Enable iPhone Like Smooth Back Gesture Animation in Android Smartphones

If you have used Apple iPhone in past, you must have an idea of its buttery smooth UI animations. Every iPhone user knows how smooth it feels when you swipe from the left on your iPhone to go back. Now you can get a similar smooth back experience in your Android smartphone with the help of this tutorial.

Following animated image shows smooth back gesture animation enabled in Samsung Galaxy smartphone:

Actually when you use back gesture in iPhone, the iOS automatically displays a small preview of the previous page on half of the mobile phone screen using card UI. It makes the user feeling that he is navigating between pages like a slide-show. This is the reason iPhone users feel a smooth experience while using the back gesture.

Google has introduced similar feature in Android 14.0 with the name “Predictive Back Animations“. This feature mimics iPhone’s back gesture functionality and shows a preview of the previous page when the user starts swiping from the left or right of the screen to go back.

It solves a problem or issue which existed in the new gesture navigation feature introduced in Android operating system. Ever since Google introduced gesture navigation in Android OS, the back gesture never displayed the preview of the previous page. The users didn’t have any idea which page or screen will be displayed on their smartphone when they use back gesture.

When the new feature is enabled and the user starts swiping from the left or right on the phone screen, Android displays a preview of the previous page. The user can decide whether to go back to the previewed page or remain on the current page. The page preview makes the back gesture experience smooth similar to iPhone.

Since the Predictive Back Animation feature is a part of Android 14.0, it’s available in selected smartphones only. Pixel devices and latest Samsung Galaxy smartphones provide this feature.

You can check and enable this feature using hidden secret Developer Options page. Since Google is working on this feature, the feature is not enabled by default and interested users are required to manually enable it using Developer Options.

If you also want to enjoy iPhone style back gesture animation experience in your Android smartphone, following steps will help you:

STEP 1: Enable Developer Options in Your Android Smartphone

First of all, you’ll need to activate and enable Developer Options page in your smartphone settings. You can enable Developer Options by tapping on “Settings -> About phone -> Build number” option 7 times and it’ll activate and enable Developer Options menu.

Following articles contain full step-by-step instructions for enabling Developer Options in Android smartphones:

[Tip] Enable Hidden Secret “Developer Options” Menu in Android Mobile Phones

[Tip] Speed up Your Slow Android Mobile Phone, Make it Run Faster

STEP 2: Enable Predictive Back Animations in Developer Options

After enabling Developer Options, you can turn on the predictive back animations option using following steps:

1. Open Developer Options page in Settings and look for following option:

PS: You can directly search for the option using search option present on smartphone Settings screen.

2. The option is disabled by default. Tap on the toggle option and Android will show a message on the screen:

Tap on OK button.

PS: This information message is displayed for app developers to make them aware that the predictive back animation feature can be supported in their app by setting android:enableOnBackInvokedCallback=”true” in android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml file.

That’s it. You have successfully enabled predictive back animation feature in your Android smartphone.

STEP 3: Enable Gesture Navigation in Your Android Smartphone

If you are not using gesture navigation in your Android smartphone, you”ll need to enable it using smartphone Settings page. By default many smartphone manufacturer companies keep the new gesture navigation disabled and enable the three-button classic navigation bar at bottom which contains recent apps, home and back buttons.

You can enable iOS style gesture navigation in your Android smartphone using following steps:

1. Open Settings app in your smartphone and search for Navigation.

Different smartphone brands contain the gesture navigation option at different places. In Pixel and few stock Android devices, the gesture navigation option is present under Settings -> System -> Gestures -> System Navigation page.

Samsung and few other brands contain the option under Settings -> Display -> Navigation Bar page.

2. Enable the gesture navigation option and it’ll remove the 3-buttons navigation bar from the bottom and a tiny thin line will appear at bottom similar to the iOS.

Now you can enjoy iPhone style gesture navigation in your Android smartphone.

• To go to home screen, swipe up from the bottom.
• To go back in any app, swipe from the left or right of the screen.
• To access recent apps screen, swipe up and hold from the bottom.

Also Check:

Things to Know Before Switching to iPhone from Android

Here is Why iPhone Rejects Incoming Calls When You Enable Do Not Disturb