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Why does iOS and iPadOS not have universal back and forward?

B

Bubble99

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 15, 2015
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After using android I'm shocked iOS and iPadOS the OS does not have universal back and forward. Some apps have this and some apps do not the same with web browsers but I’m shocked Apple does not have universal back and forward? I’m shocked you can’t go back and forward on the internet.

With android this at OS level so app developers don’t have to code for this. I’m very shocked why Apple does not have this.
 
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Sheepish-Lord said:
Maybe I’m not understanding but on 99% of iOS and it’s apps, if you swipe forward and backward on the screen it does just that…
Click to expand...

iOS back gesture works different than Android.

Android back gesture takes you back to last performed action and it can exist the app with back gesture. It is very universal within Android, since Android has back, home and app switch buttons since it inception.

iOS back gesture is app dependent. Some app will let you swipe right to go back and some app does not.

For example:

Open YouTube app, make a search, you get search result. Then load a video.

On iOS, you swipe down to go back to search result.

On Android, you simply use back gestures.

If an iOS app does not allow back gestures, you will have to either reach back button on top left or bring app down via reachability.
 
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I think it's hard for iOS people to appreciate the point here unless they've used Android for enough time.

iOS has a back gesture but only in a much more limited sense - it's really not the same. Android's back gesture works globally for navigation through various different kinds of UI elements. For example, it can be used to go back to "Messages" after opening a link from a message in "Chrome". It can be used to dismiss modals as well as walk back through whole-screen navigations. Basically, any change in navigation state can be unwound through the gesture. It is more like pressing "back" in a web browser but across the whole OS.

The other great thing is that the gesture can be activated from either the left or right side of the screen.

I do wish iOS would copy this feature from Android
 
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I’ve always thought the android back button was a UI nightmare.

Android has 3 main navigation gestures; home, app switcher, back. But for some reason, the back button can also perform the same action as the app switcher and home buttons. The back button should never switch apps or go home; that’s what those separate buttons/gestures are for.
 
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mrochester said:
I’ve always thought the android back button was a UI nightmare.

Android has 3 main navigation gestures; home, app switcher, back. But for some reason, the back button can also perform the same action as the app switcher and home buttons. The back button should never switch apps or go home; that’s what those separate buttons/gestures are for.
Click to expand...
I understand your point, but if you're on the home screen and launch an app, what else can the back button do but go back to the last screen (home screen)? That's not a UX nightmare, it's just internally consistent.
 
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War833 said:
I understand your point, but if you're on the home screen and launch an app, what else can the back button do but go back to the last screen (home screen)? That's not a UX nightmare, it's just internally consistent.
Click to expand...
You shouldn’t have two different buttons/gestures doing the same action.

I suspect that’s why it doesn’t work that way on iOS.
 
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mrochester said:
You shouldn’t have two different buttons/gestures doing the same action.

I suspect that’s why it doesn’t work that way on iOS.
Click to expand...
Why not? It's inevitable that in some edge cases multiple pathways lead to the same endpoint. What's important is that the mechanics are consistent and coherent. Sometimes the home screen is the last screen, but most often not, which is why mobile OSes have a gesture to go directly to the home screen regardless of back.

You could adhere to your principle, but only at the expense of consistency. I don't think it makes sense from a UX design perspective, personally.

iOS doesn't have a universal back action at all, for reasons of historical contingency more than anything else. I don't think the reason is that the back button may in some edge cases direct users to the home screen.
 
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War833 said:
Why not? It's inevitable that in some edge cases multiple pathways lead to the same endpoint. What's important is that the mechanics are consistent and coherent. Sometimes the home screen is the last screen, but most often not, which is why mobile OSes have a gesture to go directly to the home screen regardless of back.

You could adhere to your principle, but only at the expense of consistency. I don't think it makes sense from a UX design perspective, personally.

iOS doesn't have a universal back action at all, for reasons of historical contingency more than anything else. I don't think the reason is that the back button may in some edge cases direct users to the home screen.
Click to expand...
For me, the back button should only go back steps within an app. It should never switch apps or go home, that’s what the respective buttons/gestures are for. I should never have to guess what action pressing the back button is gonna do. It should be consistent like the way iOS does it.
 
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mrochester said:
For me, the back button should only go back steps within an app. It should never switch apps or go home, that’s what the respective buttons/gestures are for. I should never have to guess what action pressing the back button is gonna do. It should be consistent like the way iOS does it.
Click to expand...

The Android back button is just go back one step.

If you opened an app, do back button, it will take you back to Home Screen.

If you opened a link from Chrome and it takes you to different app, back button will go back to Chrome.
 
Aoligei said:
The Android back button is just go back one step.

If you opened an app, do back button, it will take you back to Home Screen.

