How To: Don't Tap—Swipe Back to Previous Screens on Your Nexus 7 Tablet Instead

Facial, voice, and hand gestures are the way of the future for controlling our devices, and even gaming consoles like the Xbox One have incorporated them. Unfortunately, our Nexus 7 tablets have not. We're currently limited to using soft keys for most actions, but we can inch closer to the future by replacing one critical action with a simple touch gesture—going back.

If you followed my guide on unlocking KitKat's real full-screen mode on your Nexus 7, your navigation keys will actually be hidden, requiring a swipe to reveal them and tap to go back. This mod makes it more efficient by replacing two steps with one. Even if you're on the stock UI, swiping back is way smoother than tapping.

Requirements

• A rooted Nexus 7 running Android 4.4 KitKat or above
• Xposed Framework

Step 1: Install SwipeBack

Thanks to XDA dev Petercxy, with a simple swipe you can easily track backwards through your apps. Head to Xposed Installer, select Download, and search for SwipeBack.

Step 2: Enable the Module

Head back into Xposed Installer and go into Modules. Select SwipeBack, then reboot your Nexus 7.

Step 3: Set Up SwipeBack

The setup allows you to choose the location of your swipe gesture. You can select to bottom, left, right, or all three if you want (though, I wouldn't recommend it).

Also available is the ability to blacklist apps in which you don't want this back action applied to.

SwipeBack is an extremely helpful module for me, since immersive mode hides my soft keys. Hopefully you find it just as convenient, even if you're not in immersive mode.

If you liked this tweak, check out some of our other Xposed Mods for the Nexus 7 to see what else you can do. And as always, leave any comments you may have below.