Why iPhones Don't Have A Back Button

One of the most controversial design elements of the iPhone is its lack of a back button. Something that’s standard on most Android devices. The idea is that a button to go back to the previous screen allows users to easily navigate their device. But Apple disagreed. And the story behind that decision dates back to 2007, when the original iPhone was under development.

[janek]

Fun fact: in most apps on the IPhone when you swipe to the right from the left near the bezel of the phone it goes back to the previous page, just like a back button on android. This also works on IPad as well

[WDCallahan]

Q: Why don't iphones have a back button?
A: They do. But it's at the top.

[chancecaeden]

I love how apple needs people to explain the crap that they do… I love these videos

[friddevonfrankenstein]

Designer: Complains about unpredictability of multiple functions on a single button, proceeds to map multiple functions to single button while moving the back button to the most unergonomic position possible. Makes perfect sense. Except when it doesn't. Which is always.

[lafayette]

That logic may work back in the age of Jobs when most phones have tiny screens. Now for phones with big sizes, it really drives users crazy to touch that "back button" at the corner up ahead.

[mikewheeler]

I use my back gesture on Samsung hundreds of times a day. Whenever my parents ask me what happened on their phone I tell them to press the back button (android) and 99/100 it takes them back to where they wanted to be and it's always in the same position. It's so flipping useful

[SelfMadeHundredaire]

I love my android back button. It works flawlessly and takes me exactly where I expect it to go. I have no idea what this "trust" issue is that he's talking about. I used to have an iPhone and was constantly frustrated by how limiting the iOS is. I'm still forced to use it on my iPad which is useful for Notability and propping up wobbly table legs and nothing else. I love all my MacOS computers, which is all I use, but for my phones, Android is just so much easier to use. The other issue I have with iOS is when you're typing and want to place the cursor in the middle of a word. With iOS, you have to press and hold to place the cursor where you want it between letters. On Android, you just press where you want the cursor and there it is. I don't know if there's a setting to change this on Apple but that one thing saves so much time when you're typing or texting.

[supashep]

Instead of creating a physical back button next to the home button they implemented a software one at the top of the screen which made it more difficult to reach to navigate. Makes sense.

[powerLuser]

The lack of a back button really bothered me when switching last year, but I’ve grown to really love navigation on my iPhone. Only problems now are with third-party apps that don’t work the way Apple’s do (like YouTube)

[moti]

I know in recent years iOS allows you to swipe on the bottom left/right edge to go back, but before that, it was annoying having to reach over to the top left corner, which is literally the farthest part of the screen for your typical right-handed user! It was fine in the early years when devices were very small, but as they grew in size I saw people start to have more difficulty. But Apple users usually just accept whatever Apple gives so, no one really complained. And I'm saying this as someone with larger hands than most people.

[haggyadaszt]

I switched to Android after 12 years of using iOS. By now I know that having a back button is great so it was a failure that Apple forced me to use a back button at the top of the screen. Android is great with swipe functions.

[boytheodore]

The iPhone's swipe back sucks too, sometimes worse. Not all actions can be clicked in the upper left corner to return, sometimes click the upper right corner to leave or return. The sensitivity of the sliding return of each App is also different. I think the iPhone solution creates more problems.

[goudendynamiethd]

I do get why it might be confusing for some people, but for example for my grandfather, it's more confusing to not have a back button. Because when there's a back button that's always there, he knows how to just go back to the previous screen.

The back button just always goes back to the previous screen. That's it. If the last screen you were on was the home screen, then it takes you to the home screen. If it was some kind of page, then it takes you back there. It's that simple.

[tpolarbeart]

The problem is on iPhone some times back is a gesture, sometimes it's a button very far from your thumb and other times there just isn't a way to go back if the app is poorly programmed. Android was very consistent in what back does. It's been the hardest thing for me since switching. It seems so obvious to implement a universal back gesture like android but maybe it will come out in a future update in a few years and be considered revolutionary

[StanKween]

I changed to Andriod after 6 years of iOS, mainly because of the lack of the back button. Although Andriod later introduced the gestures just like iOS, I still keep the navigation bar on because it's easier for me to use

[Htimez]

Just one more reason to never buy an Apple product.

[laurencenoble]

I used the gesture navigation on my previous android phone and liked the consistency of always being able to go back by swiping from either edge to the middle. I favoured the right side for easy reach. Since changing to my new iPhone I now have to either track all the way up to the top left corner for a back button or sometimes I can swipe in from the left or sometimes neither works and I have to swipe down ie to close a video. The inconsistency seems very counter intuitive and I still sometimes get it wrong and it takes me a few moments to figure out how to go back

[JustinLewisWeb]

Nope. The problem is that every app is inconsistent with the back option on iPhone which causes more issues IMO. It’s the only downside, aside from Siri, that I experience using the iPhone.

[DataAnalyticsAutomation]

I have 13 pro max and it’s super complicated to navigate back with a back button. This is the most silly reason I have ever heard from such a huge tech giant. I will switch back to android soon.

[whatsindansgarage]

I think the back button is pretty intuitive since you already know you will go back to previous app if you open an app from another app. But that back button action wouldn’t take you back to another app if there is no app for you to go back to in the first place, like browsing webpages for example. So logically your back button action must certainly go back to previous page or a back action within the app. When I was using iOS 2.0 there was no such thing as the top back button for go back to previous app and I always need to go back to the Home Screen which was very frustrating compared to Android because I just need to hit the back button. So I agree with Jobs initial proposal since in my opinion no-back-button is only beneficial to hardware aesthetics and not user experience.