Yet again, another feature from Android 14. The Android 14 has brought in a lot of seemingly interesting features and now there’s the New Android Predictive back gesture that is as interesting as it is pulling in some “fans”.
Further details on the New Android Predictive back gesture
When you slide away from the edge and the current app window decreases, Android will provide a glimpse of the home screen. Google wants to improve how the existing back gesture might cause “users to leave the app by accident.”
You can try it out right now in Android 13 with approved Google applications by going to Settings > System > Developer settings > Predictive back animations (near the bottom). However, the new Android Predictive Back Gesture is enabled by default in Android 14.
The “new Android Predictive Back gesture has been proved to surpass the present experience in end users’ job completion, preference, contentment, confidence, and premiums,” according to Google. It asks if the “costs of deploying Predictive Back will be worthwhile.”
We have the most recent look into the in-app new Predictive Back gesture in the developer survey (on a screenshot in this article via 9to5google). Google Calendar is accessible for event information. When you use the back motion, the fullscreen page shrinks and you can see the previous screen (Calendar’s Schedule list view). This is complemented by a Google Calendar animation that shows the event card decreasing.
The question is whether “in-app Predictive Back will impact how users browse your app for the better or the worst.” One oddity is how little your sneak look at the preceding screen is – only the edge. Dylan Roussel points out that your finger might be physically obscuring the preview, especially given how small that region is right now.
As compared to iOS and its sliding pane concept, this may give enough of a preview for some people (combined with muscle memory and familiarity), but it is not as evident. While returning to the home screen, Android’s approach is obvious.
