Adam Birney / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is working on a new menu to customize the three-finger tap gesture for touchpads.
- The new menu will let you set a three-finger tap to center-click, launch Gemini, go home, or view recent apps.
- This menu is not yet available in the latest Android beta or developer preview, but we managed to make it appear manually.
The best Android tablets are ideal not only for watching videos, but also for working. If your job involves a lot of writing, you’ll want to get a decent keyboard cover to make typing easier. Although Android has solid support for physical keyboards and touchpads, there are still gaps in some areas, notably in the customization department. Fortunately, Google continues to work on new keyboard and touchpad features for Android, with the latest feature being a menu for customizing three-finger taps of the touchpad.
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We discovered strings for this new menu while browsing the Settings app in the second developer preview of Android 16. The strings suggest that you’ll be able to customize the touchpad’s three-finger tap gesture to go back, reenter at home, launch Gemini, middle-click, or view recent apps. Here are the channels in question:
Code
Go back
Go home
Launch Gemini
Middle click
Use three finger tap
View recent apps With a bit of tinkering, I managed to get the new three-finger touchpad touch customization menu to appear in Android 16 DP2. Once online it will appear under Settings > System > Touchpad and mouse:
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
The “middle click” and “launch Gemini” actions are the only new things here, as the rest of the actions are already triggered by other touchpad gestures. For example, a three-finger swipe left or right already goes back, a three-finger swipe up takes home, and a three-finger swipe up and hold shows recent apps. You can also open the notifications panel by swiping down with three fingers and switch between apps by swiping left or right with four fingers.
Only three of these existing gestures are shown to you in Android’s new tutorial for touchpad gestures. So I’m curious to see if Google will incorporate this new three-finger touchpad typing gesture into the tutorial. I’m also curious to see if Google ever plans to release a first-party keyboard protector accessory for the Pixel tablet, especially since the company canceled the Pixel 2 tablet. These features will benefit future Android tablets and Chromebooks running Android, and it’s possible they’re also intended for the now-canceled Pixel Tablet 2.
