[Discontinued] [OFFICIAL XDA] Navigation Gestures - Get iPhone X/OnePlus style gesture control

Jealous of the cool new gesture navigation feature on the Apple iPhone X, Android P, or OnePlus 5T/OnePlus 6? With Navigation Gestures, you don't have to go out and buy a new phone if you want to change the way you use your phone. This app brings gesture navigation to any Android device!

Best of all, with Navigation Gestures you can completely hide the stock navigation bar without root! This is the only gesture control app with this feature.

Swipe left, right, up, or down. Swipe up and hold. Tap. Double tap. Long press. There's a lot of ways you can interact with the gesture bar to control your phone. Don’t like how the gesture bar looks? You can customize its appearance! Here’s what you can do:

Gestures

• Taps
  • Single tap
  • Double tap
  • Tap and hold (long press)

• Swipes
  • Swipe up and hold
  • Swipe left
  • Swipe left and hold
  • Swipe right
  • Swipe right and hold
  • Swipe up
  • Swipe down

• Split Pill
  • Swipe up from left
  • Swipe up and hold from left
  • Swipe up from center
  • Swipe up and hold from center
  • Swipe up from right
  • Swipe up and hold from right

Actions

• Free
  • Home
  • Back
  • Recent apps
  • Toggle split-screen (requires Android Nougat+)
  • Open previous app (requires Android Nougat+)
  • Open Assistant
  • Hide pill

• Premium
  • Pull down the notification shade
  • Pull down quick setting tiles
  • Open power menu
  • Skip to previous media track*
  • Skip to next media track*
  • Play/pause current media track*
  • Switch keyboard dialog
  • Launch app**
  • Lock screen***
  • Screenshot****
  * Media actions are not guaranteed to work with every app. Media actions use standard Android APIs to work with most apps.
  ** If you notice that an app is "slow" to launch after using the pill to trigger the home button, that's because of an obscure change made all the way back in Android 4.4 KitKat. Unless you have this Xposed Module or a custom ROM installed with the patch, there's no way around it.
  ***Lock Screen is compatible with the vast majority of devices. How it works is like this: Makes screen brightness and display timeout minimum and then displays a fullscreen black activity until the phone actually enters sleep mode from the timeout (~5 seconds.) There are other ways to lock the screen but we decided against them, at least for this release.
  ****Screenshot action uses the MediaProjection API, which is normally used to record the screen. Here, we just record the screen for a single frame. This is the only way pre-Android P for it to work. Screenshots are saved to /Pictures/NavigationGestures

Appearance (all free)

• Toggle pill shadow
• Customize pill color
• Customize pill transparency
• Customize pill border color
• Customize pill corner radius
• Customize pill width/height
• Customize pill vertical/horizontal position

Behavior (all free)

• Show NavBar in Selected Apps
• Hide Pill in Selected Apps
• Customize vibration duration
• Customize animation duration
• Hide Pill After Specified Delay
• Hide in Fullscreen apps
• Don’t Move pill when Keyboard Shown
• Show Pill in Car Mode
• Larger Hitbox
• Horizontal (X) Swipe Distance
• Vertical (Y) Swipe Distance
• Swipe and Hold Time

Compatibility (all free)

• Hide Navigation Bar in Landscape
• Hide Navigation Bar on Tablets
• Show Navigation Bar in Fullscreen
• Enable Immersive Navigation Mode with Immersive Blacklist

Experimental (all free)

• Hide Pill when Keyboard Shown
• Keep Pill Shown in other Overlay Apps
• Use Full Overscan

Download

Download Navigation Gestures from the Google Play Store.

Download Navigation Gestures Premium Addon from the Google Play Store.

Join our beta testing group on Telegram

XDA:DevDB Information
Navigation Gestures by XDA, App for all devices (see above for details)

Contributors
MishaalRahman, Zacharee1

Version Information
Status: Stable
Current Stable Version: 1.3.0
Stable Release Date: 2018-07-09

Created 2018-05-19
Last Updated 2018-07-09

First of all...despite my earlier comment saying I would respond to feedback in this thread, I failed to follow up on that. I apologize. It's been a CRAZY week. I've responded to over 600 emails, hundreds of Reddit comments, YouTube comments, Play Store reviews. I've read most of what was said here, and to be honest, there's not much feedback we haven't seen already. That being said, each of you is unique, so just because I update one person who emails us doesn't mean you guys get the same story.

So here's a mega post on what we've been doing, what we've figured out since the first release, and what will hopefully come in the next release.

