Renders show impression of new buttons Android P

Renders have appeared that give an impression of what the new navigation of the launcher in Android P looks like. The back button will only show the interface when it’s needed, while the multitask button will disappear altogether, rumor has it.

Google would like to exchange the round home button on the screen for one with the shape of a dash, claims 9to5 Google. A press on the horizontal line leads the user to the home screen, while a swipe up on the line shows the window with open apps.

That window has been a vertical list of apps for a few years now, but Google would like to swap that for a horizontal list. That’s the way Apple does it in iOS, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Palm’s WebOS, among others, have shown open windows in the past.

The back button would only show Android P if that’s relevant, but it’s unknown when it will and won’t. The screenshots posted by 9to5Google are impressions based on information from anonymous sources.

Google accidentally partially confirmed the information by publishing a screenshot last week, showing the new home button. After publication, the search giant cropped the screenshot to prevent more people from seeing the new layout.

Last month, the first developer preview of Android P was released. It already showed some external changes, including in the toggles of the notification menu. The buttons in that version look the same as in previous Android versions.