How to Bring Back Vertical Swipe-to-Answer in Google's Phone AppDid you know you can customize Google to filter out garbage? Take these steps for better search results, including adding Lifehacker as a preferred source for tech news.
The Google Phone app is the latest in a series of apps to get Android's new Material 3 Expressive design language. That means bigger buttons, customizable fonts, louder accent themes, and also in the case of the Phone app, a bit of a fundamental design change.
For as long as I can remember, the Google Phone app’s default gesture for answering calls has been a vertical swipe, the exact opposite to the iPhone’s horizontal slide-to-answer gesture. I really liked it. It was solid, dependable, and very resistant to mis-swipes and butt-answers.
But with this new update, Google has changed the default gesture to be more similar to what Apple has on the iPhone, although not exactly the same. There’s a new horizontal swipe now, where you swipe left to decline a call and you swipe right to answer it.
But it's not for everyone. If you have years of muscle memory for the old way of answering calls, this new implementation won't be as dependable as before. If that sounds, you have two options.
If you don’t like the new gestures, Google has one alternative for you: buttons. Buttons are dependable, easy to use, and won’t cause nearly as many misfires.
To swap from swipe-to-answer to buttons, open the Google Phone app, tap the three-lined Menu button in the top left and choose the Settings option. Here, go to Incoming call gesture and tap the Incoming call gesture option. From the popup, switch to Single tap.
Now, when you get a call, you’ll get two distinct buttons for Answer and Decline. Ah, much better.
Uninstall the latest Google Phone update
Khamosh Pathak
Credit: And just like that, the old Phone app, with the old call screen, is back.
If answering with buttons isn't your cup of tea, you could also roll your Phone app back to a previous update. The thing is, the new Google Phone app comes with a host of new features that go beyond the call screen, although your mileage on them may vary.
The new update removes the Contacts tab (you’ll have to use the Contacts app to dig deeper into your list of buddies now), but it adds new tools like Calling Cards, which feature full-screen contact photos (again, like the iPhone). Your contact photo won't automatically show up on the receiver's end like on Apple's OS, but it's a nice touch. The whole interface is also bold and bubbly now, although how you feel about that will probably be a bit more subjective.
If you're OK with losing these changes, or you actively don't like them, you can get rid of them, and get the old vertical swipe gesture back along the way. Because the Google Phone app rolls out new features using Play Store, going back to an old version is easy and doesn’t require an OS downgrade.
To do this, go to Settings > Apps > Phone and tap the three-dotted Menu from the top-right. Here, choose Uninstall Updates. From the popup, choose OK. In just a couple of seconds, Google will uninstall the new Phone app update and things will be back to how they used to be. The old Favorites screen will be the new default, the Contacts tab will be back, and the old vertical call answer gesture will be restored as well.
Source:
How to Bring Back Vertical Swipe-to-Answer in Google's Phone App
Topic: How to Bring Back Vertical Swipe-to-Answer in Google's Phone App (Read 116 times)
Similar topics (5)
May 10, 2025, 12:22:16 PM