Most people use the navigation pill at the bottom on Android phones to go on the home screen, but there are a couple of hidden navigation gestures. You can use these gestures for switching apps, Circle to Search, notifications and one-handed mode. On that note, here are all the hidden navigation pill gestures on Android and how you can turn them on.
First, Make Sure Gesture Navigation Is On
None of the navigation pill gestures work with the three-button navigation bar. So you need to turn on gesture navigation first. On a Pixel phone, go to Settings > System > Navigation mode and choose Gesture navigation.
On a Samsung phone, open Settings > Display > Navigation bar and choose Swipe gestures. If you are new to gestures on One UI, go ahead and check out our guide on how to use swipe gestures on Samsung phones to learn the basics.
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1. Swipe Left or Right to Switch Apps
This is a basic gesture and many users might be knowing it. However, for those who don't know, this navigation pill gesture can be very helpful on Android. When you are inside an app, you can simply swipe right on the pill to move to the last app you used. This way, you don't have to open the Recents screen to switch apps.
You can keep swiping right and you will go through all your open apps. You can also swipe left to switch to the previous app. The best part is that it works the same way on Pixels, Samsung phones and all other Android phones.
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2. Press and Hold the Pill for Circle to Search
This is my favourite navigation pill gesture on Android. You just have to press and hold the navigation pill and Android opens Circle to Search on top of whatever you are looking at. You can then circle on the screen, highlight, translate, tap any text, image or video on the screen to search for it on Google.
Google announced Circle to Search in 2024 and it first arrived on the Galaxy S24 series and the Pixel 8 series. Now it's available on nearly all Android phones.
On a Samsung phone, you need to turn on the toggle under Settings > Display > Navigation bar > Circle to Search. You can learn about the other AI tricks in our Galaxy AI features explainer.
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3. Swipe Up and Pause to Open Recents Screen
If you do a quick swipe up on the navigation pill, it takes you to the home screen. However, if you swipe up and hold your finger for a moment, Android opens the Recents (Overview) screen instead.
From here, you can swipe left or right to check your open apps and tap a card to open it. You can also swipe up on a card to close that app.
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4. Swipe Down on the Pill to Pull Down Notifications
On a big Android phone, reaching the top of the screen to pull down notifications becomes awkward with one hand. So Google has solved this on Pixel phones with a hidden option. It lets you pull down notifications with a downward swipe on the pill from any app.
Google added this as part of one-handed mode with Android 12. You can go to Settings > System > Gestures > One-handed mode. Here, turn on Use one-handed mode and select Show notifications. Now, simply swipe down on the pill and your notifications will show up.
Note that this option and another one that shrinks the screen (explained below) use the same gesture, so you can only pick one of them at a time.
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5. Swipe Down on the Pill to Shrink the Screen
Pixel and Samsung phones have this great one-handed mode where you can shrink the whole interface so that your thumb can reach everywhere. And you can activate it with this hidden navigation pill gesture on Android.
On a Pixel device, go to Settings > System > Gestures > One-handed mode and choose Pull screen into reach. Now, when you swipe down on the pill, the upper part of the interface slides lower so your thumb can reach it.
On Samsung phones, go to Settings > Advanced features > One-handed mode and turn it on. Here, choose the gesture option. Now, a downward swipe on the navigation pill shrinks the entire display into a smaller window.
6. Swipe in from the Bottom Corners for Gemini
On Pixel phones, a diagonal swipe from one of the corners of the display activates Gemini. It's pretty handy when you want to ask a quick question about something that is already on your screen.
To turn it on, go to Settings > System > Navigation mode. Here, tap the settings icon beside Gesture navigation and enable Swipe to invoke assistant. If you want to learn about the new AI features on Pixel phones, check out our linked guide.
By the way, on Samsung phones, the company has removed this corner swipe toggle from the Navigation bar settings. You can still bring it back with the One Hand Operation module in Good Lock. Open the module, turn it on and set the Diagonal up gesture on both the left and right handles.
So these are all the hidden navigation pill gestures on Android that I think everyone should know about. Most of them depend on your current Android version and your phone's skin, so check the appropriate setting and turn it on.
