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The activity stack experience in Android is probably my favorite part of the system design. It produces a deep consistency that makes navigation effortless. I

The activity stack experience in Android is probably my favorite part of the system design. It produces a deep consistency that makes navigation effortless. I really wish this had been built in to iOS in the same way. The activity stack works across applications, which means a back gesture always brings you back to the screen before it, even when several applications work together on a task.

wiradikusuma 3y ago
Don't iOS apps have that small black back icon on the top left that sometimes appears when you open another app?
- malermeister 3y ago
  sometimes is the problem. It's not consistent.
  - emsy 3y ago
    That's just not true.
    - immanentize 3y ago
      I had to Google it and I think I've seen this thing in the status bar sometimes on iOS but it's definitely not consistent. I wasn't even aware it was supposed to be a button
      - K2L8M11N2 3y ago
        It appears every time you get into an app by clicking a notification while you're in another app, and it's 100% consistent in that context.
        bshacklett 3y ago
        The fact that you had to explain how it works indicates that a bit more consistency might be beneficial.
        room500 3y ago
        It is consistent when the apps are consistent. But it will not appear if the app opens the webpage as its own View (instead of opening Safari). In that case, there is no button and the user has to hunt for how to go back. And the user has no way of knowing whether an app will open Safari or will open the webpage itself. iOS requires users to build muscle memory in learning how to use each app. Android requires users to maintain a back stack in their head to remember what came before. Switching between the two is very jarring.
        rezonant 3y ago
        To be fair, captive browsers are also a plague on Android apps. I despise them and especially so if there's no way to turn them off in a particular app.
        cassianoleal 3y ago
        If it's a full-screen in-app webview, there's a Done button on the top-left; alternatively, you can swipe back from the first page in the webview and it will close the webview and leave you where you were. If it's a card webview, just swipe it down from the top edge. > Switching between the two is very jarring. I think that's the crux of the problem. Someone who's used to one style and has built muscle memory and some kind of hierarchy and ontology of the interaction with the system will have trouble with a different paradigm. That doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with either - they're just different, and some people will prefer one over the other. Switching between GNOME and KDE, or vice-versa, has a similar effect.
        malermeister 3y ago
        > It appears every time Would be consistent. > It appears every time [long list of qualifications] Is inconsistent.
      - QkPrsMizkYvt 3y ago
        It is consistent!
- cout 3y ago
  I don't remember ever seeing (or noticing) anything like that on ios. Do you have a screenshot?
  - jrockway 3y ago
    This is for things like clicking ads in the New York Times. Safari will open, and then at the top left of the screen there will be a "< NY Times" indicator. It's below the clock and above the aA icon in the URL bar.
    - Terretta 3y ago
      Not just Safari. Most any two apps that support passing things from one app to the next (e.g. via Share Sheet, or a deep link, or etc.), the next app has a back to first app.
    - cout 3y ago
      OK I see it now when I click on a link in the mail app. I've never seen it before because when I open a link with safari in the gmail app it opens a safari view inside gmail with a Done button at the top.
- HumblyTossed 3y ago
  That itty bitty teeny weeny thing? Yeah, it's occasionally there.
- tacker2000 3y ago
  Yea, everytime I see that thing I think to myself that that they needed to “hack” this feature together in less than 10 minutes or something like that. It just feels so “out of space” and tacked on.
isoprophlex 3y ago
Swipe up from the bottom middle edge of the screen to bring that up on ios? Or do you mean something else?
- rezonant 3y ago
  Not that, it's about how you navigate through screens in the same app and in multiple apps. Since the back gesture and back stack is universal and all apps are presenting activities added to the back stack, you can seamlessly move between apps using "intents" which are abstracted messages that multiple apps understand, and even tunnel through an arbitrary number of apps, and back up through each of their screens as if they were all in the same application. An example of an intent is "can anyone open this PDF file" or "the user wants to pick a file, can any app do that and let me know what they picked?"-- those file pickers could also be from your network browser app, or Dropbox, etc. And since activities are serializable (well, technically the intents that led to those activities being started), Android can do this without requiring the apps deep in the app stack to be running. It can freeze those apps to reserve resources and restart them at the specific activity when the user returns, if necessary. iOS does have limited inter-app linking (it's the tiny little back arrow and the previous app name that you'll sometimes see at the very top of the screen), but since back gestures aren't universal, the only reliable way to activate that feature is to tap it, since the app may not even understand back gestures, let alone do the extra work of relinquishing control when their own local back stack is empty.

