Hello! I thought I should share a fairly simple solution to what I think is the Galaxy S8's worst feature: the navigation bar. I'm all for the bigger screen ratio but with such a large portion of the bottom end constantly covered by the navigation keys, I found myself nostalgic for my old S6's soft keys. Samsung's update to allow hiding of the navigation keys worked to an extent, but I found swiping up just to press the back key quite frustrating. This paired with the fact that there was no way to get the nav bar off the home screen and the S8's inability to use swipe gestures through apps like Pie Control or All in one Gestures was infuriating. Here is my solution to the problem.
Disclaimer: Please follow the steps in order as the apk listed will completely disable the navigation bar. There will be no way to navigate your device if you do not follow the prior steps. All credit for the apk listed goes to Tigerhoods. Thank you so much for your work.
1. Download the apps All in one Gestures, Pie Control, and App Cloner. Each app is essential to properly setting up this workaround.
2. Enable each app to use accessibility services.
3. Go into Pie Control and set up the bottom edge with a pie that has the back key, home, and recents. This will act temporarily as your navigation bar once the apk is installed. To set up Pie Control: turn on the bottom edge, go to level1 of edge, set up button 1, 2, and 3 with recents, home, and back nav keys (these nav settings are found under the Tools menu), and click the plus in the bottom right corner to save. Make sure everything is fully set up before proceeding.
4. Download this apk:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4188536&d=1497996764
Again, all credit for this download goes to Tigerhood. Amazing work.
Restart your device after installing to have the APK take effect.
This apk will completely disable the nav bar. To complete the following steps you will use Pie Control to use the back, home, and recents keys. If you wish to get the navbar back, simply go into settings, go into apps, scroll down to com.whalesplaho.frameworkresov..., click on it, and uninstall. I highly recommend completing all the steps before going back to the crappy built-in navigation bar.
5. Now that there is no longer a navigation bar and your phone is more beautiful than ever, it's time to set up a more permanent navigation bar. Go into All in one Gesture and enable swiping (make sure to allow it to use accessibility features: go into settings, accessibility, turn on for All in one Gesture). Turn on bottom area and set it to back (or recents if you prefer Samsung's style of navigating). Swipe from the left side of the screen to open the hamburger menu (or press the three lines to the left of the apps name at the top o the screen). Go into Personization then Edge Preference. I suggest you use my settings, but feel free to adjust to your own tastes once you get a feel for the app.
Opacity: 0%
Corner Size: 75px
Edge Sensitivity: 40px
Edge Width: 20%
Horizontal Offset: -20% (Make this a negative value so that it goes to the left!)
Vertical Offset: 20%
Swipe Distance: 0px
This will allow the bottom left of your screen to become the back (or recents) key. You can either swipe up from the bottom left or tap right where the bezel meets the screen. If it's too sensitive, turn the Edge Sensitivity setting down. If you wish to only use swipe and not be able to tap the key, turn up the Swipe Distance setting. If you accidentally hit the keys while typing (I rarely do), simply turn on Behind Keyboard under Personalization.
You may which to turn the opacity up at first so that you know where to press/swipe.
6. Since All in one Gesture only allows the bottom to be used for one setting, we must clone the app to make a virtual key for the other side of the bottom. Go into App Cloner, find All in one Gesture, press flip icon (to make it recognizable as the cloned app), and name it All in one Gesture2 (or something of the sort). Once the app is cloned, find it on your home screen and follow the same instructions laid out in step 5. One key difference: make sure to put the Horizontal Offset as 20% (this will move the virtual key to the right instead of the left). Also in Personalization, under General, I suggest turning on the light theme so you can tell the difference between the cloned and original app.
7. Now that the back and recents keys are set up, customize Pie Control to your liking. I like having the entirety of level 1 be a home key so that it is super easy to access.
8. Enjoy using your s8 the way it should be used.
Issues:
-The hard press home key does not work when the screen is on.
-Pie Control and All in one Gesture only work when the device is unlocked. If you go into Bixby, Camera, or one of the App Shortcuts on the left and right of your lockscreen it may seem impossible to get out of without a navigation bar/home button. To get out of the app you are in simply pull down the notifications shade and click on the settings icon. You will then be prompted to enter your password. Once the device is unlocked you can use Pie Control/All in one Gesture to navigate normally. UPDATE: If you have a Bixby remapper app you can enable the Bixby button to be used as a back button. I use BxActions and it works perfectly.
