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Jason Cipriani/CNET
When it comes to iOS devices, the iPad has long had gestures for navigating in and out of apps with ease, whereas the iPhone and iPod Touch have only had the basic gestures in iOS, such as swipe to delete.
With iOS 7, Apple is introducing a new gesture to all iOS devices that works throughout Apple’s own apps, and can be implemented by developers in their own apps. The gesture allows users to move back one screen without having to tap on a back button. iOS 7 doesn’t really have any back “buttons” (just text) now, so the gesture makes sense.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Here’s how it works: when a user is in a supported app, such as Messages, Settings, Mail or Safari and they’d like to go back to the message list, the previous screen in Settings or the previous Web page in Safari, they can swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right.
The current screen will then be taken with the gesture, above the previous screen, and eventually pushed entirely off the device’s display. It’s a quick and easy gesture, but one that takes some adjustment. You can see it in action in this Vine video:
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An overview of iOS 7’s new gestures
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The back gesture now means users have to swipe from the right side of the screen to bring up the actions that can be taken on a message or e-mail. In previous versions of iOS, users were able to swipe in either direction to bring up the same actions.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
Again, it takes some time to adjust to the new gestures, but once you get the hang of how the gestures work, you’ll find yourself navigating within supported apps faster than ever.
