Mobile only

Gestures include touch mechanics (what your fingers do on the screen) and touch activities (results of specific gestures).

A touch mechanic may cause different outcomes, depending on the context in which it is used. For example, a long press may select an element like a list item.

A touch activity may be achieved through combining multiple touch mechanics. For example, by using the touch mechanics of pinch open, double-touch, or double-touch and dragging, a user may zoom in on a view.

Types of drag, swipe, and fling activities

Scroll
Reveal upon scroll
Pan
Dismiss
Swipe to refresh
Edge swipe
Paging swipe
Overscroll collapse
Menu open
Tilt

Touch mechanics

Touch mechanics refer to what the user's fingers do on the screen.

Touch
One-finger press, lift
*Example: Select*

Double touch
One-finger press, lift, one-finger press, lift
*Example: Zoom in*

Drag, Swipe, or Fling
One-finger press, move, lift
*Example: Dismiss, scroll, tilt, etc.*

Long press
One-finger press, wait, lift
*Example: Select an element, such as a list item*
Long press is not used to display a contextual menu.

Long-press drag
One-finger press, wait, move, lift
*Example: Pick up and move, select multiple items*

Double-touch drag
One-finger press, lift, one-finger press, move, lift
*Example: Zoom in, zoom out*

Pinch open
Two-finger press, move outwards, lift
*Example: Zoom in*

Pinch closed
Two-finger press, move inwards, lift
*Example: Zoom out*

Two-finger touch
Two-finger press, lift
*Example: Zoom out*

Two-finger swipe, drag, fling
Two-finger press, move, lift
*Example: Select multiple items, pan, tilt*

Two-finger long-press
Two-finger press, wait, lift
*Example: None; this gesture is uncommon.*

Two-finger long-press drag
Two-finger press, wait, move, lift
*Example: Pick up and move*

Two-finger double touch
Two-finger press, lift, two-finger press, lift
*Example: Zoom out*

Rotate
Two-finger press, simultaneously orbit both fingers around the center point, lift
*Example: Rotate content, such as a map*

Touch activities

Specific gestures and their results, in context.

Action	Description	Touch mechanics
Activate	Activates a screen element, like a button	Touch
Cancel or Escape	Cancels or escapes out of the current task, as in dialogs or menus	Touch
Enable/Disable lights out	Hides or shows a view’s chrome	Touch
Drag or Swipe or Fling	See the following section Drag, swipe, or fling details for distinctions between Scroll, Reveal upon scroll, Pan, Dismiss, Swipe to refresh, Edge swipe, Paging swipe, Overscroll collapse, Menu open, and Tilt	Drag, Swipe, or Fling
Data selection (when nothing is selected)	Selects a single element	Long press, two-finger touch
Data selection (when items are already selected)	Selects additional elements while in selection mode Can use any combination of subsequent one- or two-finger gestures	Touch, two-finger touch
Data multi-selection drag	Reveals selection box that originates from point of gesture initiation The height and width can be adjusted based on finger position. The final selection is based on selection box dimensions upon finger(s) lifting.	Two-finger swipe or drag, long-press drag with no items selected
Pick up and move	Affects the selected item or items. It can be used to: Rearrange data within a view Move an item into a container or onto a target Reorder items in a list or a card collection	Two-finger long-press drag, long-press drag on selected item
Zoom in	Scales up content	Double-touch Double-touch drag (down) Pinch open
Zoom in to fit	For nested views, scales up the smallest targetable view	Double-touch
Zoom out	Scales down content	Double-touch at maximum zoom Double-touch drag (up) Pinch closed Two-finger touch Two-finger double touch
Expand	Expands collapsed content	Pinch open
Collapse	Collapses expanded content	Pinch closed
Rotate	Rotates the targeted content	Rotate

Drag, swipe, or fling details

Swipe gesture activities vary based on context. The speed at which a gesture is performed is the primary distinction between Drag, Swipe, and Fling.

Drag: Fine gesture, slower, more controlled, typically has an on-screen target
Swipe: Gross gesture, faster, typically has no on-screen target
Fling: Gross gesture, with no on-screen target

Gesture velocity impacts whether the action is immediately reversible.

A swipe becomes a fling based on ending velocity and whether the affected element has crossed a threshold (or point past which an action can be undone)
A drag maintains contact with an element, so reversing the direction of the gesture will drag the element back across the threshold
A fling moves at a faster speed and removes contact with the element while it crosses the threshold, preventing the action from being undone

Scroll

A scroll is a vertical or horizontal swipe in a single direction within the content body.

Usage

Scroll amount varies based on velocity of gesture: drag (slow) vs. swipe vs. fling (fast)
Scrolled content should move at the same rate as the gesture being performed. The content should feel "anchored" to the finger or touch device.

Reveal upon scroll

Reveal upon scroll means that reversing the scroll direction in a content area reveals hidden in-app elements. E.g., scrolling up in Chrome shows the Omnibox. To dismiss these in-app elements, resume the original scroll direction.

Pan

A pan is an omnidirectional one- or two-finger gesture that expands the field of view. Drag is typically used with pan. Fling will maintain gesture velocity, resulting in a significant pan of the content along the direction of the fling gesture.

Pan is applied to:

Unbounded content (maps)
Content that is larger than the screen height or width (zoomed in web page or photo)

A two-finger pan occurs when transitioning from another two-finger gesture (e.g., pinch zoom or rotate) such as in Maps. When a gesture begins with a two-finger pan it results in tilt.

Dismiss

A dismiss gesture originates on a swipeable element, such as a list item or card, orthogonal to the direction of scrolling.

The gesture is typically horizontal.

The dismiss gesture is committed based on crossing a threshold.

Swipe to refresh

Swipe to refresh usually occurs in a vertical and downward movement. It is available at the top of a list, or at the edge of any card or container where new content surfaces.

Edge swipe

An edge swipe gesture originates outside of the screen to reveal off-screen content. It invokes content separate from the current view.

If no edge swipe action is defined, an edge swipe can default to a paging swipe.

The edge swipe gesture is committed based on crossing a threshold.

Paging swipe

A paging swipe is an on-screen, in-content swipe that reveals related off-screen content. It reveals one page/tab per paging swipe.

If paged content is at >100% zoom, an in-content swipe will Pan to an edge of the content, and an additional in-content swipe will Page.

The Paging swipe gesture is committed based on crossing a threshold.

Don’t use paging swipes when individual elements are swipeable.

See below: Overscroll collapse

Overscroll collapse

Overscroll collapse navigates up in the content hierarchy via a paging swipe at the top or bottom of scrolling content.

The Overscroll collapse gesture is committed based on crossing a threshold.

Menu open

A drag originating from a menu or picker reveals a menu. Upon lift, the highlighted menu option is selected.

The menu then appears upon touch.

Drag is used with Menu open.

Tilt

Tilt moves 3D content forward or backward.

The transition from another two-finger gesture (e.g., pinch zoom or rotate) such as in Maps, will result in a two-finger pan.

Drag is used with Tilt.

Gestures