Acknowledged issues

• Not working at all on LG G6/Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1.
  • We're not EXACTLY sure why it doesn't seem to hide the nav bar on either device, but one user reported that setting our app to forced 18:9 compatibility mode fixes it on the G6, at least. We need to replicate that and confirm so we can fix it. If true, it'll be an easy fix. Not sure why other 18:9 devices aren't affected like that.
• Pill disappearing randomly.
  • In some cases, crappy OEM skins with aggressive task killers are killing the pill/Accessibility Service. Solution: add a foreground service (that means an annoying notification will be shown in the next release, but you can hide it using standard methods.)
• Pill disappearing when unlocking the screen.
  • We were able to consistently reproduce this: It seems to occur ONLY when the user wakes the device via fingerprint scanner WITHOUT first pressing the power button to show the lock screen. This should hopefully be fixed. I haven't had the pill randomly disappear on me in a few days.
• Pill showing up in full-screen apps/videos.
  • We were thinking of having the pill enter the "hide" position (ie. halfway off the screen) and make it mostly transparent.
• "White line" at the bottom of the screen.
  • This is NOT a bug. This is a side-effect of a change we intentionally made after version 1.0.0 because without, many Samsung, Motorola, and Xiaomi devices were reporting major bugs (eg. black screen after unlocking, wonky launcher,etc.) The "white line" is caused by the navigation bar being hidden 99.99% but not 100% (ie. we are overscanning to hide the nav bar entirely except for 1 pixel.) For some reason that fixes those bugs we saw early on. So the "white line" is actually just your nav bar that's colored white. It's noticed mostly by Samsung owners because Samsung aggressively colors the nav bar white lol. We realize it's annoying though so we'll be hiding it on as many devices as we can.
• Slow single tap response.
  • This is similarly NOT a bug, but we realize it's annoying so we'll fix it. Let me first explain: Anytime you have a double tap function (like our app does), that WILL add delay to the single tap action because the app has to wait and see if the user completes a double tap gesture before deciding "hey it's just a single tap!" We made the delay really really small and thought people wouldn't notice, but I guess it's more noticeable on certain devices. We can't entirely fix it, but what we can do (and have done) is get rid of the double tap detection delay if the double tap action isn't set. But if you enable the double tap action there WILL be delay.
• Pill shows above the keyboard.
  • Also not a bug, but intentional. We had two options here: show it above or keep it below. Keeping it below would result in it overlapping with the space bar. We thought keeping it above would be better. Contrary to what you might think, we are NOT actually detecting when the keyboard is active. There's no way to do that without some serious hits to performance via Accessibility APIs. That limits our options. If we had an easy way to detect the keyboard without killing performance, we would just put the pill automatically into the "hide" position. We're still looking into a way to make that happen. For now, if you really want...we have added an option to make the pill go below rather than above.
• This app doesn't work on Android P!
  • We are using an API that does not work on Android P unless you use an obscure workaround. We are not sure if this obscure workaround will still work in the final release of Android P. To give us a higher chance of that workaround still working in P, we are choosing not to publicize this workaround. Please bear with us!
• Uninstalling the app doesn't bring back my stock navigation bar!
  • We will be adding even more prominent disclaimers in the app, but do not uninstall the app unless you first disable the pill in the app. We have considered making the device a Device Administrator just to make it harder for users to uninstall the app, but we felt the optics of that would be poor. We WILL be adding a settings button in the app's settings page so you can easily return to the app in case you somehow lose the pill. This whole scenario shouldn't happen anymore once we add the foreground service, though.
• Pill doesn't work with screen pinning.
  • We have no way of simulating a long press on the back button without root. A tentative solution we are looking into is detecting when the phone enters a pinned screen state and disabling the pill to bring back the stock nav bar.
• The app hides the dock in Samsung DeX.
  • Apparently, the dock in DeX is seen as a nav bar, lol. We'll see if we can detect DeX and just disable the app when that happens. That shouldn't be too hard to do.
• Part of the screen is cut off when changing to 270-degree orientation, especially noticeable on tablets.
  • We're looking into a way to fix this automatically without making it an option you have to toggle.