If for some reason the apk doesnt download, here is the thread I found it on:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...y-overlays-t3604341/post72746018#post72746018
The apk is found on page 84.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any feedback or get stuck on any of the steps.
For some reason after installing the APK the navigation bar is still there..
EDIT: I forgot to restart, I am an idiot lol
Make sure to restart your device after installing the APK. The navigation bar will disappear after you restart
thank you for the share. I successfully disable the nav bar. But i can't use any pie control to activate google assistant. any work around? @ juliang22
hovanhuang said:
thank you for the share. I successfully disable the nav bar. But i can't use any pie control to activate google assistant. any work around? @ juliang22
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem. The workaround I found only is usable if you have Nova Launcher. If you don't, I highly recommend you download it and try it out. By far the best launcher on the market in terms of full user customizability. To get Google Assistant on Pie Control: Pick s level/button that you want, click on shortcuts, click on Nova Action, choose Voice Search. Not too hard.
Personally, I use BxActions so that I can use the Bixby button for Google Assistant. I have it set up so one click brings me to my most recent app, double click is a screenshot, and long hold is Google Assistant.
Hope this helps.
you are damn smart~~ Nova is my favorite too. Works like a champ.
thanks
juliang22 said:
No problem. The workaround I found only is usable if you have Nova Launcher. If you don't, I highly recommend you download it and try it out. By far the best launcher on the market in terms of full user customizability. To get Google Assistant on Pie Control: Pick s level/button that you want, click on shortcuts, click on Nova Action, choose Voice Search. Not too hard.
Personally, I use BxActions so that I can use the Bixby button for Google Assistant. I have it set up so one click brings me to my most recent app, double click is a screenshot, and long hold is Google Assistant.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello! I thought I should share a fairly simple solution to what I think is the Galaxy S8's worst feature: the navigation bar. I'm all for the bigger screen ratio but with such a large portion of the bottom end constantly covered by the navigation keys, I found myself nostalgic for my old S6's soft keys. Samsung's update to allow hiding of the navigation keys worked to an extent, but I found swiping up just to press the back key quite frustrating. This paired with the fact that there was no way to get the nav bar off the home screen and the S8's inability to use swipe gestures through apps like Pie Control or All in one Gestures was infuriating. Here is my solution to the problem.
Disclaimer: Please follow the steps in order as the apk listed will completely disable the navigation bar. There will be no way to navigate your device if you do not follow the prior steps. All credit for the apk listed goes to Tigerhoods. Thank you so much for your work.
1. Download the apps All in one Gestures, Pie Control, and App Cloner. Each app is essential to properly setting up this workaround.
2. Enable each app to use accessibility services.
3. Go into Pie Control and set up the bottom edge with a pie that has the back key, home, and recents. This will act temporarily as your navigation bar once the apk is installed. To set up Pie Control: turn on the bottom edge, go to level1 of edge, set up button 1, 2, and 3 with recents, home, and back nav keys (these nav settings are found under the Tools menu), and click the plus in the bottom right corner to save. Make sure everything is fully set up before proceeding.
4. Download this apk:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4188536&d=1497996764
Again, all credit for this download goes to Tigerhood. Amazing work.
Restart your device after installing to have the APK take effect.
This apk will completely disable the nav bar. To complete the following steps you will use Pie Control to use the back, home, and recents keys. If you wish to get the navbar back, simply go into settings, go into apps, scroll down to com.whalesplaho.frameworkresov..., click on it, and uninstall. I highly recommend completing all the steps before going back to the crappy built-in navigation bar.
5. Now that there is no longer a navigation bar and your phone is more beautiful than ever, it's time to set up a more permanent navigation bar. Go into All in one Gesture and enable swiping (make sure to allow it to use accessibility features: go into settings, accessibility, turn on for All in one Gesture). Turn on bottom area and set it to back (or recents if you prefer Samsung's style of navigating). Swipe from the left side of the screen to open the hamburger menu (or press the three lines to the left of the apps name at the top o the screen). Go into Personization then Edge Preference. I suggest you use my settings, but feel free to adjust to your own tastes once you get a feel for the app.
Opacity: 0%
Corner Size: 75px
Edge Sensitivity: 40px
Edge Width: 20%
Horizontal Offset: -20% (Make this a negative value so that it goes to the left!)
Vertical Offset: 20%
Swipe Distance: 0px
This will allow the bottom left of your screen to become the back (or recents) key. You can either swipe up from the bottom left or tap right where the bezel meets the screen. If it's too sensitive, turn the Edge Sensitivity setting down. If you wish to only use swipe and not be able to tap the key, turn up the Swipe Distance setting. If you accidentally hit the keys while typing (I rarely do), simply turn on Behind Keyboard under Personalization.
