As promised back in March, we can confirm that Samsung’s One UI 2.5 update finally provides full-screen navigation gestures support to third-party launchers. It’s a shame it took Samsung so long – Android 11 is probably just weeks away, and Pixels got this feature last year – but better late than never, and we can confirm that it works on OneUI 2.5 via the Note 20 Ultra.
For those who did not have the general development of Android when Android 10 launched, it does not support the separation of gesture navigation from the built-in launcher on Pixels. It took Google an extra month to roll out support with the Pixel 4, and other Pixel phones picked it up as part of the December 2019 update – the first so-called “feature drop.”
At the moment, developers who dived into the changes told me that the update was actually quite drastic and almost delayed a small change of the version number, except that Google no longer does that. As a result, predictions claimed that it might be a bit before we saw versions with custom manufacturers updated with the feature (although we should point out that OnePlus had no problem). We were ready for a wait, but I did not think it would take nearly nine months for Samsung to get in there.
I’m told by those of our employees who have one, the implementation at the moment is a bit “janky” when it comes to things like animations, but that may improve some launcher developers at their end. However, future Note20, Note20 Ultra, Z Flip 5G, and Z Fold2 owners will not have to contend with Samsung’s godawful stock launcher just to maintain gesture navigation. They may feel free to replace it with something (better) that has been updated to support it, such as Lawnchair 2, Action Launcher, or the timeless Nova Launcher. Hopefully OneUI 2.5 will roll out to older Samsung phones before Android 11 lands.