If you opened a link from Chrome and it takes you to different app, back button will go back to Chrome.
Click to expand...
Yes and that’s the problem with it. It’s doing different things depending on context instead of always doing the same thing. It’s inconsistent what it does.
 
mrochester said:
Yes and that’s the problem with it. It’s doing different things depending on context instead of always doing the same thing. It’s inconsistent what it does.
Click to expand...

No. It is consistent. It just undone last step.

For example: Back button on Word doc can undo chart or undo a type. There is no different.

It is just depends on what you did last step. If I am opening multiple pages on website, back button will undo last page I opened.

If I go back Home Screen, open an app. Back button will go back to Home Screen.
 
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Aoligei said:
No. It is consistent. It just undone last step.

For example: Back button on Word doc can undo chart or undo a type. There is no different.

It is just depends on what you did last step. If I am opening multiple pages on website, back button will undo last page I opened.

If I go back Home Screen, open an app. Back button will go back to Home Screen.
Click to expand...
The back button should never go back to the Home Screen. That’s what the home button/gesture is for. That’s the problem with it 😂
 
mrochester said:
The back button should never go back to the Home Screen. That’s what the home button/gesture is for. That’s the problem with it 😂
Click to expand...

It is depends on what you think.

In old days, when we don’t have gesture navigation, you can swipe back to Home Screen, if you went from Home Screen to an app and want exit the app, simply do back button (which usually on screen key). On iOS, you would need to click the home button.

It doesn’t matter these days, since we just swipe. But the point is some folks who used Android for years, find it more consistent and easier to operate.

Mind one more thing: iOS back gesture or button is not universal, it is depends on the app developer. If the app doesn’t offer back gestures or button, then you need use navigation buttons on the app. Whereas on Android, there is always is back button or back gestures. You don’t need go guess which app support swipe back and which doesn’t
 
Aoligei said:
It is depends on what you think.

In old days, when we don’t have gesture navigation, you can swipe back to Home Screen, if you went from Home Screen to an app and want exit the app, simply do back button (which usually on screen key). On iOS, you would need to click the home button.

It doesn’t matter these days, since we just swipe. But the point is some folks who used Android for years, find it more consistent and easier to operate.

Mind one more thing: iOS back gesture or button is not universal, it is depends on the app developer. If the app doesn’t offer back gestures or button, then you need use navigation buttons on the app. Whereas on Android, there is always is back button or back gestures. You don’t need go guess which app support swipe back and which doesn’t
Click to expand...
That’s the beauty of having two different platforms to pick from, people can pick the one they prefer 👍
 
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mrochester said:
The back button should never go back to the Home Screen. That’s what the home button/gesture is for. That’s the problem with it 😂
Click to expand...
The job of back is to take you back. Even if that's to the home screen in a minority of cases. Your point is really not a big deal. Who cares if it takes you to the home screen? It's consistent and intuitive. If you tried it, you'd probably fall in love with it.

Another thing that's useful about android back is easily being able to dismiss overlays and the keyboard when it pops up unintendedly.
 
mrochester said:
The job of the back button is to take you back through steps in an app. It should never go home or switch apps.
Click to expand...
Why? Back is meant to take you back. This is how it's worked in browsers and OSes since long before iOS.
 
War833 said:
Windows Explorer has had a back button since the 90s.
Click to expand...
That’s to take you back within the app…. Exactly the way it should work. It never takes you home or switches apps. Show desktop, start menu and switching apps are all enacted with different buttons/actions, exactly as iOS does it.
 
mrochester said:
That’s to take you back within the app…. Exactly the way it should work. It never takes you home or switches apps. Show desktop, start menu and switching apps are all enacted with different buttons/actions, exactly as iOS does it.
Click to expand...
Yes, and that's what you're confused about here. It's a matter of context:

- App back: button within the app frame, goes back within the app

- Global/os back: global gesture, goes back globally across screen transitions, across different screens and apps

You're talking about and stuck in the first. We're talking about the 2nd. It's probably hard to grasp unless you've actually used it for a while. I've used both iOS and Android consistently for over a decade and really appreciate the global back gesture.

Of course Windows and Macos don't have the 2nd, as they are multi window OSes unconstrained by small screens and generally don't show just one screen at a time.
 
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War833 said:
Yes, and that's what you're confused about here. It's a matter of context:

- App back: button within the app frame, goes back within the app

- Global/os back: global gesture, goes back globally across screen transitions, across different screens and apps

You're talking about and stuck in the first. We're talking about the 2nd. It's probably hard to grasp unless you've actually used it for a while. I've used both iOS and Android consistently for over a decade and really appreciate the global back gesture.

Of course Windows and Macos don't have the 2nd, as they are multi window OSes that don't generally show just one screen at a time.
Click to expand...
I know what you are talking about, Im saying the 2nd one is bad design and provides an inconsistent experience. That’s why iOS uses the 1st option
 
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