You may which to turn the opacity up at first so that you know where to press/swipe.
6. Since All in one Gesture only allows the bottom to be used for one setting, we must clone the app to make a virtual key for the other side of the bottom. Go into App Cloner, find All in one Gesture, press flip icon (to make it recognizable as the cloned app), and name it All in one Gesture2 (or something of the sort). Once the app is cloned, find it on your home screen and follow the same instructions laid out in step 5. One key difference: make sure to put the Horizontal Offset as 20% (this will move the virtual key to the right instead of the left). Also in Personalization, under General, I suggest turning on the light theme so you can tell the difference between the cloned and original app.
7. Now that the back and recents keys are set up, customize Pie Control to your liking. I like having the entirety of level 1 be a home key so that it is super easy to access.
8. Enjoy using your s8 the way it should be used.
Issues:
-The hard press home key does not work when the screen is on.
-Pie Control and All in one Gesture only work when the device is unlocked. If you go into Bixby, Camera, or one of the App Shortcuts on the left and right of your lockscreen it may seem impossible to get out of without a navigation bar/home button. To get out of the app you are in simply pull down the notifications shade and click on the settings icon. You will then be prompted to enter your password. Once the device is unlocked you can use Pie Control/All in one Gesture to navigate normally. UPDATE: If you have a Bixby remapper app you can enable the Bixby button to be used as a back button. I use BxActions and it works perfectly.
If for some reason the apk doesnt download, here is the thread I found it on:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...y-overlays-t3604341/post72746018#post72746018
The apk is found on page 84.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any feedback or get stuck on any of the steps.
Thanks for sharing. However, I use a much simpler solution: I've installed BxActions and am always one click away from full immersive mode. I got rid of the "point" soft button too - don't need it anymore.
yes as last post said since June or July firmware just click on point on the navbar on left and it will be full screen and hidden everywhere except on launcher, just swipe up from the very bottom of the screen to make appear navbar for a few seconds
(this option can be activated or deactivated on settings/display/navigation bar)
robhug said:
yes as last post said since June or July firmware just click on point on the navbar on left and it will be full screen and hidden everywhere except on launcher, just swipe up from the very bottom of the screen to make appear navbar for a few seconds
(this option can be activated or deactivated on settings/display/navigation bar)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a possibility, however, I found it quite annoying having to swipe up and click to use the navigation keys. Also, swipe gestures (Pie Control) don't work and there was no way to get rid of the navigation bar from the home screen. Ultimately, I find this workaround to be much more convenient than Samsung's built-in fullscreen feature.
Thanks for sharing loving it so far ended up paying for app cloner so I could clone it a third time and get rid of pie control all together so much better this way and so far no issues I'll be testing it more and let you know.
This is absolutely brilliant, all without root as well.
Just curious, will it slow down the phone if i have 3 all in one gestures running?
Guitarfreak26 said:
This is absolutely brilliant, all without root as well.
Just curious, will it slow down the phone if i have 3 all in one gestures running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all depends on how much RAM you are using. If you are running a lot of memory intensive applications, you may notice a slight slowdown. I am running a lot of stuff on my phone and have no problems with 2 gestures running. So 3 could work, you just have to test it out.
I suggest testing out Pie Control before setting up a third gesture. Pie Control is the best form of multitasking out there. I have customized mine to get to all my frequently used apps. You can even have shortcuts and system activities (like flashlight). Really useful.
I used to use LMT but that needs root. It's working nicely with a 3rd clone atm.
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
Guitarfreak26 said:
This is absolutely brilliant, all without root as well.
Just curious, will it slow down the phone if i have 3 all in one gestures running?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't noticed any slow down and the phone looks so much better. I prefer the 3rd gesture over pie control simply because of looks. Pie control could be better but I couldn't stand the look of the wheel especially as I just need it as a home button right now. Only problems I've run into is using ultra power saving mode and switching back somehow disables the function of the apk and disables all accessibility services I had previously enabled? Had to restart the phone to get rid of nav bar and turn all accessibility services back on. I'll keep testing it and report back. Somewhat complicated solution but quite elegant in the end result.
