[MayeulC]

1. Hide virtual keyboard if shown

2. Go to previous app view. This is app-dependent though it will probably, successively with each press:

a. Close menus if open (context, sidebar, etc)

b. Go to previous (web)page if web/file browser c. Go out of submenus (ex: settings/WiFi -> settings) if not in a browser or if the oldest page has been reached. Keeps walking the tree upwards.

3. Reach the main app view (usually the one you land on when opening the app)

4. One more press minimizes the app.

It is fairly consistent, but some apps decide otherwise:

* some will minimize as soon as you press it (I've seen games do it)

* some will open a new menu (again, games: pause menu)

* some will seemingly walk you the history of visited pages instead of the hierarchy -- which may make sense but can be confusing

* some old apps will display a toast "press back twice to exit". This used to be common back when physical buttons were the norm, but I haven't seen this message a lot.

So, mostly consistent with some weird-behaving apps. Same as on desktop I guess?

[doright]

I prefer 3-button navigation, but it seems most of the web has decided that gesture-based navigation has won, and it's an awful experience sometimes. They assume you will always swipe down to close popup modals like full-size images, so pressing back will instead navigate out of the page. And half the time, navigating forward puts you right back on top of the modal again!

It breaks the intuition that one tap == one piece of state on the navigation stack.

[jaffa2]

Go to previous (web)page if web/file browser

Keeps walking the tree upwards.

If i switch to my browser and hit back what happens : I go back to my previous app ? I go back in my browser page cache history ? I go back to the page that opened that web page i'm looking at ? something else ?

also mixing Back and Up is just wrong. I've had arguments with people that don't understand the difference.

[jaffa2]

brilliant. when i last used an android google apps were the worst for abusing the back button. maybe it's changed since then. sometimes it went up. sometimes previous. sometimes quit.

[kevin_thibedeau]

My favorite was long pressing back to show the history. Perfect for escaping from a nav hijack page or returning to a page multiple steps ahead in history. Swipes are a downgrade in functionality.