Google was spotted working on a mysterious double-tap gesture that was initiated on the back of the phone. Seemingly, if the user double-tapped on the back of the device, they would be able to launch the Camera, Google Assistant, playing and pausing music, and more on Pixel devices with Android 11. The code for this gesture was expanded to make more actions possible, such as taking a screenshot and opening the recent apps overview. While we could spot Google working on this feature first, Apple actually beat Google to implementation and rollout, as iOS 14 managed to implement the feature and allow users to double and triple tap on the back of the phone to initiate various actions. It now seems that Xiaomi is also working on something similar, according to code that we have spotted within MIUI 12.

XDA Senior Member and our ever-reliable tipster kacskrz has spotted code within the latest MIUI 12 beta builds that suggests that Xiaomi is also working on a feature utilizing taps on the back of the device. These taps will be either double taps or triple taps and can have different actions assigned to both of them. The code within MIUI 12 suggests that the feature is in active development. Kacskrz could also manage to surface the new feature's settings, but these did not work on his Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 yet.

The scope of back panel double tap and triple tap gestures currently within MIUI 12 appears to be limited to taking a screenshot, turning on torch, launching the control center, launching the camera, or opening the notification shade. However, since the feature is not available to the public yet, there is still scope that Xiaomi may expand this list to include even more shortcuts.

We do not know when Xiaomi will release this feature to end-users. But as was the case with other anticipated features such as sky replacement, we hope it goes live sooner rather than later.


Thanks to XDA Senior Member kacskrz for the tip!