Upgraded from Galaxy to iPhone; Missing the back gesture so much.

Submitted by lucinaiscool t3_119v1zv in iphone

I upgraded from a Galaxy phone to the iPhone 14 pro this year because, for some reason, I cannot add new cards to my Samsung Pay.

Almost everything about the phone is great so far since I'm already using other Apple products. However, I really miss how handy the back button of Galaxy/Android phones.

I've read Reddit comments about this issue and it seems most people really prefer swiping from left to right or just pressing the back button in the upper left corner. I'm wondering, do you guys do it using just one hand or is it assumed that you always use two hands when using the phone? iPhones are also much wider than Samsung phones, so it really takes some effort just to do a back gesture.

For context, in Android, the back button is implemented as a very small swipe from either side. So for the majority of the purposes such as scrolling, doing some action, and going back, all are conveniently done without moving your thumbs. I think about the back gesture as a shortcut similar to having dedicated back/forward buttons in your mouse.

One use case that I have is opening lots of tabs from a parent site when reading news. It involves lots of scrolling and unfortunately many back gestures too. There's also no shortcut for closing tabs. For these operations, having the dedicated back gesture would be so useful.

I feel this is also part of the reason people are clamoring for smaller phones. Having an iPhone of the same size (6.1" standard) but with a slightly slimmer width (easy to put into pockets) and having good ergonomics for one-handed operation would possibly meet their requirements.

Anyway, I would like to still use my iPhone on daily basis. Do you have any tips that you could share on making day-to-day, especially web browsing, more ergonomic?

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WTF_CAKE t1_j9ofher wrote

A lot of apps you can do a back swipe from the left side of the screen. I think my only complaint with iPhone is that it’s a guessing game on which apps it works on and which doesn’t

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Subieworx t1_j9oktjy wrote

OP is also stating that gesture is difficult due to how wide the screen is. You can swiped from the right side of the screen on an Android phone to go back and only move your thumb .25" to make it happen. The iphone has to go from the left and move roughly 1/3 of the way across the screen to complete the process.

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r21174 t1_j9psf0x wrote

speaking of the movement i get a lot of trouble scrolling down. Where it somehow recognizing im swiping left. Its been like that since i got the phone. I do have glass screen pro on. But it was doing that before i put it on.. 14 pro max..

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RandyLeRam t1_j9zi68b wrote

Yeah I get a lot of scroll issues where it activates small screen mode. So irritating.

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P_Devil t1_j9pfuii wrote

It’s not that much movement. I’m sure it depends on the app, but I just tried it in the Reddit and Music apps. Both could go back with a .25-0.5 inch horizontal swipe from the right side of my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

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Lunafreya_NoxF t1_j9q0v4m wrote

It’s not about the swipe movement.

It’s about your hand placement. If you have a Pro Max phone and use your phone with your right hand, it’s nearly impossible to take your thumb all the way across the very wide phone to the left just to swipe to go back.

It’s easier to do it with two hands or if you’re left handed.

On Android you can swipe left or right and this it makes it much easier.

This is one of the things I miss everytime I switch back and forth from one to another.

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P_Devil t1_j9q4v73 wrote

Except that I have done it with one hand, multiple times. I don’t need to swipe across the entire display. A suck single handed flick takes me back. I’ve tried a few other apps and they behave similarly. I think people are making a bigger deal out of the forward and back gestures than what’s reality.

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lucinaiscool OP t1_j9qa8yt wrote

Hey. I tried this in Safari but I can only go back if I start from the left edge. Forward from right edge. Tried it in Music app but it is same.

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P_Devil t1_j9qcza2 wrote

It is very app dependent. The Music app was doing it for me earlier, must have been a fluke. The Reddit app does a good job though, I can flick anywhere. Imgur is the same. Some apps don’t even support it, like Disney+. After looking at things further, I’m surprised things are so inconsistent.

