OnePlus 5T Gets iPhone X Like Gesture Navigation With OxygenOS 5.1.0

With the launch of the OnePlus 6 just around the corner, the focus of OnePlus has not completely shifted from its existing smartphones. The OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T recently received an update to Android 8 Oreo and a new version of OxygenOS is now seeding for the two smartphones. One of the most interesting features that is being introduced to the OnePlus 5T with OxygenOS 5.1.0 is gesture navigation.

Back in December 2017, OnePlus introduced iPhone X like gestures to the OnePlus 5T in an Open Beta version of OxygenOS. It now appears that the company has honed these gestures over the past few months and is ready to roll out the feature to all the OnePlus 5 and 5T users. The timing of this update is worth noting because the launch of the OnePlus 6 is imminent. The company has already teased the gestures for navigation feature of the OnePlus 6 in a promo video.

The gesture navigation was made famous by the iPhone X even though it was not the first smartphone to do it. WebOS had gestures for navigation and so did BlackBerryOS. But, the timing of smartphone makers like Xiaomi and OnePlus introducing gestures for navigation to their devices can certainly be attributed to the iPhone X. However, gestures work differently for all the three smartphone makers.

The OnePlus 5T with Open Beta 3 that we tested, had the initial phase of gestures. In order to go back, you had to swipe up from the bottom corner of the screen. Swiping up from the bottom centre of the screen mimics the home button. For multi-tasking, you swipe up from the bottom centre of the screen and hold your finger in the centre of the display until multitasking cards show up.

To get the gestures working on your OnePlus 5/5T simply update to the latest OTA update.

Update: The article has been updated to reflect that only the OnePlus 5T has received gestures for navigation.