Android 101: how to tweak your multitasking pane

As of Android 10, we’ve been in a position to decide on other ways to entry your multitasking pane — that useful move of thumbnails that lets us view all our energetic apps, select which one you need to use, and swipe off any you need to shut — and to navigate your own home display. Till then, we principally navigated Android screens utilizing buttons on the backside of the display. Since then, we’ve been in a position to both swipe to navigate or decide to proceed utilizing those self same buttons.

For those who’ve obtained Android 10 or 11, you may select from three strategies: gesture navigation, two-button navigation, or three-button navigation. When Android 12 got here round, two-button navigation disappeared, however you may nonetheless swap between gesture and three-button navigation. Right here’s how you alter find out how to navigate by means of your own home display and entry your multitasking pane.

• Pull down from the highest of the display to entry your app drawer, and faucet in your setup icon (the cog within the decrease proper nook)

• When you have Android 11, choose “Accessibility” > “System navigation”
• When you have Android 10 or 12, choose “System” > “Gestures” > “System navigation”
• When you have Android 10 or 11, choose both “Gesture navigation,” “2-button navigation,” or “3-button navigation.” When you have Android 12, choose “Gesture navigation” or “3-button navigation.”

Now right here’s an outline of the distinction between the three strategies.

Gesture navigation

That is the “swipe” technique launched in Android 10 and the one which Google appears to be most anxious that individuals use. With gesture navigation, you don’t get the outdated again, residence, and swap apps buttons on the backside of the show. As a substitute, all you’ll see on the backside of the display is a single flat line. Swipe up and maintain, and also you’ll get the multitasking pane with all of your open apps. You may then swipe back and forth to entry them.

When you’ve obtained the multitasking panel up, you may faucet on the icon on the high of every app web page to get a drop-down menu that permits you to entry the app’s information web page and open the app in a split-screen format. Relying on the app, you could possibly entry different options as effectively; for instance, when you’re operating a video, you may pause it from right here.

In Android 11, two hyperlinks had been added under the multitasking pane: Screenshot and Choose. Faucet Screenshot, and also you’ll get a screenshot of no matter app web page you’re at present taking a look at. Faucet Choose, and all of the textual content on that app web page shall be chosen so that you can copy, share, or search by means of.

2-button navigation

For those who nonetheless have Android 10, this provides you two icons on the backside of the display: a brief, thick line that stands in for the Residence button and a again button to the left. Swipe up on the house button, and you may entry the identical multitasking pane with the drop-down menus that may be accessed on the high of every app.

Nevertheless, in Android 11, you don’t get the “Screenshot” / “Choose” buttons beneath the panes. As a substitute, as in Android 10, you get a Google search discipline on the backside of the display together with icons for 5 apps.

As talked about earlier than, Android 12 doesn’t provide 2-button navigation.

3-button navigation

That is the old style method to navigate, with the again, residence, and swap apps buttons on the backside of the show. Use the right-hand “swap apps” icon to carry up the multitasking pane. You continue to have the drop-down menus out there above every app, and in Android 11 and 12, you have got the Screenshot and Choose hyperlinks under.

Replace March ninth, 2022, 5:00PM ET: This text was initially printed on October 1st, 2020, and has been up to date to incorporate Android 12.