I did like the back button on my Galaxy phones. But I don’t think it’s necessary. Im also not a fan of Android’s swiping. It needs more deliberate swipes from me.

I don’t know, it still doesn’t bother me. I’ve used my iPhone 14 Pro Max (and previous Max and Plus iPhones) one handed plenty of times. Reaching over to go back hasn’t been an issue for me. My hands are really big. My iPhone 14 Pro Max’s height goes from the base of my palm to about 1/3rd of an inch away from my middle tip.

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Subieworx t1_j9pztqm wrote

But you still have to reach the other side of the screen.

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P_Devil t1_j9q0dz7 wrote

I didn’t. I was able to go back from the right side of my iPhone’s display. Just a quick flick to the right on the right side of my iPhone’s display. I didn’t have to reach or anything, just a quick flick without reaching.

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SpeedyGoldenberg t1_j9p8zjv wrote

All apps do that.

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WTF_CAKE t1_j9p9d3h wrote

My stock app certain screen it doesn’t do that, my third party Reddit app doesn’t do that, not true

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SpeedyGoldenberg t1_j9pce0f wrote

Use Apollo. Then swipe down

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21Payces t1_j9pu5vs wrote

Everybody says this but even Apollo doesn't follow it 100%. Photos/videos/gifs all have to be either swiped down, and sometimes that still doesn't work and you HAVE to press the "X" in the top left corner. Not to mention if you go to your profile page or your settings page, swiping from the left edge does absolutely nothing to return you to where you came from

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Squinkius t1_j9okylr wrote

My S23U (6.8" screen) is easier to manage one handed than the iPhone 13 Pro (6.1" screen) which preceded it, and the sole reason is the universal back gesture.

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tryunus87 t1_j9o94r6 wrote

Moved from 10 years of Samsung phones (last phone was S22) to iphone 14 Plus this weekend. Really happy and lealised I should have made the swap earlier. Like you, I'm only missing the back gesture or back button. But I guess we're getting used to it.

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v0yev0da t1_j9oucv9 wrote

I missed the bottom row of buttons back when I switched a few years ago. The left side swipe is nice and all but it doesn't replace the dedicated gesture.

That said I find gestures smoother on iPhone overall. Fwiw I use a Pixel 3a as my Android device and while it runs just fine even now the gestures feel like they require more drastic actions.

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BANSH33-1215 t1_j9rtcmw wrote

You'll probably miss Android keyboards pretty soon too.

Keyboards and universal back gesture (particularly better with custom gestures) are what I miss most after a year.

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CT4nk3r t1_j9tq6j0 wrote

Samsung keyboard is awful, Gboard for me is really laggy (s10e), have to wait almost a second to show up if the phone is under enough load. I can just long hold the space and move the cursor, on Android it feels really bad and never used it, I love to is it on iOS

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BattermanZ t1_j9odliw wrote

I did the same switch as you two weeks ago after a lifetime on Galaxy phones. For the life of me I don't understand how there is no back button on iPhones (which is not only a back button but also a cancel button).

Unfortunately we just need to get used to it... There are many that iPhones do better but I am surprised to see how many basic things I am missing compared with Android.

I absolutely do not regret my switch though!

As for you adding card problem, I can't help, I didn't have any issue when switching from Google wallet to Apple Pay.

Good luck!

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SantiFRV_ t1_j9p0ldj wrote

What basic things are missing? As someone who's using a 14PM I often find myself saying the opposite. iOS lacks so many things that make android phones great

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BattermanZ t1_j9p2l79 wrote

Off the top of my head, I think that iPhones are missing:

  • a back button
  • a true general silent mode (no vibration)
  • a button based shortcut to start the camera (not tapping the back since it doesn't work with my case)
  • a keyboard with long press access to special characters
  • built in scrolling screenshots
  • setting several timers running at the same time

Maybe some others but can't remember them right now !

