iOS 26 Tweaks Back Gesture to Make Navigation Easier on Bigger iPhones

In iOS 26 beta 1, Apple has seemingly tweaked the swipe-to-go-back gesture to make it easier to navigate screens on bigger iPhones.

In iOS 18, many apps allow you to navigate back to the previous screen by swiping with your thumb from the left edge of the display. This is generally easier than tapping a back button in the top-left corner, especially if you're navigating with one hand.

However, to trigger the gesture, you need to start swiping from the very edge of the screen, which is harder if you have small hands or you're using a larger device like an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

To make things easier in iOS 26, you no longer have to start the rightward swipe at the very edge of the screen. Now you can start the gesture from anywhere, like the middle of the display. Providing you're not thumbing an interactive UI element, the swipe-to-go-back gesture will still be triggered.

Currently the gesture works in many system apps including Settings, Contacts, Music, and the App Store. It also seems to work in some third-party apps, although support is likely to expand once developers update their apps in time for the release of iOS 26 in the fall.