Can you provide a screenshot on how this looks like?
rainierzam said:
Can you provide a screenshot on how this looks like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen looks normal, just without the Navigation Bar and with invisible virtual keys at the bottom bezel.
juliang22 said:
Hello! I thought I should share a fairly simple solution to what I think is the Galaxy S8's worst feature: the navigation bar. I'm all for the bigger screen ratio but with such a large portion of the bottom end constantly covered by the navigation keys, I found myself nostalgic for my old S6's soft keys. Samsung's update to allow hiding of the navigation keys worked to an extent, but I found swiping up just to press the back key quite frustrating. This paired with the fact that there was no way to get the nav bar off the home screen and the S8's inability to use swipe gestures through apps like Pie Control or All in one Gestures was infuriating. Here is my solution to the problem.
Disclaimer: Please follow the steps in order as the apk listed will completely disable the navigation bar. There will be no way to navigate your device if you do not follow the prior steps. All credit for the apk listed goes to Tigerhoods. Thank you so much for your work.
1. Download the apps All in one Gestures, Pie Control, and App Cloner. Each app is essential to properly setting up this workaround.
2. Enable each app to use accessibility services.
3. Go into Pie Control and set up the bottom edge with a pie that has the back key, home, and recents. This will act temporarily as your navigation bar once the apk is installed. To set up Pie Control: turn on the bottom edge, go to level1 of edge, set up button 1, 2, and 3 with recents, home, and back nav keys (these nav settings are found under the Tools menu), and click the plus in the bottom right corner to save. Make sure everything is fully set up before proceeding.
4. Download this apk:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4188536&d=1497996764
Again, all credit for this download goes to Tigerhood. Amazing work.
Restart your device after installing to have the APK take effect.
This apk will completely disable the nav bar. To complete the following steps you will use Pie Control to use the back, home, and recents keys. If you wish to get the navbar back, simply go into settings, go into apps, scroll down to com.whalesplaho.frameworkresov..., click on it, and uninstall. I highly recommend completing all the steps before going back to the crappy built-in navigation bar.
5. Now that there is no longer a navigation bar and your phone is more beautiful than ever, it's time to set up a more permanent navigation bar. Go into All in one Gesture and enable swiping (make sure to allow it to use accessibility features: go into settings, accessibility, turn on for All in one Gesture). Turn on bottom area and set it to back (or recents if you prefer Samsung's style of navigating). Swipe from the left side of the screen to open the hamburger menu (or press the three lines to the left of the apps name at the top o the screen). Go into Personization then Edge Preference. I suggest you use my settings, but feel free to adjust to your own tastes once you get a feel for the app.
Opacity: 0%
Corner Size: 75px
Edge Sensitivity: 40px
Edge Width: 20%
Horizontal Offset: -20% (Make this a negative value so that it goes to the left!)
Vertical Offset: 20%
Swipe Distance: 0px
This will allow the bottom left of your screen to become the back (or recents) key. You can either swipe up from the bottom left or tap right where the bezel meets the screen. If it's too sensitive, turn the Edge Sensitivity setting down. If you wish to only use swipe and not be able to tap the key, turn up the Swipe Distance setting. If you accidentally hit the keys while typing (I rarely do), simply turn on Behind Keyboard under Personalization.
You may which to turn the opacity up at first so that you know where to press/swipe.
6. Since All in one Gesture only allows the bottom to be used for one setting, we must clone the app to make a virtual key for the other side of the bottom. Go into App Cloner, find All in one Gesture, press flip icon (to make it recognizable as the cloned app), and name it All in one Gesture2 (or something of the sort). Once the app is cloned, find it on your home screen and follow the same instructions laid out in step 5. One key difference: make sure to put the Horizontal Offset as 20% (this will move the virtual key to the right instead of the left). Also in Personalization, under General, I suggest turning on the light theme so you can tell the difference between the cloned and original app.
7. Now that the back and recents keys are set up, customize Pie Control to your liking. I like having the entirety of level 1 be a home key so that it is super easy to access.
8. Enjoy using your s8 the way it should be used.
Issues:
-The hard press home key does not work when the screen is on.
-Pie Control and All in one Gesture only work when the device is unlocked. If you go into Bixby, Camera, or one of the App Shortcuts on the left and right of your lockscreen it may seem impossible to get out of without a navigation bar/home button. To get out of the app you are in simply pull down the notifications shade and click on the settings icon. You will then be prompted to enter your password. Once the device is unlocked you can use Pie Control/All in one Gesture to navigate normally.
