It's been a while since the last stable update of Navigation Gestures (1.15.10), and even longer since we've posted about an update. We're here to change that. This post marks the release of Navigation Gestures 1.18.4 to stable. You might be wondering: what happened to 1.16 and 1.17? Well, we can assure you we know how to count. You may not have seen these versions on the stable channel, but we've been hard at work releasing betas.

In those betas, we decided to concentrate more on stability instead of new features. While there are a couple of new options, most of the changes since 1.15.10 are to improve performance, prevent crashes, and fix bugs. Think of it like Google's Project Marble, but hopefully more effective.

Release Highlights

• Performance should be noticeably improved on older and lower-end devices.
• Navigation Gestures is less likely to be killed in the background.
• We've added an option to put the pill on top of the software navigation bar, so it has a dedicated space.

Hopefully, 1.18.4 will provide a much better experience. If you still run into any issues, make sure to report them at support.xda-developers.com. To make things easier for everyone, please include your device model, app version, and Android version if you make a report.

Now, here's everything that's new:

New Navigation Gestures Features

• Overlay Navigation Bar
  • While it can be nice to have the extra space gained by hiding the navigation bar, it's possible for the pill to interfere with app elements near the bottom of the screen. If you have this problem, try out the new "Overlay NavBar" option in the Experimental Settings. It will place the pill on top of the software navigation bar and blackout the navigation buttons.
  • If you'd like to keep your navigation buttons, you can deactivate the "Blackout" option.
  • Make sure to turn off "Hide Navigation Bar" before enabling this.
  • This option only works for devices that have a software navigation bar.

• Per-App Pill Color
  • Since we released this app, we've been getting requests for an option to automatically color the pill based on what's behind it. Unfortunately, we can't do exactly that. However, we've added a new Experimental Setting called "Per-App Pill Color" which lets you set the color of the pill on a per-app basis. Any apps not selected will use the color set in Appearance.

• Accessibility Button Action (Root)
  • The release of Android Oreo brought an accessibility button to the navigation bar. Unfortunately, Android doesn't allow normal apps to invoke this action. If you have root access, though, you'll see two new actions: one to open the chosen accessibility interface, and another to select which one to show.
• Keep Alive
  • We've done a lot to make sure Navigation Gestures isn't killed by Android, but some devices have incredibly aggressive battery management. If you've been noticing that Navigation Gestures is killed on your device a lot, the new "Keep Alive" option may help. Found in the Compatibility settings, enabling it will start a foreground Service, which should keep the app alive.
• Restart App
  • Sometimes the app gets unstable. We know it; you know it. We're working on making it better, but it's never going to be perfect. If you find yourself running into problems with Navigation Gestures, open the app and tap the "Problems?" button. Scroll down and tap the first option in the "Something else?" category to restart the app.
  • When restoring settings from a backup, Navigation Gestures will also prompt you to restart the app.

Bug Fixes

• Crash Fixes
  • Since the last stable release, 1.15.10, we've been working hard to fix as many crashes as possible. If everything has gone to plan, you should notice fewer (or even no) crashes using 1.18.4.
• "Don't Hide NavBar on Lock Screen" and "Don't Show on Lock Screen" Fixes
  • On some devices (notably those running EMUI 3.x), there is a weird issue where Navigation Gestures thinks the device is always on the lock screen. This version should fix this issue, although we don't have any EMUI 3.x devices to test with.
• Performance Improvements
  • We're not Snapchat, so we're actually going to explain a little bit of what our performance improvements are.
    • On older and lower-end devices, animations should be smoother.
    • On all devices, battery usage should be lower.
• Navigation Bar Height on Android 10
  • With Android 10's new gestures, it's possible to change the navigation bar height to be much shorter. Navigation Gestures 1.18.4 is now able to detect the change in the navigation bar height, so it can properly hide the navigation bar.
• Switch Keyboard Action on Android 10
  • If you've got a device running Android 10, you may have noticed that this action was broken on 1.15.10. We've fixed it in 1.18.4, so it should work properly again. We also added a notice that the action requires you grant Navigation Gestures the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission if you haven't already.