Predictive back gestures in Android 13 will preview your destination before you finish swiping
With the launch ofAndroid 13 Beta 2today, we’re finally getting a better idea as to what this year’s major upgrade is shaping up to be. One of the most confusing elements hidden in the code for Beta 1 last month was"predictive back gestures,“something subject to much speculation over the last couple of weeks. With Google I/O, we’ve finally got a better idea as to what these gestures will act like once they’re live.
As described by Google, thesepredictive gesturesallow users to peek into your destination before actually finishing their swipe. That’s pretty close to what folks like Mishaal Rahman predicted last month, effectively making it easy for users to know where they’re headed before their finger crosses the screen. It’s very reminiscent of how swiping up to go home works, complete with a shot of your current background.
In Google’s example — which, unfortunately, is currently inactive on the page describing the changes — the back gesture shows the home screen behind an active app, demonstrating to the user where they’ll land once the action is complete. Developers will need to update their app to support either the new OnBackInvokedCallback API or the updated OnBackPressedCallback AppCompat API. It’s unclear if these changes will cause issues with third-party launchers, as previously expected.
Google says it’ll work with phones, tablets, and foldables, so expect to see it in action on Pixels and other Android 13-supported devices sometime in the future. Although it’s not live on Android 13 Beta 2 just yet,installing it on your phoneonly takes a few minutes of your time.
UPDATE: 2022/05/13 11:29 EST BY WILL SATTELBERG
New back gesture
Atutorial hosted on Google Codelabsthat explores the steps required to prepare an app for predictive back gestures gives us some more insight into how it’ll look when Android 13 ships later this year. While the examples provided throughout the class are still using the current back animation, the conclusion presents us with an all-new back icon while swiping, along with another peek into how the home screen appears behind your active app.
This tweak presents yet another change tohow animations appear in Android 13, displaying a stretched back tab until it splits off from the screen’s side and becomes its own bubble. It’s much more visible than the current back arrow on Android, making it clearer when you’re swiping back.
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