Android Q Beta 6 Now Available With Tweaked Gestures, New Emergency Icon And More For Pixel Devices

Today, Google released the final preview of Android Q before it starts rolling out to consumer Pixel devices later this quarter. Android Q Beta 6 is the “release candidate for final testing” and makes more gesture tweaks.




Beta 6 follows changes to gesture navigation last month that added some much-needed polish, new emergency icon and Google Play System update. With this release, Android Q adds the sensitivity preference for the Back gesture that we previously spotted in a leaked build. “Back Sensitivity” can be accessed in Settings > System > Gestures > System navigation.

Tapping the gear icon next to “Gesture navigation” opens a slider with four increments ranging from “Low” to “High.” Google warns how “Higher sensitivity may conflict with any app gestures along the edges of the screen.”

Meanwhile, app developers can take advantage of an up to 200dp vertical app exclusion limit for the Back gesture to ensure “reliable and consistent operation.” It’s ideal for applications — like video streaming clients — that feature slider or other similar UI elements that are on the very edge of the screen. This affordance allows Android Q to ignore certain parts of the app that are likely to conflict with the back gesture.




Here is some other thing which has been added in this update:

New Emergency icon in the power menu

Google Play system update

In the About phone > Android version menu, “Mainline module versions” has been renamed to “Google Play system update.” This more user-friendly entry — versus the project name — also appears in Play Store notifications.

Developers testing apps and end-users can expect an experience “very close to the system behaviors that you’ll see in the final consumer release.” After six betas, Android Q is officially coming in the third quarter, with Google today adding that it’s an “a few weeks away.” Beta 6 (QPP6.190730.005) includes the August security patch. Users can submit bugs through the Android Beta Feedback app, the Reddit community, or the issue tracker.

System images for this Android Q Beta 6 release are available for the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, and Pixel 3a XL. Users can also install as an OTA by manual download or the Android Beta program.