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HotPink124 t1_j9p8icy wrote

Well I can tell you one tip from the Lock Screen. If you swipe from the right of the screen to the left, it opens the camera

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BattermanZ t1_j9pa32p wrote

Thanks! I know that one, but this only works when your screen is locked. Meaning it is actually faster to start your camera when your phone is locked than when it's unlocked and being used. Sounds a bit crazy no? 😅

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HotPink124 t1_j9pbtei wrote

Ya. I figure it was probably a known feature. Only other thing I could suggest is putting a button for it in the control center

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BattermanZ t1_j9pc2oy wrote

Thanks for the advice! That's actually what I did but I have ton confess that I have trouble making a habit to use this shortcut. I guess it will come with time! I will probably forever miss the Samsung shortcut.

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BagelDave t1_j9q94zw wrote

Do you know if it's possible to disable this? I'm constantly swiping notifications away on my Lock Screen and after the second or third one I always seem to trigger the camera by accident.

There's literally a camera button in the bottom right of the Lock Screen! I'd much prefer to just use that and not swipe.

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HotPink124 t1_j9q9gcz wrote

I’m not sure. I do the same thing at least once a day as well. But I haven’t looked to see. I’ll have to take a scroll through the settings and see.

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Taxmoney40 t1_j9qrc25 wrote

You can go into settings and have the iPhone not vibrate when on silent

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BattermanZ t1_j9sjt6h wrote

By doing that you are deactivating all vibrations from.the phone. I do not want that so I just did it for every single app sending notifications. Pretty labour intensive...

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CT4nk3r t1_j9tqcpz wrote

> a true general silent mode (no vibration)

Use the switcher on the side of the phone, and in the sound part of settings, turn off vibrate on silent, worked for me great

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BattermanZ t1_j9tv9p5 wrote

You mean the "play haptics in silent mode" option?

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ellllly t1_j9ol0xg wrote

switched from the 21u and i still miss it 😢

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natttsss t1_j9ogtjs wrote

Yes! I really miss that too.

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MaxMercurry t1_j9p2548 wrote

I really love android for the most part, however, my biggest gripe is that because there are so many devices apps tend not to be optimized resolution-wise or graphic-wise on android devices. It's mostly an issue if you play games. For example, I tried the pixel 7 which should easily be able to handle racing games like Need For Speed No limits but for some reason when I downloaded and wanted to play, it ran fine but the graphics were so bad and pixelated. I guess the fault is mainly on the app devs but still. My old iPhone XR can run games at high quality.

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IntellectualBurger t1_j9p63v9 wrote

almost all iphone apps have back swipe lol

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688165135 t1_j9pmnou wrote

Not the Calendar! In Schedule View I see the <[Month] button in the corner and try to swipe back, only to realize it doesn’t work 😕

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LH_Emerald_Star t1_j9rgcfv wrote

I hear you but if you could swipe back and forth through the days it would frustrating as well

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688165135 t1_j9rla2r wrote

Hm, it could be my inexperience with iOS since this is my first iPhone, but I cannot find anywhere in the stock Calendar app that uses a lateral scroll/swipe gesture.

From what I can see, Schedule View shows events in a vertical scrolling list. Even the split month/schedule view doesn’t use lateral scrolling to change dates. You must click on a new date to see that day’s events. And unlike Google Calendar, iOS Calendar has vertical scrolling months.

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LH_Emerald_Star t1_j9tfa2x wrote

There’s an icon on top left corner that looks like a list- 3 dots and 3 dashes. That toggles the view from list to a day view.

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688165135 t1_j9uedh6 wrote

Oh, what.. thanks for teaching me something new! iOS Calendar certainly has a bunch of views/features that aren't obvious to me.

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LH_Emerald_Star t1_j9ufqtn wrote

👍🏻Lots of tutorials by Apple and others on YouTube. Also free iPhone basics classes at any Apple Store.

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cooliochill t1_j9pnwvt wrote

The thing i missed most is photo management. Photos on iOS is pure garbage

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r21174 t1_j9prryd wrote

yea, i just switch back in Dec. The camera photos arnt great, but the vid are great compaired. how can they make vids better but not the photos??

