I’ve been testing the Galaxy S26 Plus for just over a week now, and the new Samsung flagship is packed with upgraded AI features as part of One UI 8.5. And while there’s no doubt a lot to like about the software, one notable downgrade has unfortunately persisted on Samsung’s latest devices, and it has to do with Gemini.
One of my favorite shortcuts to trigger Gemini is the Swipe for Assistant, a gesture available on many Android phones, including Pixels, OnePlus, and Motorola devices. When enabled, you simply swipe diagonally from the bottom corner of the screen, and Gemini will pop up. It’s incredibly useful, but for some reason, Samsung removed this gesture on its phones at some point over the past few years.
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Good Lock and One Hand Operation +
If you own a Samsung phone, you may or may not be familiar with Good Lock, which is an app that lets you add various plugins to customize your phone. Each plugin focuses on a different area of the UI, from the home screen to the Settings app and even notifications management. It’s an incredibly useful Samsung app that elevates the software experience, and I highly recommend downloading it, especially if you like to tinker.
One of the plugins available in Good Lock is One Hand Operation +. The purpose of this particular module is to make it easier to use phones and tablets with one hand, which is becoming increasingly important as the average phone display size continues to grow.
The module allows you to customize handles on either side of the display that can trigger various features. This is what makes it a nearly-perfect replacement for the missing Gemini gesture, and if you’re like me and have been trying to figure out how to get that trigger back, I’ll walk you through this handy alternative.
How to set up One Hand Operation + to enable Swipe for Assistant
Before you can do anything, you’ll want to download the Good Lock app, which you can find in the Galaxy store on your Samsung phone. Once you do that, open Good Lock and install the One Hand Operation + module and any other plugins you may want. Tap on One Hand Operation + to open the module.
1. You may need to toggle the module on before you can do anything.
2. Tap Left handle.
3. Tap the Diagonal up option. In the menu, select Assistance app. I leave the Straight right and Diagonal down options set to None. Do the same with the Right handle.
4. In the main menu, open Advanced settings.
5. Toggle on System back gesture. This allows you to retain back navigation when swiping outside the set handle area.
Optional: Review other options and toggle on as you see fit. Tap Animation to change the style, size, and color, or toggle it off if you’d prefer not to have a swipe animation. The Hide handle section will disable the gesture on select screens, whereas App exceptions will do the same when select apps are open.
6. On the main menu, scroll down to adjust the size of the handles. I set each to the lowest level, but adjust them as you see fit. You’ll see the handles on either side of the screen shrink in size and move as you adjust them.
7. Tap Handle color to adjust how it appears on your screen. Set the opacity to 0% if you don’t want the handle to be visible.
8. This is optional, but in Gesture settings, you can toggle on Quick action so that Gemini starts to appear before you release your finger from the display. You can also adjust the gesture angles, swipe distance, and vibration settings to your liking.
With that, you should now be able to invoke Gemini by swiping from the area close to the bottom corner of your display, as long as you remember where you set your handles. It’s not perfect, since the handles don’t go all the way down to the corners of the display, but they get pretty close. Once you get used to the placement, the gesture works quite well, and I’ve been quite happy with it.
I like this better than Samsung’s default trigger
One of the biggest reasons I’m such a fan of the Swipe for Assistant gesture is the change Google began forcing on consumers after the release of Android 12. On the Galaxy S26 series and other Samsung models, a long press of the power button is set as the default trigger for Gemini, and the button has been relegated simply as the “side button.” However, I’m not a fan of this method of invoking Gemini.
My biggest problem with this is that it has changed the way to power off a smartphone. I refuse to change this established behavior that companies have instilled in us for so many years, all because Samsung (and Google, by extension) is too lazy to implement a separate AI button on its phones.
The power button should remain the power button (I’ll die on this hill), and I shouldn’t have to awkwardly press two buttons to turn off my phone, especially when the method is so similar to taking a screenshot. This is why I like having the Swipe for Assistant option as an alternative, because I can still activate it from nearly any screen. But Samsung’s removal of the feature feels like the OEM is trying too hard to make the side button trigger happen, and it’s just not going to happen, at least for me.
This is also why the first thing I do when I get a new phone is to ensure that the side button is set to open the power off menu. On the Galaxy S26 series, you can do this by navigating to Settings > Advanced features > Side button > Long press, then setting it to Power off menu. This way, I only have to press and hold the power button to turn off the phone, and Gemini can get its own trigger, even if it is a workaround.
