Android 10’s new gesture navigation has invited a lot of criticism, and we gotta say, some of it is indeed fair. While we don’t find many issues with the back gesture and slide-in navigation bar gesture, we do hate that you cannot use the Android 10 gesture on 3rd party launcher apps including Nova Launcher.

Given that Android 10 is now available for major phones like OnePlus 7, OnePlus 6 and more, one would expect the issue to be resolved by now but here we are, still facing this.

It’s been a few weeks since Samsung’s grand unveiling of One UI 2 for the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 devices. Last week, the third version of the beta was released for the S10 devices, and it’s safe to say that the reception has been quite positive. Most users are loving the little refinements Samsung has built into the release, and also the promise of seeing more such changes in the coming months.

One UI 2 (new features here) has brought almost all of Android 10’s celebrated features, including the revamped gesture navigation. S10 and Note 10 users have found Samsung’s implementation to be even more refined than Google itself and are eager to see it in action in third party launcher apps — Nova Launcher, Apex Launcher, etc.

However, a pretty straightforward way to achieve the desired result, and here, we’re going to break it down for you.

How to get Android 10 back gesture navigation on Nova launcher and other third-party apps

  1. You would have to enable Developer options on your smartphone.
    1. Go to Settings > About phone > Software information.
    2. Tap on Build number 7 times (until you get the ‘You’re now a developer!’ message).
  2. Enable USB Debugging via the Developer options.
    1. Go to Settings > Developer options > Toggle on USB debugging.
  3. Now, head over to your computer and download the ADB tools.
  4. Once you’ve downloaded the SDK Platform Tools, simply extract the tools to a convenient location on your PC.
  5. Proceed by connecting your Samsung device to your PC via a USB cable.
    1. Make sure the USB connection is set to Transferring files.
    2. This can be done via the notification tray itself.
  6. Now head over to the SDK Tools folder you extracted in step 5.
    • Left Click on the empty space in the SDK folder. Press Shift+Right Click to bring a menu and select Open command prompt here. (if you see the option Open Powershell window here, select it as this will do, too.)
    • Alternatively, simply type cmd in the address bar and hit the Enter key to open a command window right there.
  7. Enter the command “adb devices” just to make sure your smartphone is recognized. You will get a random serial number if ADB is working.,
  8. Now, run the command given below to enable Android 10’s gesture on your Galaxy S10 running One UI 2: 
    adb shell cmd overlay enable com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural
  9. That’s all. Go to Settings > Display > Navigation bar > Select Full screen gestures > tap More options, and select the back key option.

Use Action Launcher’s Android 10 Navigation Gestures

If the process above feels a bit too heavy or you’re having no luck with it, you can check out Action Launcher on Google Play. It may not be as popular as Nova, Apex, or Go, but probably is the only launcher that delivers Android 10’s reworked gesture navigation without a hitch.

The update, which brings the coveted Android 10 navigation gestures, was in beta last week. Now, after hashing out the reported bugs, it has been made available to the public through a stable rollout.

However, before giving it a go, there’s one important criterion that you must fulfill. Action Launcher requires your device to have the December 2019 security patch (Android 10) up and running. So, if you’re stuck even with the November security patch, you’ll have no luck with Action Launcher navigation gestures.

Thankfully, almost all leading manufacturers have blessed their eligible devices with and Android 10 and the December 2019 security patch. In case you haven’t received them yet, your device, if eligible, is likely to get it the duo in the next couple of months.

Apart from the Android 10 navigation gestures, the update also brings support for Live wallpapers, a new ActionDash widget that shows device usage stats, the ability to pause apps with ActionDash directly from the launcher, improved duplicate app support, and 2020 supporter badge alongside impressive bonus wallpapers.