Tutorial: How to Use iPhone X Navigation Bar on Any Android

Smartphone manufacturers are always looking for ways to improve the user's experience with the device, in addition to bringing new and unprecedented features to attract consumers' attention with each release. One of the novelties that has been gradually added to the market is the change in the way in which the buttons are used to navigate the functions of the device, as for example happened with the iPhone X. gesture navigation ended up gaining its space and many users would like to try this new way of interacting with their smartphone.

For those who have a Android and want to have a taste of how this happens gesture navigation, there is a program that allows it to be installed without much difficulty. All you need is a computer nearby and a way to connect your smartphone to it.

The application name is Navigation Gestures, by Xda-developers, and it's free. It also offers a paid version, where as with most versioned apps premium, has a greater number of options. But you can still use the free one without losing what it really sets out to do.

Installing Gesture Navigation on Android

1 – The first step is install the application on your smartphone. Download the app at Google Play and install. When doing so, it will make two requests:

First: Accessibility. In the window that says "Accessibility services" click in "Grant“. Then click on the application option Navigation Gestures, which will be OFF. When the window opens, click to activate, confirm on OK and that's it, it will activate.

Second: The second access is in the “Write Secure Settings“, here it will ask to have access to your computer. Click in "got it"

2 – Now go to the computer you will use in the process. It can be a desktop or notebook computer, as long as you have a way to connect it to your smartphone. On that computer, you will need to install the ADB. Click through this link and download. It will come as a zip file, so extract the folder to your computer.

3 – Back on the smartphone, it is now necessary to activate the option to USB debugging. Go in "settings"And then"software information" or " work” depending on your smartphone, then “about the device” and the option “version number” click on it 7 times in a row. Do this until the warning appears that you are now a developer or programmer.

4 – When this happens, return to the menu “Over the phone” and look for the option that will appear called "Programmer". Enter that option and search for USB debugging and activate.

5 – Now it will be necessary connect your smartphone to the computer via a USB cable. By doing this, it will show some options on the device screen, select the one that says “transfer files".

6 – Back on the computer, go to the folder you just extracted from the download, called platform-tools and open. In that folder, press the SHIFT and click with the right button mouse button anywhere blank inside it. In the options that will appear, select the one that says “Open command window here".

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7 – It will open a command window and in it you will first type “adb devices”, without the quotes. It will ask you to authorize USB debugging on your smartphone, click OK.

8 – Okay, now after that, in the same command window you will now type “adb shell pm grant com.xda.nobar android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS” without the quotes. It's important that you either copy and paste this in there or write it carefully because otherwise it won't work. Then press ENTER.

9 – On your smartphone, open the application and activate the options “Enable Gesture Pill"and "Hide Navigation Bar” that will appear at the beginning of the screen.

Tips and tricks for using the app

There, it is installed on your computer. With the bar that will appear instead of the standard buttons it is possible to carry out all the functions as before. Tapping once on it will take you back to the home screen, swiping left is the back command, swiping right it opens the last app you had open, swiping up shows you all open apps and swiping down will hide the bar. Pressing activates Google Assistant.

You can still choose what to do when you double-tap the bar or even change these gestures if you prefer, just go to the app's settings. At premium version, which costs R$5,49, it offers more options such as opening a specific application or media application, or taking a print screen, among others.

In the settings, you can also customize the bar, being able to add effects to it, change the color, transparency, size, format, among other things. You can also add vibration to the bar and even choose applications that when they are opened, it will not appear. It is possible that initially the new way of interaction ends up becoming a little different and there is even a little strangeness, but it is not difficult to get used to it once you start to get the hang of it. The idea is to simplify the experience with the device and even take better advantage of the screen.

If in some apps the bar is on top of something at the bottom of the screen, just swipe down and hide it. It also has a way to simply stop the app in the settings or just select those apps from the list where it automatically hides.