Google is adding new gestures for Android 10 (Q), may be remove back button
Google added gesture navigation in the Android P version to allow users to return via the back button, open the application drawer and adjust multitasking and more. This gesture navigation operation has completely replaced the recent button in the Android P version, but Google is continuing to develop more gesture navigation operations.
According to the XDA Forum news in the latest Android Q developer version, Google has used the new gesture to completely replace the original return button. There are three buttons in the Android navigation bar before the Android P version, although Google later merged the home page with the recent button, still has a back button. The back button only appears when needed, so you can maintain a clean look in the bottom navigation bar, as there is no back button on the bottom navigation bar on the home screen.
In the Android Q developer version, the return button has disappeared, and the user can quickly return without swiping the button by swiping the home button to the left. After the sliding operation is completed, the home button will quickly return to the center position for the user’s next operation. At present, Google is still developing this function and will continue to optimize.
The gestures found this time have the experience of multitasking in addition to the return button being replaced, and the user does not need to go to the full recent menu to view the application. In contrast, users can quickly switch from one application to another through multi-tasking gestures, and the switching speed is relatively high. The XDA Forum stated that these two changes are still in development, but it is almost certain that the back button may eventually be completely discarded from Android.