Google has backtracked on a change that it made in the first Android Q beta earlier this year. Allowing users to swipe to dismiss a notification from the left or the right side.
With the first beta, users could only swipe in one direction. The other direction would bring up settings for that notification. Which made things pretty annoying for those that were right-handed, as they could not easily swipe away notifications while using the phone one-handed. Luckily, Google did decide to remove that.
It did actually add a toggle, so you could decide which way to swipe to dismiss notifications, in the second beta. But now in the fourth beta, it is completely gone. And that’s going to make a lot of people happy. As this is the way that users have dismissed notifications for years – basically since the beginning of Android, over a decade ago.
The ability to get to notification settings for a specific app remains the same though. Just long-press on the notification, and you’ll be able to jump into the settings. That panel does look a little bit different, but not too much different. It’s basically just easier to read now, specifically in dark mode. Which is where a lot of the changes in the fourth beta are appearing right now. This makes sense, seeing as Google has gone with an all black dark mode, instead of just going dark gray and some different shades of dark gray.
This is one feature that users are definitely happy to see Google get rid of in Android Q, after it debuted in the first beta. Now this is the fourth beta, which is going to be the last one before two release candidates are launched. This one sports the latest and final APIs for Android Q, which is going to be API level 29, and it also has the official SDK for Android Q. This means that developers are able to start developing apps for Android Q, and start testing all of the new features that are part of Android Q. Developers can also start pushing those updates to Google Play and allowing other users to help them test out these changes, which can be hugely helpful.
There’s not a lot of changes in Android Q Beta 4. There are just a few subtle changes, as Google prepares for the final, stable release that is slated to be available in late August. Many of the changes are in regards to dark mode, so if you are not using dark mode on your Pixel in Android Q Beta 4, then you likely aren’t going to see many of the changes in this new beta.
If you are looking to check out the Android Q Beta 4, it is available for all three generations of Pixel smartphones, as well as a few other non-Pixel smartphones. You can sign up for the Android Beta Program (if you have a Pixel) and have the beta on your phone within a few hours. If you are afraid of it having loads of bugs and issues, then it’s better to stay away for now.