Android 14 is full of new features, and most are behind the scenes. A couple of years after Google gave us a new look for our favorite smartphones with Material You, the last two upgrades have focused on upgrading elements you might not think about every day. Security, privacy, and speed are three aspects that Android 14 and Android 13 excel at, but they aren’t alone. A new addition to gestures could change how you think about swiping between apps, but you need to activate predictive back gestures to see it in action.

What is predictive back navigation in Android 14?

Predictive back navigation dates to Android 13’s beta period. It’s a simple concept that is surprisingly complex behind the scenes. It’s taken over a year of testing to become a finished version of Google’s operating system. The idea is easy. Rather than showing a back arrow when you swipe back in an application, predictive back gestures show you what you’ll return to before you finish the swipe.

It’s meant to solve a problem that’s plagued Android since before the company made the full-time switch to its current gesture system with Android 10 in 2019. Although the back gesture (or button, on older, legacy smartphones) is useful for returning to previous screens in a flash, it can be confusing. Sometimes, the back button sends you to a page you didn’t expect. Sometimes it sends you to your homescreen without an explanation as to why.

A Google-made GIF for developers showing how predictive back gestures work with a Calendar-specific example.
Source: Google

Predictive back gestures change that. When you swipe backward in an app that supports predictive animations, you’ll see what you’re about to enter, whether that’s another menu or your homescreen. It’s taken a long time for Google to get these ready for primetime, but in Android 14, they’re finally here for all to see.

 

How to activate predictive back animation on Android 14

By default, predictive back animations are turned off in Android 14. Or they were in the beta program, which is still active as we prepare this guide. That’s not to say it’ll remain this way forever, but it’s clear that, between hiding the setting from view and taking more than a year to launch it, these gestures are here to stay.

If you want to try out the future of gesture navigation on Android 14, here’s how to turn it on in developer settings.

  1. Grab a smartphone or tablet running Android 14. We use screenshots from a Pixel 7a, but we also tested this on One UI 6 on a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. The steps should be similar regardless of the device. You’ll also need to use gesture navigation.
  2. Open your settings menu. If you haven’t activated the developer options on your phone, you’ll need to do so.
  3. Find the About phone section of your settings menu, then scroll down to find your build number.
  4. Tap your build number several times until a prompt alerts you that developer options are unlocked.
  5. Return to the main settings menu.
  6. Select Developer options from this list.
  7. Predictive back animations are turned off by default, but you can activate them from this list. Either search for predictive back animations from this list or scroll to the bottom of the list. It’s a few options above the Autofill category.
  8. Toggle it on, then tap OK on the prompt. This warning alerts you that this feature only works with software where their respective devs have included a specific option in their app’s manifest file.
 

And that’s it! The settings menu is a great example of predictive back gestures in action, as swiping back from this menu flashes a preview of what’s to come on screen.

 

What apps support predictive back gestures on Android?

 

It’s early days for this tool, and few apps support it. We mentioned Android’s settings menu, but because Google is the team behind Android, it doesn’t mean all or most of its apps have activated this option. Photos, Chrome, Wallet, and many more don’t support this animation, but you’ll notice it in many system apps, including Phone and Clock.

Even a handful of third-party apps have activated it. Spotify and Reddit, for example, both show a preview of the homescreen, preventing a potential mis-swipe if you’re looking to stay within the app. That said, neither can show previous menus within the app, which contrasts the way Google’s Clock app can. Look for this to change once Android 14 becomes widely adopted.

 
 

A massive leap forward for the back gesture on Android

It might sound small, but this is a huge quality-of-life improvement for Android. Never again will you swipe back, only to realize you’ve been led to your homescreen without an explanation as to why. Predictive back navigation, once more apps adopt it, will likely be seen as one of the bigger changes found in Android 14, though only time will tell