> the concept of "back" is not universal, so a universal button doesn't make sense.
> It only exists on Android because it started off as a non-touch OS.
... so android has the exact same gesture and it's a bad thing only there because it started as a non touch OS, iOS has it but it's totally not the same concept at all and perfect.
Android had the back button since the beginnings. They added an option a few years back to hide the usual three buttons at the bottom of the screen and to enable an ios-like navigation with a swipe up for home, etc.
That made a swipe from the left or right edge recognized by the OS trigger a back button. That is quite different from the app itself recognizing an in-process swipe left, showing the underlying screen you would be brought to. Though some android apps do support this as well.
You misread. Parent said the back "button" is a cudgel, not the gesture. Though unfortunately someone at Google decided to give the gesture the same behaviour as the button, so yeah, it is a bit silly on Android.
> Every app you can swipe back
> the concept of "back" is not universal, so a universal button doesn't make sense.
> It only exists on Android because it started off as a non-touch OS.
... so android has the exact same gesture and it's a bad thing only there because it started as a non touch OS, iOS has it but it's totally not the same concept at all and perfect.
Hmmm.