Android will add a setting to change notification swipe direction after Q restricted it to right

Damien Wilde | Mar 29 2019 - 5:48 am PT

Android Q might be a pretty big update over Android Pie, but it is still very early in the testing phase. After the first beta revealed that you could only swipe away notifications in a single direction, Google has mentioned that a future release will add a setting to change that direction.

The ability to swipe on notifications in the notification center to quickly get rid of them is way more intuitive than on iOS, but the Android Q Beta 1 limited the ability to swipe left to dismiss. At the moment it reveals a submenu of buttons that allows you to snooze or block incoming notifications from that specific application or contact when you swipe to the left.

This new addition meant that you could only swipe right to dismiss any unwanted notifications or clear your lock screen or notification center. This felt like a bit of a step backward from Android Pie – where you simply swiped left or right to make notifications disappear.

Android Q Beta 1: Notifications can only be swiped away to the right, actions show to left

Well, fear not, as this ability to swipe in any direction you choose is coming back in a future Android release according to a Google Issue Tracker post (via XDA-developers).

While it’s not immediately clear if this refers to a future release of the Android Q beta, it wouldn’t be a great stretch to imagine that being the case. However, we don’t know for certain. It’s also worth noting that this update will likely just give you the ability to choose a direction that clears a notification. Swiping in the opposite direction will likely open up that submenu like it currently does on Android Q Beta 1.

It would be interesting to hear what the consensus is, my personal opinion is that the older swipe both ways to dismiss, long swipe for more options makes infinitely more sense. Be sure to let us know what you think of the Android swipe to dismiss update in the comments section below.