When Google brought gesture navigation to Android, it kept a “gesture hint” in place as a little bar that sits at the bottom of the screen. Some brands, including Samsung, have offered the ability to remove the gesture navigation bar from view or use an entirely different form of gestures, but both are being removed with the Galaxy S24 series.
On the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung is removing two of its gesture navigation options from users. The first is the ability to hide the gesture navigation bar. Gestures still work when this bar is removed, there’s just no buffer between the bottom of the screen and the app in view, which occasionally leads to some little usability hiccups.
In One UI 6.0, Samsung provides the option to hide the gesture navigation bar by toggling “Gesture hint.” It’s enabled by default. On the Galaxy S24, this option is completely removed, as pictured below.
Beyond that, Samsung is also ditching its own take on gesture navigation. This option allowed users to swipe up where typical navigation buttons would be. The solution always felt a bit half-baked, but did work reasonably well. On the Galaxy S24 series, it’s completely removed.
Presumably, both of these decisions are related to Google’s new Circle to Search, which uses a long-press of the navigation bar home button or the gesture bar to launch the new interface. It’s not a huge surprise that Samsung is making the change for this sake either, as the vast majority of Samsung users are on three-button navigation. But also, if you turn off Circle to Search, the missing settings do not return.
To be abundantly clear, Samsung is not removing gesture navigation entirely, as can be clearly seen in the screenshots above. Samsung is removing its own gesture navigation solution, as well as the option to turn off the “gesture hint” bar.
Will this apply to other Samsung devices? It’s hard to say for now. In the latest One UI 6.0 updates, these options remain on devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 5. We won’t know for sure if Samsung is fully removing this on existing devices until One UI 6.1 starts rolling out, but it certainly seems like the option is gone for future releases.
Top comment by Lucas de Eiroz Rodrigues
Every phone I own I always hide the gesture navbar tip. I hope this is only for phones with Circle to Search, in that case would be a fair trade-off. But only losing a feature would be a downgrade.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is available for pre-order now, starting at $799. Pre-orders come with doubled storage, boosted trade-ins up to $750, and bonus credit up to $150.
You can get an additional $50 off your purchase on Samsung.com using our exclusive links above.
Thanks Max!
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