On Android Q’s gesture navigation incompatibility with 3rd party launchers (including Action Launcher)

Alongside Android Q Beta 5 comes the news that Q will, at launch, disallow devices from using Q’s new gesture navigation with 3rd party launchers. Action Launcher and all other 3rd party launchers still work on Q, but using them sees Q revert to using the legacy, 3 button system navigation.

Whether you’re a dedicated 3rd party launcher user or just someone who cares about Android maintaining its heretofore customizability and personalization, this news arriving so late in Q’s Beta process likely comes as a shock and raises some red flags.

As a 3rd party launcher developer whose ability to pay staff & whose personal livelihood chiefly relies upon Android’s 3rd party launcher support, I can assure you I too was extremely alarmed upon learning this news a month ago.

At the time I tried any number of options, from requesting Q Preview partner access so I might fix the relevant Q bugs, all the way to attempting to bribe the team with donuts. I had no luck on any front.

I was however able to engage in discussions with Android executives and core team members alike about the incompatibility, after which my feelings went from worrying Q’s changes threatened future Action Launcher development to, now, feeling like it’s much closer to being an unfortunate, yet short-term inconvenience.

I don’t work for or represent Google, so obviously can’t make official statements on its behalf, but my understanding is the Android team intends to make gesture navigation compatible with 3rd party launchers for Android Q this year. When Google speak of this being fixed “in a post-launch update”, that means fixed for Q (and backported to AOSP), not Android R. Furthermore, the Android team is aware of the importance of 3rd party launchers from an identity and customization perspective, and this is not a move aimed at curtailing launcher apps (this is very different to the SMS and Call Log permission situation).

Obviously there’s still risks and unanswered questions here. What if, for whatever reason, the Android team does not in fact make Q’s gesture nav compatible with 3rd party launchers? Will the Android team ensure OEMs integrate any required fixes in their forks of Q (CTS tests would be great)? Will such fixes be released by the time the Pixels 4 release (which will presumably enable gesture nav by default)?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I am taking the Android team at their word that it will follow through with the promised fixes in a timely manner. Assuming so, 3rd party launcher users lucky enough to be running Q will have a handful of months where you have to pick between a customizable 3rd party launcher and Q’s gesture nav, after which the Android team should have released fixes making gesture nav & 3rd party launchers compatible.

While I’m frustrated Q is initially releasing with this incompatibility, and frankly dreading the deluge of negative reviews and support requests from users who blame Action Launcher for this situation, I am confident this is a short term inconvenience and relieved the Android team is committing to remedying the situation for Q.

Mini-FAQ

Is it possible for 3rd party launcher developers to update their apps to work with Q’s gesture nav?

No. This is a problem with Q itself.

Will this negatively impact future Action Launcher development?

No. Action Launcher’s next major update (v42) is currently being finalized and should release very soon.

What specifically does this mean for Action Launcher when running on Q in the immediate future?

You’ll need to use legacy system navigation to continue to use Action Launcher on Q. Personally I’ll take Action Launcher’s color, Covers, Shutters, Quickpage, custom gesture shortcuts, boundless customizations and everything else over new nav gestures any day of the week.

Why didn’t you file Q Beta bugs about issues using gesture nav?

I did. And others filed issues before me (some of which were even marked as fixed 🤷‍♂️).

Why do you think Android Q’s gesture nav was incompatible with 3rd party launchers at launch?

My personal opinion that I previously stated was this is “merely a consequence of the SystemUI/launcher team focusing on making the gestures and its Pixel Launcher integration as tight as possible”. I believed that then and I believe that now.

I hoped the Android team would have found a way to fix the 3rd party launcher compatibility issues that have been present since the first Q Beta, but seemingly that wasn’t to be.

I have faith the Android team will resolve this before any long-term damage is done to the launcher space. 🤞🙏🙌