Feature requests

• Can we add a feature where the pill is in its own separate area so it doesn't overlap with certain UI elements?
  • Very likely no, sorry. We are already pushing the screen content down to hide the nav bar. Adding this feature would require us to push the screen content UP as well. We can't have it both ways.
• Can we add pill opacity/transparency feature?
  • Yes, that is already in the next release.
• Can we add pill coloring feature?
  • Yes, that is already in the next release.
• Can we make the animations faster/disable them?
  • Yes, animation duration customization is already in the next release.
• Can we move the pill left/right?
  • Yes, we have added horizontal position customization.
• Can we add swipe left and hold and swipe right and hold gestures?
  • Yes, that is coming in the next release.
• Can we hide the pill when on the launcher?
  • Yes, we have added a toggle to automatically hide it on the launcher.
• House keeping: split-screen function has been moved to the free app.
  • Our philosophy is that all "standard" navigation functions (standard as in what you find on the Google Pixel) will be free, all extra actions are premium.
• Can we add a special "root mode" to not use Accessibility?
  • Contrary to what you might think, you won't save any performance this way. In fact, it'll just be a worse experience. Changing Accessibility Global Events --> root shell "input KeyEvent" is a bad idea since sending root shell commands is painfully slow.
• Can we have the pill open a certain app?
  • Yes, that is planned.
• Can we have the pill open an app launcher?
  • That is a bit more complicated since we have to consider caching the list, but it's possible. It's not a priority, but we'll consider it!
• Can we lock the screen?
  • There are 4 ways we know of to do this, and none of them are ideal. There isn't a simple "lock screen" API (well, not until Android P) that we can use that doesn't have its own share of problems. Nova Launcher's approach is probably the best solution, though, so we'll likely just do what they do.
• Can we take a screenshot?
  • Pre-Android P, the only way to do this is with the MediaProjection API (the one that lets you do screen recordings.) It's very performance intensive, but possible to do.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Help, I uninstalled the app and I can't access my navigation bar anymore!
  • Please connect to your computer and run the following command:
    Code:

    adb shell wm overscan reset

• Help, I uninstalled the app and the original navigation bar keeps hiding itself!
  • Please connect to your computer and run the following command:
    Code:

    adb shell settings delete global policy_control

• Can we add a feature where the pill is in its own separate area so it doesn't overlap with certain UI elements?
  • No, sorry. We are already pushing the screen content down to hide the nav bar. Adding this feature would require us to push the screen content up as well. We can’t have it both ways.
• There's a "white line" at the bottom of the screen!
  • This is NOT a bug. This is a side-effect of a change we intentionally made after version 1.0.0 because without it, many Samsung, Motorola, and Xiaomi devices were reporting major bugs (eg. black screen after unlocking which made the phone unusable.) The “white line” is caused by the navigation bar being hidden 99.99% but not 100% (ie. we hiding the navigation bar entirely except for 1 pixel.) So the “white line” is actually just your navigation bar that’s colored white. We added an Experimental Setting called "Use Full Overscan" which gets rid of the white line. Use it at your own risk.
• Pill doesn't work with Samsung DeX/Samsung Good Lock!
  • Android prevents third-party apps from showing overlays on top of SystemUI apps like the status bar and lock screen. You can use the blacklist function in Behavior settings to make the original nav bar show in these apps.
• Pill doesn't show when you open the camera from the lock screen, answer a call from the lock screen, or open a notification for quick reply from the lock screen!
  • Android prevents third-party apps from showing overlays on top of SystemUI apps like the status bar and lock screen. This also includes calls, apps, or notifications answered from the lock screen. The pill cannot be shown until you unlock the device.
• Pill doesn't show in Facebook Messenger, Drupe, or other floating apps!
  • Go to Experimental Settings and select the "Keep Pill Shown in other Overlay Apps." Pick Messenger, Drupe, etc. in this list.
• Pill doesn’t work with screen pinning.
  • We have no way of simulating a long press on the back button without root. A tentative solution we are looking into is detecting when the phone enters a pinned screen state and disabling the pill to bring back the stock nav bar.
• Home action doesn't work on the OnePlus 5!
  • OxygenOS prevents the app from performing the home action if you both enable the software navigation bar and disable the "always enable home button" option in Button settings. To fix this, please enable the "always enable home button" option.
• Pill keeps "jumping" up and down with the navigation bar!
  • This means you either enabled Immersive Mode manually (ie. not from the app) or another app triggered Immersive Mode which is interfering with our app. Here are some possible causes and solutions:
    • Nova Launcher: In the "Notification Bar" section under "Look & Feel," there may be a "Hide Navigation Bar" option. If there is, check to make sure that it is disabled.
    • LG G6/LG V20/LG V30/LG G7 ThinQ: Go to*Settings > Display > Home touch buttons > Hide Home touch buttons and disable the "lock/hide icon" option up top and uncheck every app in the list.
    • Samsung Galaxy S8/Samsung Galaxy Note 8/Samsung Galaxy S9: Go to*Settings > Display > Nav Bar > Show and Hide Button and turn off the toggle up top and uncheck every app in the list.

Feature requests

• Is it possible to keep the pill in the same spot when rotating the screen?
  • We will be adding this as a feature in a future release.
• Can we add an action to launch a shortcut/activity?
  • Yes, that is planned for a future release (premium.)
• Can we add Tasker integration?
  • Yes, that is planned for a future release (premium.)
• Can we add a swipe down and hold gesture?
  • Yes, that is on our todo list.

