Apple instructs iPhone X owners to swipe up from the bottom edge of the display and pause in order to bring up the iOS app switcher. But there are faster, undocumented methods of opening the iPhone X app switcher which don't require performing this clunky gestural action.
You can enter the iOS app switcher at any time while using one app in order to easily switch to another one. Thankfully, iPhones with Face ID (without a front physical Home button) include a gesture allowing you to quickly switch between open apps without having to enter the app switcher at all.
Pretty much everyone is familiar with the iOS app switcher, Apple's multitasking view on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch traditionally invoked by double-pressing the Home button.
Apple today released the public version of iOS 11.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with more than 70 new emoji, the ability to use 3D Touch to invoke the iOS app switcher, multiple emoji suggestions for the QuickType keyboard and other changes and bug fixes.
iPhone X relies on a simple upward swipe gesture to bring up iOS 11's task switcher, which lets you cycle through your recently used apps by swiping left and right.
There are some subtle differences in the App Switcher between iOS 10 and iOS 11, and although they aren't significant, iOS developer ArtikusHG created a new jailbreak tweak called SwitcherXI that ports the iOS 11 App Switcher experience to jailbroken iOS 10 devices.
Post-installation, your App Switcher begins to look how it does in the before and after illustration above.
Apple earlier today seeded a second beta of iOS 11.1 to its registered developers, along with new betas for tvOS 11.1, macOS High Sierra 10.13.1 and watchOS 4.1.
The popular 3D Touch app switcher gesture that was intentionally removed from the initial release of iOS 11 has been brought back in iOS 11.1 beta 2.
After Craig Feherighi demoed the iPhone X for the first time at last month's keynote, it became evident that several changes to the iOS user interface would need to accommodate for the new edge-to-edge OLED display, its rounded corners, and the notch.
One of the differences was in the App Switcher where each of the cards exhibits heavily-rounded corners that match the aesthetic of the device's display. Other iPhone models don’t have as pronounced of roundness, but a new free jailbreak tweak called switcherRadii by iOS developer CreatureSurvive can replicate this effect on your non-X handset.
With iOS 11, Apple has inexplicably removed the popular app-switching gesture that was available on iPhones with 3D Touch. Fortunately, it's just temporary because Apple's reportedly confirmed bringing that tremendously useful feature back with a future iOS 11.x update.
You may have noticed a pair of curious videos, recently uncovered from the iOS 11 beta, that show off what looks like a possible new gesture on iPhone that could serve as a viable replacement for the now defunct 3D Touch-ing the left screen edge for app switching.
The feature shown on the videos hasn't yet been announced, meaning it could be exclusive to the upcoming iPhone 8. If not, Apple has probably decided to save it for its iPhone event.
The polished tutorial videos are from May.
In other words, it's entirely possible that Apple has since abandoned this app switcher. Watch Andrew's video in which he discusses UI navigation changes headed to iPhone 8.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjyL_UPqNqk
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This is precisely how app switching in iOS 11 works on iPad—a quick upwards swipe brings up the Dock and if you continue swiping you get to a much improved app switcher containing Control Center along with the horizontally scrollable thumbnails of your recent apps.
From a user experience standpoint, any app switcher should be form factor-independent and behave the same on iPads and iPhones, so this could be the real deal.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/899793840495763456
Although the device depicted in the hidden tutorial videos appears to resemble an iPhone 7 sans a Home button, it's almost certainly a placeholder for a real iPhone 8 chrome photo.
I think this is precisely what we're going to see on iPhone 8.
https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/899788217112825856
What I'd like to know is if this gesture will work on existing iPhones. If not, 3D Touch-ing the left edge for app switching could make a comeback in one of the subsequent iOS betas.
What do you think?
iPhone 8 mockup via industrial designer Quinton Theron
A pair of tutorial videos hidden in the iOS 11 beta image show a new app switcher gesture on a Touch ID-less iPhone along with what appears to be an alternate Control Center interface.