Unreleased Android Q build leaks customizable ‘Back Sensitivity’ gesture setting

Android Q is expected to see two more betas before it publicly launches in Q3 2019. The last update arrived in early June, but an unreleased build of Android Q has now leaked with one key improvement to gestural navigation.

One Pixel 3 XL user reported receiving a new Q update earlier this week. According to “About phone,” the device is running build QP1A.190626.001 and the August security patch.

Looking at the build number alone, Beta 5 is expected to continue with the Beta 1-4 numbering scheme and start with QPP5. Meanwhile, it would presumably only feature the July security patch, not next month’s. It’s highly likely we are looking at an even newer internal build of Android Q.

One of the biggest changes in this release is to the full gestural navigation. Namely, the System navigation page reveals a setting to adjust “Back Sensitivity” that is not found on Q Beta 4 today.

Higher sensitivity may conflict with any app gestures along the edges of the screen.

There are four increments on the slider ranging from “Low” to “High.” Speaking to the owner of this Pixel 3 XL, they noted a marked improvement to navigation. This comes as we learned yesterday that Beta 5 will tweak gesture nav with peeking app navigation drawers.

We’re exploring what other new features and changes are present on this unreleased Android Q build that leaked.

Unreleased over-the-air updates reaching consumer devices are not a new phenomenon. Just last month, regular Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL users reported receiving the July security patch two weeks early as part of a “Googler-only OTA.” Meanwhile, this led to a Nexus 6P owner in 2016 getting an internal build of Android 7.0 Nougat before its official launch.

Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.