Android O Preview Brings Nav Bar Customization Under System UI Tuner

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While many OEMs offer the ability to tweak the navigation bar, Stock Android and AOSP have fell behind. This is a popular feature that allows users to customize navigation keys, making the most of the flexibility of software keys.

Android O makes that feature available for every OEM under a standardized implementation. To find this feature, you must unlock the System UI tuner by long-pressing the settings “cog” icon on your expanded notification shade. After that, you’ll find a menu with a few options that allow you to add buttons to the left or the right, modify the size and bias.

As you can see in the gallery above, you can make the navigation bar lean to the left, to the right, or make it more compact by reducing the distance between buttons. You can also add a few (inactive) buttons to either the very left or right, including a clipboard, a keyboard switcher and a “key” that allows you to set various functions, as well as a custom icon. It’s unclear if these features will make it to the final version of Android O, as many small additions like this have been cut from final releases. It’s very much a work in progress, but a welcome preview nonetheless.

It hasn’t been very long since Android O came out, but we are already unveiling awesome features coming to the next version of Android. For more coverage on all things Android O, stay tuned to XDA.