YES, Samsung removed pressure gestures from Galaxy Note 9

Update (October 01):

A moderator on Samsung European forum recently received response from the company’s R&D team on this matter. The company has confirmed that the functionality has indeed been removed (in the UK at least), with no plans to implement it as of now.

Hi guys. Just to update, our R&D team have confirmed that there are no current plans for a Force Touch Swipe feature on the UK Note9. Unsure whether that’s also the case for non-UK Note9’s though – so for those of you from overseas, I’d advise getting in touch with your local Samsung teams to enquire with them.

Update (September 21):

You can read about existing Samsung Galaxy Note9 issues and problems here.

Original story follows:

Most Samsung Galaxy Note 9 fans were in for a nasty surprise when it came to light that it’s not possible to officially turn off Bixby on the device. And now, another such development has come to light. Looks the the South Korean company has taken away some of the pressure gestures as well.

For those who aren’t aware, on previous Galaxy S and Note series smartphones, a hard press (in any app except home screen) followed by a left or right swipe triggered the back button and the recents button, respectively. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case in the Galaxy Note 9.

Following are some user comments on this matter:

Did the pressure gestures just get removed? Hard press and swipe to left or right doesn’t seem to trigger back or recents. Hard press home works

I don’t seem to trigger swipe left or right gestures on note 9. Hard press left or right should trigger back or recents buttons but it seems mine doesn’t work. Hard press home works but hard press home then swipe left or right act like i press the home button, has force touch been removed from the note 9?

Went to a Samsung store today, all of the phones there where demos and didn’t have this option enabled, tried to activate it in settings but, them being demos, settings don’t apply. My friend who’s working there told me its not implemented yet so, I really need it back

While we couldn’t find any official word on the matter, the Samsung forum threads (1,2) where this matter is being discussed do contain replies from forum moderators.

While one of them has said this doesn’t seem to be a feature on the Note9, other has put up this question with the Samsung R&D team, and is still waiting for their response. Following are their exact comments:

This does not seem to be a feature on this device.

We’ve asked our R&D team about this one for you – and we’ll update you guys as soon as we get a reply from them on it

Agreed, force touch swipe navigation isn’t a feature that’s used by majority of Galaxy phone owners, but for its part, Samsung could have done better than silently pulling a functionality without offering any alternative.

We’ll update the story as and when there’s a newsworthy development on the matter. Meanwhile, do share with us your Note 9 experience in comments below.

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