If for some reason the apk doesnt download, here is the thread I found it on:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...y-overlays-t3604341/post72746018#post72746018
The apk is found on page 84.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any feedback or get stuck on any of the steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Button Mapper to have Bixby button set up for long press = back button
So I can easily get out of apps like camera launched from lockscreen ?
CrazyCypher said:
I use Button Mapper to have Bixby button set up for long press = back button
So I can easily get out of apps like camera launched from lockscreen ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart, just tried it and it works perfectly.
and muviz how work ?
Or you guys can just use Swipe Navigation app to use the bottom edge like an invisible nav bar with all three buttons on the bottom edge without having to do all the app cloning stuff.
artikle said:
Or you guys can just use Swipe Navigation app to use the bottom edge like an invisible nav bar with all three buttons on the bottom edge without having to do all the app cloning stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I actually used Swipe Navigation for a bit but I found that it wasn't super reliable for some reason. Kept crashing and then I couldn't navigate my device at all. I find All in one Gesture to be the most reliable gesture app.
i'm using Swipe Navigation without any issues
juliang22 said:
Hello! I thought I should share a fairly simple solution to what I think is the Galaxy S8's worst feature: the navigation bar. I'm all for the bigger screen ratio but with such a large portion of the bottom end constantly covered by the navigation keys, I found myself nostalgic for my old S6's soft keys. Samsung's update to allow hiding of the navigation keys worked to an extent, but I found swiping up just to press the back key quite frustrating. This paired with the fact that there was no way to get the nav bar off the home screen and the S8's inability to use swipe gestures through apps like Pie Control or All in one Gestures was infuriating. Here is my solution to the problem.
Disclaimer: Please follow the steps in order as the apk listed will completely disable the navigation bar. There will be no way to navigate your device if you do not follow the prior steps. All credit for the apk listed goes to Tigerhoods. Thank you so much for your work.
1. Download the apps All in one Gestures, Pie Control, and App Cloner. Each app is essential to properly setting up this workaround.
2. Enable each app to use accessibility services.
3. Go into Pie Control and set up the bottom edge with a pie that has the back key, home, and recents. This will act temporarily as your navigation bar once the apk is installed. To set up Pie Control: turn on the bottom edge, go to level1 of edge, set up button 1, 2, and 3 with recents, home, and back nav keys (these nav settings are found under the Tools menu), and click the plus in the bottom right corner to save. Make sure everything is fully set up before proceeding.
4. Download this apk:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4188536&d=1497996764
Again, all credit for this download goes to Tigerhood. Amazing work.
Restart your device after installing to have the APK take effect.
This apk will completely disable the nav bar. To complete the following steps you will use Pie Control to use the back, home, and recents keys. If you wish to get the navbar back, simply go into settings, go into apps, scroll down to com.whalesplaho.frameworkresov..., click on it, and uninstall. I highly recommend completing all the steps before going back to the crappy built-in navigation bar.
5. Now that there is no longer a navigation bar and your phone is more beautiful than ever, it's time to set up a more permanent navigation bar. Go into All in one Gesture and enable swiping (make sure to allow it to use accessibility features: go into settings, accessibility, turn on for All in one Gesture). Turn on bottom area and set it to back (or recents if you prefer Samsung's style of navigating). Swipe from the left side of the screen to open the hamburger menu (or press the three lines to the left of the apps name at the top o the screen). Go into Personization then Edge Preference. I suggest you use my settings, but feel free to adjust to your own tastes once you get a feel for the app.
Opacity: 0%
Corner Size: 75px
Edge Sensitivity: 40px
Edge Width: 20%
Horizontal Offset: -20% (Make this a negative value so that it goes to the left!)
Vertical Offset: 20%
Swipe Distance: 0px
This will allow the bottom left of your screen to become the back (or recents) key. You can either swipe up from the bottom left or tap right where the bezel meets the screen. If it's too sensitive, turn the Edge Sensitivity setting down. If you wish to only use swipe and not be able to tap the key, turn up the Swipe Distance setting. If you accidentally hit the keys while typing (I rarely do), simply turn on Behind Keyboard under Personalization.
You may which to turn the opacity up at first so that you know where to press/swipe.
6. Since All in one Gesture only allows the bottom to be used for one setting, we must clone the app to make a virtual key for the other side of the bottom. Go into App Cloner, find All in one Gesture, press flip icon (to make it recognizable as the cloned app), and name it All in one Gesture2 (or something of the sort). Once the app is cloned, find it on your home screen and follow the same instructions laid out in step 5. One key difference: make sure to put the Horizontal Offset as 20% (this will move the virtual key to the right instead of the left). Also in Personalization, under General, I suggest turning on the light theme so you can tell the difference between the cloned and original app.
