Once you’re running Android 14 DP2, you still need to enable predictive back gestures in the developer options, but after that, you’re all set to experience the system settings and Google News with predictive back gestures. As the name of the feature implies, it will show you which screen you will navigate to next. This works for different sections within the same app, but it also shows you when your next step brings you to another application or the home screen. Along with the new predictive animation, Android 14 DP2 also adds a redesigned back navigation arrow that sits in a Material You-themed bubble that stretches and moves as you drag your finger from the side of a screen.
While predictive back gestures look pretty solid in the demos above, it’s clear that it’s still early days. In both Google News and system settings, the next screen doesn’t always reliably trigger, and when canceling the back action by moving your finger back to the edge of the screen, we’ve sometimes experienced full system crashes. The transition also doesn’t work across all screens — the Google News search interface doesn’t always show the next backward step, for example.