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I don’t find getting into the multitasking switcher meaningfully harder on the newer devices— it’s just a swipe-up-and-hold gesture, which I’ll occasionally tim

I don’t find getting into the multitasking switcher meaningfully harder on the newer devices— it’s just a swipe-up-and-hold gesture, which I’ll occasionally time wrong and end up at the home screen, but not often enough to be “painful” (and it’s just another swipe away if I do mess up). What is vastly better on the X-series devices, though, is switching between your two or three most recent apps. Just swipe left and right at the bottom of the screen (on the bar)— this lets you flip between apps in the order that they’re in the switcher. This means I very rarely actually enter the full multitasking switcher in normal use. (The other, minor benefit of the new-style gestures is that they’re all cancellable and map directly to finger movement, but that’s more of a “feel” thing than a major usability win. Makes it feel Apple-y, though.)

spupy 6y ago
> What is vastly better on the X-series devices, though, is switching between your two or three most recent apps. Just swipe left and right at the bottom of the screen (on the bar)— this lets you flip between apps in the order that they’re in the switcher. That gesture works on iPads as well. Start with a slight updward swipe and go sideways. Also try four finger pinch and four finger left/right swipe.
pzmarzly 6y ago
> What is vastly better on the X-series devices, though, is switching between your two or three most recent apps. On devices with 3D Touch switching between 2 recent apps became easier once you learned this shortcut: just hard press the left edge of the screen, and depending on how far you drag it to the right, you can either go to the previous app or open the switcher (faster than double tapping the home button).
- pastastickers 6y ago
  Just wanted to chime in on this: it doesn’t matter how far you drag it to the right, but how “deep” you press: after pressing once, give it another, deeper press and the app switcher will appear.
aequitas 6y ago
> Just swipe left and right at the bottom of the screen (on the bar)— this lets you flip between apps in the order that they’re in the switcher. This means I very rarely actually enter the full multitasking switcher in normal use. Did Apple make this a all or nothing thing or do some of these gestures also work on home button devices?
- JonathonW 6y ago
  All or nothing, IIRC. Home button devices do have a gesture to switch directly between apps (3D touch on the left edge of the screen), but I always found it difficult to activate reliably, especially with a case on my phone.
  - aikinai 6y ago
    I haven't used a home button iPhone in a long time so I'm not sure about them, but home button iPads definitely support the X gestures.
    - JonathonW 6y ago
      Home button iPads get some of the X gestures— they get swipe up for home and multitasking, but not the right/left gestures on the home bar (because it’s not there). The loss of those isn’t that big of a deal, though, since iPads have the four-finger multitasking gestures as well.
  - ronald_dregan 6y ago
    it's funny, i actually really loved this gesture and was upset that it was removed from the new x-series phones, so much so that i emailed craig federighi about it and we had a back-and-forth about it, but ultimately he explained why they removed it and that it's unlikely to come back.

spupy 6y ago

> What is vastly better on the X-series devices, though, is switching between your two or three most recent apps. Just swipe left and right at the bottom of the screen (on the bar)— this lets you flip between apps in the order that they’re in the switcher. That gesture works on iPads as well. Start with a slight updward swipe and go sideways. Also try four finger pinch and four finger left/right swipe.

pzmarzly 6y ago

> What is vastly better on the X-series devices, though, is switching between your two or three most recent apps. On devices with 3D Touch switching between 2 recent apps became easier once you learned this shortcut: just hard press the left edge of the screen, and depending on how far you drag it to the right, you can either go to the previous app or open the switcher (faster than double tapping the home button).

pastastickers 6y ago
Just wanted to chime in on this: it doesn’t matter how far you drag it to the right, but how “deep” you press: after pressing once, give it another, deeper press and the app switcher will appear.

aequitas 6y ago

> Just swipe left and right at the bottom of the screen (on the bar)— this lets you flip between apps in the order that they’re in the switcher. This means I very rarely actually enter the full multitasking switcher in normal use. Did Apple make this a all or nothing thing or do some of these gestures also work on home button devices?

JonathonW 6y ago
All or nothing, IIRC. Home button devices do have a gesture to switch directly between apps (3D touch on the left edge of the screen), but I always found it difficult to activate reliably, especially with a case on my phone.
- aikinai 6y ago
  I haven't used a home button iPhone in a long time so I'm not sure about them, but home button iPads definitely support the X gestures.
  - JonathonW 6y ago
    Home button iPads get some of the X gestures— they get swipe up for home and multitasking, but not the right/left gestures on the home bar (because it’s not there). The loss of those isn’t that big of a deal, though, since iPads have the four-finger multitasking gestures as well.
- ronald_dregan 6y ago
  it's funny, i actually really loved this gesture and was upset that it was removed from the new x-series phones, so much so that i emailed craig federighi about it and we had a back-and-forth about it, but ultimately he explained why they removed it and that it's unlikely to come back.