C. Scott Brown/Android Authority
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- Samsung has removed its navigation system from One UI 6.1, allowing users to choose between a navigation bar and Android's default navigation gestures.
- Samsung introduced its gestures with the Samsung Experience interface in Android 8.0 Oreo.
Samsung has just launched the Galaxy S24 series and along with the new hardware, One UI 6.1 comes with some new AI-based features. While all the new features are much appreciated, One UI 6.1 also brings one unfortunate change: Samsung's navigation gestures are no longer available to users.
As reported by Sammobile , Samsung has removed its navigation system from One UI 6.1 for the Galaxy S24 series. You can no longer choose Samsung's old navigation gestures that let you swipe up from Recents, Home, and back. These gestures were introduced in Android 8.0 Oreo's Samsung Experience interface, with a wider implementation with Android 9.0 Pie.
Users can now choose between the traditional navigation bar of virtual buttons or the default Android navigation gestures. The default Android gestures are swipe up from the bottom to go to the home page, swipe up and hold to access recent items, and swipe back from the sides.
Samsung Navigation Gestures worked well as an alternative for those who don't like the Android navigation bar or navigation gestures. Android's default navigation gestures are similar to iOS, so most people are probably familiar with them. However, Samsung is no stranger to introducing additional features, so removing its navigation system seems strange.
What makes the decision even weirder is that Android's navigation gestures often interfere with the new Circle to Search feature. The search circle requires a long press on the navigation bar when using gestures, and if you move your fingers around a bit, it's easy to confuse phones with swiping up for home or swiping up and holding for last. Samsung's old navigation options may also interfere with the search circle, but for a single action (swipe up to go to the home page), last and previous options will theoretically have no effect.
It's unlikely that Samsung will bring back its old navigation system, as many other OEMs have also abandoned their own navigation systems and adopted Android's two completely default options.
What navigation method do you use on your Galaxy phone?
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