how the new mechanism will work, however, the description made seems plausible.
Impossible, then, not to share the doubt related to third-party launchers: Android makes customization an undeniable strength, but already the transition from the three keys to navigation gestures had created great difficulties for third-party launchers — who often integrate their own gestures —, the rethinking of the Back gesture could be just as difficult to digest.