I Asked Craig Federighi Why iPhone Still Can’t Swipe Back from the Right
I sat down with Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, to talk about the design thinking behind iPhone Duo — from its subtle “see-through” folding animation and hinge-angle API to one of the long-running debates around iOS navigation: why the iPhone’s back gesture still comes from the left, instead of working from either edge like Android.
We also discussed the challenge of adapting apps to a foldable display, and whether Apple can avoid the adaptation problems the Android foldable ecosystem has faced for years.
Big thanks to Craig for patiently decoding my broken English.
Timestamps:
00:00 The design behind iPhone Duo’s folding animation
01:23 The new "hinge-angle" API
03:15 Why can’t you swipe back from the right on iPhone?
06:31 How Apple designed Split View for iPhone Duo
07:51 The app adaptation challenge