So, I might call this one “when there’s no more back to go…” Or, just get outta the Home button rut, dear Apple. Either way, same thing—when there’s no more back to go… hear me out.
When iPhone first came out, that button was the whole point. Or so it seemed. One clean circle, one way back Home. Press and you’re Home. It made sense then. Actually, one could tolerate it (more) back then. But fifteen years later? In 2025?
Yes, in 2025, you still have to come Home in that direction—tap, swipe, gesture—it’s all the same behaviour preserved in code. The physical button is gone, but the ghost of it lives on in the little bar at the bottom, from which you must swipe (up) to go Home.
It’s a pain. Really.
Android figured this out ages ago
I’ll use Samsung’s Galaxy, because that’s what I know—One UI. No home button. No sacred bar. You can dismiss an app with a big swipe from right or from left. Or if bottom is your thing, you can go from there too. Sweet.
You can even hide the “gesture indicator” bar entirely if you don’t need it. One less line item on your full screen. But…
On iOS you can’t.
And, it’s there as if to remind you ad nauseam you always have to go back, back, and back... Three, sometimes four steps. And when there’s no more back to go—nothing happens. You’re stuck. O, wait, there’s a “Home button”, come on, kb!
Well, no, dear Apple. No. Help me… When there’s no more back to go, that last swipe should at least dismiss the current app/view. That’s it. Simple.
Learned once, remembered forever
Anyone who’s used a Galaxy knows what I mean. You learn it once. The muscle memory stays. Forever.
There’s a hard swipe right on One UI that takes you completely out of the app, and a soft swipe that just moves back within it (if there’s a back to go, yeah). It knows the difference. It feels right. Or tell me different. Who should?
I once watched a reviewer compare her Galaxy experience with iOS. What stood out for her was exactly this—you can dismiss an app with a full swipe left or right, without going down Home first. Nifty, she called it. Convenient.
Agree.
So why not copy what works?
People who’ve only ever used iOS may not know what they’re missing (quite a bit). But it’s there—the friction.
When something is convenient on another system, and it doesn’t hurt yours to copy, that’s when you copy. Nobody’s going to mock you for it. They’ll thank you. They’ll congratulate you for making life easier.
Copy with courage, O Apple. Or don’t you already do so? It’s not a loss, you know. It is grace.
Because your competition is not the other system—it’s frustration. You pay attention to comments on reviews? O, you do?
A small thing that matters
If you don’t want to copy the full One UI gesture, fine. Fine, whew, I wonder why (not) (if it works) (and it does). But… at least, add one rule—this very one rule—when there’s no more back to go, dismiss the app.
When there’s no more back to go, can be a new rhythm, you know.
Let’s do a demo together:
I open Settings → General → Software Update.
I go back once—back to General.
Back again—now I’m at Settings Home.
No more back to go. See?
If I swipe again, that swipe should close Settings. Simple. Natural. Learned once, remembered forever.
It doesn’t. No, not before this writing had hit the press.
I still have to do the home-bar dance. Swipe up from the bottom, the digital version of pressing a button that doesn’t exist. The ghost button does…
And it’s even worse when the phone is docked—like mine, on that little IKEA wooden stand (I can’t remember what it’s called—you probably know the one, and the like). When it’s sitting there, slightly tilted, and I have to close current view—see, I can’t, because I cannot reach the “Home” bottom. It’s there, held within the console grip. I’d literally have to pull the phone out the dock just to dismiss an app. Ridiculous.
My gosh.
If it were a Galaxy, a One UI device, it’s nothing. A quick swipe left or right—done. You learn it once, remember it forever. But with iOS, you have to break flow, pull the phone off its dock, swipe from the bottom, and then put it back again. It’s not a minor thing. It’s a design blind spot.
Just a little evolution, that’s all
Let that last swipe mean something. Dear Apple.
Dismiss the app.
Free us from the ghost of the Home button!
It won’t hurt your design purity. It’ll make the experience breathe. Better.
Sometimes all progress needs is one tap less.