Last year, in the initial releases of Android 11 Developer Preview, we found that Google was developing a new double-touch gesture for Pixel phones. Now it looks like Google is working to bring Colombo’s gesture back to Pixel phones with Android 12.
The gesture was codenamed “Colombo”, a reference to a character in the film Zombieland and his famous “double touch” rule. By default, this gesture is intended to be another easy way to reach Google Assistant, but it can also be configured internally for various actions. We also found that it worked as a quick way to dismiss a timer or postpone an alarm.
At the time, we believed that this “Columbus” gesture would replace the “Active Edge” compression gesture that Pixel 4a, Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 do not have. However, when Android 11 was fully launched for Pixel phones, the Columbus double tap was nowhere to be found.
According to the information displayed by 9to5Google, Google is working to revive Columbus on Google Pixel phones with Android 12 as the “double tap” gesture. By double-tapping the back of the phone quickly, you can do one of the few things:
- Enable Google Assistant
- Take a screenshot
- Pause / resume media playback
- Open the notifications tab
- Open the recent apps view
One feedback we shared when Columbus arrived at Android 11 Developer Preview was that the gesture was a little too sensitive. The new version that comes with Android 12 allows you to adjust your phone to just recognize company taps back. Or, like other gestures on Android and Pixel phones, the Columbus double tap can be completely disabled.
The first Android 11 Developer Preview arrived in mid-February last year. If Android 12 follows the same pattern, it could take us just a few weeks to get our hands on the Double Tap gesture again. That said, Columbus was unceremoniously removed from Android 11 and it is still quite possible that it will be removed from Android 12.
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article
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