wiradikusuma 3y ago

Don't iOS apps have that small black back icon on the top left that sometimes appears when you open another app?

malermeister 3y ago
sometimes is the problem. It's not consistent.
- emsy 3y ago
  That's just not true.
  - immanentize 3y ago
    I had to Google it and I think I've seen this thing in the status bar sometimes on iOS but it's definitely not consistent. I wasn't even aware it was supposed to be a button
    - K2L8M11N2 3y ago
      It appears every time you get into an app by clicking a notification while you're in another app, and it's 100% consistent in that context.
      - bshacklett 3y ago
        The fact that you had to explain how it works indicates that a bit more consistency might be beneficial.
      - room500 3y ago
        It is consistent when the apps are consistent. But it will not appear if the app opens the webpage as its own View (instead of opening Safari). In that case, there is no button and the user has to hunt for how to go back. And the user has no way of knowing whether an app will open Safari or will open the webpage itself. iOS requires users to build muscle memory in learning how to use each app. Android requires users to maintain a back stack in their head to remember what came before. Switching between the two is very jarring.
        rezonant 3y ago
        To be fair, captive browsers are also a plague on Android apps. I despise them and especially so if there's no way to turn them off in a particular app.
        cassianoleal 3y ago
        If it's a full-screen in-app webview, there's a Done button on the top-left; alternatively, you can swipe back from the first page in the webview and it will close the webview and leave you where you were. If it's a card webview, just swipe it down from the top edge. > Switching between the two is very jarring. I think that's the crux of the problem. Someone who's used to one style and has built muscle memory and some kind of hierarchy and ontology of the interaction with the system will have trouble with a different paradigm. That doesn't necessarily mean there's something wrong with either - they're just different, and some people will prefer one over the other. Switching between GNOME and KDE, or vice-versa, has a similar effect.
      - malermeister 3y ago
        > It appears every time Would be consistent. > It appears every time [long list of qualifications] Is inconsistent.
    - QkPrsMizkYvt 3y ago
      It is consistent!
cout 3y ago
I don't remember ever seeing (or noticing) anything like that on ios. Do you have a screenshot?
- jrockway 3y ago
  This is for things like clicking ads in the New York Times. Safari will open, and then at the top left of the screen there will be a "< NY Times" indicator. It's below the clock and above the aA icon in the URL bar.
  - Terretta 3y ago
    Not just Safari. Most any two apps that support passing things from one app to the next (e.g. via Share Sheet, or a deep link, or etc.), the next app has a back to first app.
  - cout 3y ago
    OK I see it now when I click on a link in the mail app. I've never seen it before because when I open a link with safari in the gmail app it opens a safari view inside gmail with a Done button at the top.
HumblyTossed 3y ago
That itty bitty teeny weeny thing? Yeah, it's occasionally there.
tacker2000 3y ago
Yea, everytime I see that thing I think to myself that that they needed to “hack” this feature together in less than 10 minutes or something like that. It just feels so “out of space” and tacked on.

isoprophlex 3y ago

Swipe up from the bottom middle edge of the screen to bring that up on ios? Or do you mean something else?

rezonant 3y ago
Not that, it's about how you navigate through screens in the same app and in multiple apps. Since the back gesture and back stack is universal and all apps are presenting activities added to the back stack, you can seamlessly move between apps using "intents" which are abstracted messages that multiple apps understand, and even tunnel through an arbitrary number of apps, and back up through each of their screens as if they were all in the same application. An example of an intent is "can anyone open this PDF file" or "the user wants to pick a file, can any app do that and let me know what they picked?"-- those file pickers could also be from your network browser app, or Dropbox, etc. And since activities are serializable (well, technically the intents that led to those activities being started), Android can do this without requiring the apps deep in the app stack to be running. It can freeze those apps to reserve resources and restart them at the specific activity when the user returns, if necessary. iOS does have limited inter-app linking (it's the tiny little back arrow and the previous app name that you'll sometimes see at the very top of the screen), but since back gestures aren't universal, the only reliable way to activate that feature is to tap it, since the app may not even understand back gestures, let alone do the extra work of relinquishing control when their own local back stack is empty.