After spending some time testing the Google Pixel 7 ProI stumbled upon a feature that was previously confined to the best iPhones: the touch back (either Quick tap on Pixel-ese) gesture. As much as I like the new top features of the Pixel 7 Pro, whether we’re talking about the camera macro mode, blur photo either guided frame — Quick Tap is what I loved the most.
In Google’s case, Quick Tap allows you to activate a feature or open an app. For example, I like to use the same double-tap on my iPhone (a feature that’s been around since iOS 14) to pull down the notification shade, avoiding the need to swipe down from the top of the screen when I need to see my incoming alerts. iPhones go a step further by letting you set up a triple-tap gesture as well, which I use to bring up the Control Center menu.
If that wasn’t exciting enough, while I was writing this story it was announced that you can now do this on Samsung phones too thanks to the good padlock app With the newly added RegiStar module, you can set up double and triple tap gestures on your Samsung phone, just like on iPhone, giving you another way to use various features or open apps.
Google, Samsung, Apple, and other phone makers often “borrow” features from one version of the operating system to add to their own, so seeing Back Tap spread isn’t a surprise. But I’m extraordinarily glad that it’s becoming more popular, as physical gestures are an underrated part of smartphone usability.
Gestures are the best-ures
Maybe it goes back to the first phone I reviewed, the HTC U12 plus, and its focus on Edge Sense features, but I love having physical gesture shortcuts on smartphones. Navigating to a few places within a phone’s software can mean walking a long way down a list of menus and buttons, but a physical gesture bypasses all of that with just a swipe, tap, or press.
There have been many attempts at weird and wonderful gestures over the years. Google has been no stranger to this in the past, offering things like Google’s now-deceased Squeeze to activate Google Assistant on the Pixel 4 series and older models, or the ability to swipe down on the rear fingerprint scanners to lower the notification tone. Samsung has also had some interesting ideas of its own, like bumping phones to send files or swipe the fingerprint reader to open notifications or Samsung Wallet.
Beyond that, we have things like Huawei’s knuckle-to-screenshot, Apple’s iPhone shake-to-undo, or Motorola’s chop-for-flashlight gestures which, while not to my taste, also show ingenuity. .
But while many of these were or are exciting firsts, some physical gestures have become ubiquitous. Think of how things like double-tapping the screen to wake up the phone (first tested by LG) or holding/double-pressing the power and volume buttons are hardly considered gestures anymore.
This is the level I think back taps deserve to reach. Basically, no matter how you hold your phone, you can probably spare a finger to tap the secret code on the back panel to activate your shortcut.
The potential of the back tap multiplies when users with mobility difficulties are considered. Google and Samsung lose points as their ranges of available back-tap features aren’t as comprehensive as those offered by Apple, but making the phone easier to operate without a touchscreen is still a net good.
The function of a smart smartphone does not always require advanced AI or an even more powerful chipset. It can be as simple as offering a new way to interact with existing features, which is exactly what Back Tap and Quick Tap can provide with just a phone’s built-in gyroscope and accelerometer, plus the software to control it. With iPhone users already sorted out, Google now needs to provide universal support for back taps on Android, so any smartphone user anywhere will be able to take advantage of it. Already tested this on Android 11 beta builds (via TechRadar), so let’s cross our fingers that we get it on Android 14 next year.