If you are a fan of custom gesture-based navigation on your Android smartphone introduced by the device manufacturers, then here’s some potentially bad news for you. A latest report from 9to5Google claims that Google has updated its Google Mobile Services agreement with device makers demanding them to hide the custom navigations.
As per the report, the device manufacturers are reportedly required to ship their smartphones with either of these navigation methods as default — Android 10‘s new gestures or the old three-button layout. While the company can offer a custom gesture navigations, it cannot be the default option.
Further, the companies will also have to keep their custom gesture navigation inside at least one level below in the Settings menu. Also, the smartphones cannot offer choosing the custom navigation option during the setup wizard process. Additionally, the companies cannot even advertise their own custom navigation feature.
It seems that the move from Google comes as the company wants to make the navigation system more consistent for the Android users, which can offer the same experience regardless of the smartphone manufacturer. Many companies, such as Samsung and OnePlus, will probably be disappointed by the restrictions given that they have invested resources into designing other navigation systems.
The report adds that the companies that want to keep Android Pie’s navigation gestures can do so for updates on existing devices, but it seems that new smartphones devices cannot do that. Google hasn’t publicly commented on this requirement.