7. Now that the back and recents keys are set up, customize Pie Control to your liking. I like having the entirety of level 1 be a home key so that it is super easy to access.
8. Enjoy using your s8 the way it should be used.
Issues:
-The hard press home key does not work when the screen is on.
-Pie Control and All in one Gesture only work when the device is unlocked. If you go into Bixby, Camera, or one of the App Shortcuts on the left and right of your lockscreen it may seem impossible to get out of without a navigation bar/home button. To get out of the app you are in simply pull down the notifications shade and click on the settings icon. You will then be prompted to enter your password. Once the device is unlocked you can use Pie Control/All in one Gesture to navigate normally. UPDATE: If you have a Bixby remapper app you can enable the Bixby button to be used as a back button. I use BxActions and it works perfectly.
If for some reason the apk doesnt download, here is the thread I found it on:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...y-overlays-t3604341/post72746018#post72746018
The apk is found on page 84.
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any feedback or get stuck on any of the steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just use force press for home with all in one gesture swipe from left for recent and swipe from fright from back. Feels more of a natural extension to the OS ( used BBOS10 device as my messenger before upgrading to a PRIV)
anybody still use this?
the Samsung launcher and some Samsung apps like Gallery doesn't like with the removal of nav bar, for example the dock is still on the same spot even though there is no nav bar(used to be on the very bottom).
any workaround?
Devoct said:
anybody still use this?
the Samsung launcher and some Samsung apps like Gallery doesn't like with the removal of nav bar, for example the dock is still on the same spot even though there is no nav bar(used to be on the very bottom).
any workaround?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install this and restart....and no more navbar...thank me later
Even though the P2 can be considered large with a 5.5" display, the lower region of the screen is occupied by the on-screen navigation bar. While there's an option to turn off the navigation bar and use the fingerprint button exclusively, I still find this alternative lacking in many fronts:
1. I can't tell you how many times I return to the home daily; it gets tiring to always have to push down the fingerprint button.
2. You need to touch the fingerprint button for a second or so before the recent apps window is launched. If you've ever had the need to flip between apps quickly, you would know how irritating this delay is.
3. Because one button is used for three functions (back, home, recent apps), there's no way to quickly switch between apps (like alt+tab in windows).
4. I sometimes find myself lying on my side, holding the phone with one hand, and finding it almost impossible to reach all the way down to the navigation bar, let alone the fingerprint button.
Fortunately, I have a solution that I believe addresses all of the problems above and that is to navigate the phone through the use of gestures.
I've been using GMD GestureControl for about a week now and I think I've found an optimal combination of gestures that don't only work but are also intuitive to use. There's nothing you can lose by giving it a try.
It can take a bit of time to set it up the way I have mine set up. So, if you don't feel like spending some time doing it yourself, you can just "restore" my "titanium backup" backup. Download it from here. Just extract the zip file and copy the content into your "titanium backup" folder. Open "titanium backup" and restore.
If instead, you would like to set it up yourself, here's how I currently have mine set up:
1. After installing the app, the first thing to do is go to "Device Setup" by pressing the menu button on the top right corner of the screen. Change your values to the one you see in the first attached image below. Then go to "Settings", and change the values to those in the second attached image.
2. To create a gesture: press the plus button > Select a gesture > create path. You can see all the gestures I created in the third attached image. Recreate all of them.
3. You can decide which region of the screen a gesture is detected by choosing the appropriate zone in the "select starting zone" option.
4. You need to go to "advanced options" (attached image no. 4) at the bottom of the screen to decide whether or not the gesture can be triggered when the keyboard is active. I have most of the gestures disabled when the keyboard is active because I sometimes swipe to type and I don't want to accidental swipe to trigger something. For this reason, I have duplicated most of the gestures for the only the top half of the screen (above the keyboard) so that the gestures still continue to work when the keyboard is activated.
5. Make sure you enable "evaluate on release" on all gestures so that a gesture is only triggered after you lift your finger off the screen.
If you've gone through all the steps, it's now time to start trying things:
1. To open resent apps, just make a small ^ sign anywhere on the screen.
2. To go home, just make a small V sign anywhere on the screen.
3. To flip between apps, just make a small < or > sign anywhere on the screen, starting from the top.
4. To press back, swipe away from left or the right edge.
5. To open the launchpad, swipe up on the left or right edge.
Good looking out. I really like this option.