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cooliochill t1_j9pz85p wrote

I’m actually okay with the photos, I was more talking about the management iOS offers you. I hate how my photos are no longer separated by where they came from, e.g. separate politics into Camera Roll, Downloads, Apollo, etc. It’s all just dumped into Recent now which is the worst when trying to find a specific photo

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gr8gizmoguru t1_j9ozhkx wrote

I dont know which browser you are using but safari does have a back swipe function (with a small swipe) that takes you to the previous page.

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cedarpangolin t1_j9qwczw wrote

Only from the left side. If you’re right handed it’s not as convenient as androids small to the right swipe from either side

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gr8gizmoguru t1_j9r9uux wrote

I am right handed but i use my mobile phone with left hand. even i keep my phone in my left trouser /jeans pocket.

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SillyCubensis t1_j9p2jrm wrote

Get an anker MagGo. https://a.co/d/gQq614O

Honestly it’s pretty life changing on my 14PM. I was having the same issues you described, but with the ring I can change my grip around enough to easily access the entire screen one handed.

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Old_Laugh_2239 t1_j9pcmfy wrote

You can use accessibility settings to have assisted touch turned on. It puts a floating box on the screen with buttons instead of using gestures. It’s ugly but effective and there is a back button AND a home button.

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_stellarwombat_ t1_j9q65w3 wrote

Where is this setting in the assisted touch menu for back button? I see gestures but i cant use those as a replacement for back swipe

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lucinaiscool OP t1_j9qcdnt wrote

Yeah. Same. This would actually work but I cannot find the back gesture.

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TripleSpicey t1_j9qil7c wrote

So I made the switch from a galaxy note 10+ to a iPhone 12 Pro Max. Both huge phones. I found that having most of my in app back buttons on the iPhone in the top left corner very inconvenient and hard to reach one handed. When I switched to a 13 mini it stopped being an issue. That being said, I do miss having a dedicated back swipe as that greatly increased the one handed experience, but I understand why apple doesn’t have it. Apps that need a back button have one, so why have a dedicated button for it? It’s a complicated issue.

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ChuckF93 t1_j9qjxf2 wrote

iPhone started the back gesture swipe from the left side of the screen, but in MY opinion Android did it better by letting you swipe from either side AND making it much easier to trigger. I find it finicky on the iPhone sometimes. If you’re scrolling even a LITTLE BIT forget about it. It also takes such a precise and defined swipe to get it to trigger sometimes. I like the iPhone UI overall, but this is one area where I see room for improvement.

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bafneacs t1_j9sky9h wrote

kinda late but completely agree. recently changed to the latest iPhone 14(the normal one not the Plus) and the back button is by far my biggest issue. I'm used to using my phone with my right hand but my right thumb is way too short to reach the left side of the screen to swipe.
I hoped there was some kind of workaround for it in Accessibilities(gesture in assistive touch maybe) but there doesn't seem to be a solution and my thumb isn't going to grow at age 30.

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CT4nk3r t1_j9tqmng wrote

Personally I had lot more of problem on Android trying to open a hamburger menu just for me to have the app closed because it registered it as a back button, closing the application and forgetting where I was.

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fyoudingho t1_j9tw3cy wrote

I put my knee through my S20 and had to go back to iPhone and I can say the same plus a lot more

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nikkithegr8 t1_j9oirua wrote

in some apps when swiping left to right, camera gets opened lmao if app contains camera in left side.

iphone is pure nightmare

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CT4nk3r t1_j9trl1b wrote

But that's the same with Android now. I open up instagram on the homescreen, try to do a back from the left side only to have the camera opened.

Or when I want to open a left-side hamburger menu and it registers it as a back button, neither works good honestly, but not having a software universal back button on iPhone forces the developers to implement good UIs which I personally can appreciate a lot more.

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