If you are a Pixel 8 user suffering from the swipe-back gesture bug that first appeared in October following the Android 15 update, you’re in luck. According to a post on Google’s Issue Tracker page, the bug has been marked as fixed. Thismeans that the actual fix should roll out in the next security update and address the Android 15 back gesture bug once and for all.
What was the problem?
For those lucky enough to skirt around the issue, basically following the Android 15 update, some Pixel 8 Pro owners reported problems with the phone’s back gesture. They claimed that they now had a harder time swiping from the edge of the display to go to the previous screen.
For some, this only affected the right side of the screen. For others, it affected both. This bug could be due to the new predictive back gesture. This is because issues were only reported after the update. The bug also only affected Pixel 8 users. Those running Pixel 7 or Pixel 9 devices did not encounter these issues.
Luckily, a workaround for this issue was straightforward and easy. Users affected by it have been relying on this workaround, but they shouldn’t have to anymore. If you can’t wait for the update and this bug is annoying you, go to Settings > System > Navigation mode. Set it to 3-button navigation and restart your phone. After that go back to Settings > System > Navigation again then set it back to gesture navigation.
In any case, it’s a good thing that it has been fixed. It did take Google much longer than we would have liked, but thankfully it’s finally been addressed.
Problems with early adoption
This issue does highlight one of the problems of early adoption. New major Android OS updates seem quite exciting andmany might rush to update it once it becomes available. However, bugs can sometimes slip past developers during the alpha and beta testing phases.
This is because it’s impossible to know the true extent of these bugs until it gets into the hands of millions of users. So try as they might, sometimes certain issues slip past Google’s fingers.
This shouldn’t dissuade anyone from updating their phones. It’s just one of the potential pitfalls of updating too early. That being said, security updates should always be installed whenever they are available. This helps protect your device from malware and hacking attempts that take advantage of security flaws and vulnerabilities.