Here's a build that'll hopefully make its way to the Play Store barring catastrophic bugs that need fixing. I will summarize ALL of the changes from Play Store release version 1.16 to the current beta that's attached to this post.

First, let's address the elephant in the room: Yes, Navigation Gestures now works on Android P Beta 2/Developer Preview 3. We did absolutely nothing to make this happen. We are skeptical that this will remain the case when Android P Beta 3/Developer Preview 4 rolls around, but enjoy it on your Android P device for now. We are still holding onto our workaround if Google reverses the changes they made to make our app work on Android P.

New Features

• Keyboard switch action to launch keyboard switcher dialog (Premium)
• Launch app action to launch a selected app (Premium)*

*If you notice that an app is "slow" to launch after using the pill to trigger the home button, that's because of an obscure change made all the way back in Android 4.4 KitKat. Unless you have this Xposed Module or a custom ROM installed with the patch, there's no way around it.

We're sorry the list of new premium features is short. As you can see below, we've been prioritizing making the experience better for everyone.

Behavior Changes

• Hopefully finally fixes the problem where the navigation bar stills show in fullscreen apps like YouTube. This should also fix any screen "flickering" that you guys have reported where the nav bar jumps up and down.
• Separated the navigation bar hiding function from the pill function. This means hiding the nav bar is now OPT-IN. You can skip granting the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission at startup and grant it later if you try to toggle the hide nav bar function. This should help fix those cases where the app thinks the device has a nav bar (and thus forced them to go through that setup) when they didn't. Since we separated this function, there are now 2 Quick Setting tiles - one for toggling the pill and one for toggling the software nav bar.
• Added "larger hitbox" to Settings --> Compatibility and enabled it by default. This increases the hitbox of the pill from 4dp above to 12dp above, making it easier to hit.
• If a "swipe and hold" action isn't set, it defaults to the "swipe" action in that direction. Eg. if "swipe up and hold" is unset and you swipe up and hold, the regular swipe up action will occur.
• Decrease minimum swipe and hold time from 200ms to 100ms.
• Sensitivity and animations, in general, should be greatly improved.

Miscellaneous Changes

• Added manual entry boxes for all sliders.
• Massive clean-up of preferences to make it more organized and prettier.
• Sped up the animations so the pill feels more responsive.
• Hopefully fixed the issue where the premium version wasn't being detected. (Usually, a reboot on the user's side fixed this.)

I test all features on my Google Pixel 2 XL (our current gold standard), but manufacturers change a lot of things that we have no way of anticipating. Zachary tests the app on his Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and the LG V20, so those devices are also extensively tested against. Our Telegram beta group helps us iron out new bugs, too, but we're hoping to get as much feedback as possible before release. Please test out this latest release and let us know how things go! If you have any problems, see if a clean install fixes it. If not, let us know!

P.S. Our plan for after this release is to add off-screen, OnePlus 5T/OnePlus 6-style gestures!

Release candidate builds will be available on our Telegram beta group: https://t.me/joinchat/GobKO0bC5BerFC9Avo-HvQ

I will attach the APK here as well. Note this is a BETA! We haven't released it on the Play Store yet! It's almost ready we just need to be sure it works for most users!

Here's the changelog:

Bug fixes and behavior changes:
* Added foreground service to hopefully prevent pill from disappearing randomly. (This adds a persistent notification, you can hide it if you want.)
* Hopefully fixed pill disappearing when unlocking the screen with fingerprint scanner.
* Added "Hide in Fullscreen Apps" toggle in Settings —> Behavior. This will make the pill enter "hide" mode and become more transparent in fullscreen apps and games.
* Added coloring to the nav bar on Samsung devices to hopefully hide the "white line" at the bottom of the screen issue.
* Disabled double tap detection if double tap gesture is set to "None." This will hopefully fix the delay with the single tap gesture.
* Added "Don't Move Pill" option in Settings —> Behavior. This will stop the pill going above the keyboard.
* Added "Hide on Launcher" option in Settings —> Behavior. This will make the pill disappear on the launcher.

Feature additions:
* Added pill transparency
* Added pill coloring/border coloring
* Added toggle for pill shadow
* Added pill corner radius size
* Added animation duration customization
* Added horizontal (X) position customization
* Added swipe left and hold + swipe right and hold gestures
* Split-screen action has been moved to the free build

Compatibility changes (Settings —> Compatibility):
* Alternative "root" mode has been added to use shell commands rather than the Accessibility Service.
* "Hide original navbar in landscape" this will hopefully prevent the nav bar from showing on some devices when in landscape
* "Tablet mode" if you use a tablet and notice parts of the screen get cut off, try this out.

Please test if you can!