Can I disable this new taskbar in Android 13?

[B. Diddy]

I don't mean this to be argumentative or contrarian in any way, but I'm still trying to understand why the taskbar is considered so problematic. When I accidentally bring up the taskbar (by inadvertently long-pressing the bottom edge of the screen, which is rare), I can make it go away by long-pressing that area again. When the taskbar isn't showing, the only real estate that's taken up is a very narrow strip that correlates with the horizontal line (i.e., if using gesture navigation).

 

[J Dubbs]

I'm not a big fan of the nav buttons being squeezed into a small spot on the side of the screen, but I don't mind the ability to put some shortcuts in the taskbar. Overall I'd prefer the old setup... but I'm pretty easy going when it comes to things like that, so as long as everything works good I'll roll with most changes

I needed to add I'm on a Tab S6 Lite, and the taskbar doesn't block anything for me. My only real issue is the aforementioned shrunk down navigation buttons.

I am kinda hoping they change it up with Android 14 though lol.

 

[B. Diddy]

The problem is on some devices, including mine, it is currently impossible to turn it off or hide it. The long press gesture you describe does nothing. On gesture or three button navigation a solid bar takes up 10% of the screen all the time apart from the home screen. But on the home screen an section for taskbar apps also cannot be removed even if it is empty.

Hmm, that seems buggy. You're long pressing next to the taskbar, and not directly on the taskbar, right?

I'd also point out that on the homescreen, it's acting as the Favorites Tray, not the taskbar -- and you typically can't get rid of a Favorites Tray, unless the launcher has that feature (typically if you have an option to change the layout to show every single installed apps, like the iOS launcher layout).

 

[900SL]

Is this an Android or a Lenovo issue?

I've wasted a couple of hours of my valuable time trying to figure out how to disable or revert from this imbecilic implementation. I have a Lenovo Tab M10 plus gen 3 and it is not possible to remove the bottom bar. The same moron has also relocated the top swipe down quick access menu for settings. It now seems to be over on the top right

There's no option to change this as far as I can tell. Change for change sake and who cares about the customer

This is the last Lenovo tablet I will buy, and the last Android

 

[B. Diddy]

Upon trying again, the taskbar can be reduced to a thinner bar with gesture control using the hold gesture, but it is stuck in place with 3 button navigation, my preferred method.

Oh yeah, I see what you're saying. I'm so used to gesture navigation now that I never revert to buttons, so I hadn't encountered that issue directly.

Best thing to do, which I think was mentioned before, is to give feedback to both Lenovo and Google. Sure, just one person sending feedback probably won't do much, but the more people who do so, the more likely they'll take notice and consider making some modifications.

 

[bingbok]

Just made account for this, it no longer allows 599 in the smallest width on the m9

 

[deftrf]

Not the best solution, but it works. Lenovo m9 here.

1. Manually drag and drop all app icons from the bottom bar on the home screen. Place them somewhere on the desktop, but not on the bar.
2. Disable the "Display the 'All applications' list entry in the Taskbar" option in the Home settings

This would get rid of the dumb taskbar when viewing apps and return The Pill, which even works to switch apps by sliding.

Only disadvantage - you're left with an ugly placeholder on the bottom of the desktop, but for me that's waaay better like this without that Taskbar in apps...
Oh, and also this works only with nav gestures, the panel is still there when using the buttons nav, but seems it was always this way.

 

[EverCurious]

Another new Android Central member to comment in this forum. I appreciate deftrf for the idea of moving the applications off the taskbar. At least I can get the annoying ones off, and put on ones that I actually use. Glad to know there are others annoyed by this as well!

 

[bmo2718]

Hey I wanted to share my workaround for this issue which basically boils down to installing a third party app.
I chose this one

VirtualSoftKeys | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

A simple, safe and easy softKeys (navigation bar)

f-droid.org

It hasn't been updated in 6 years but I trust an older open source app from F-Droid more than I trust a newer from the play store (aside from the fact that I haven't found one without ads or microtransactions)

You will have to give it permission to draw over other apps and accessibility (it will guide you there after starting the app) The latter at first wasn't possible as the accessibility settings were restricted for this app, so I had to 'Settings' > 'Apps' > 'VirtualSoftKeys' and then tap the 3button menu on the top and then on 'Enable restricted settings'.

After you grant all the permissions you can enable this navigation bar by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. In the app itself you can set whether the navbar disappears after some time or stays visible permanently (you can always manually hide it by swiping down on the bar).

While this also works if gesture navigation is enabled I would recommend to choose button navigation, as this navbar will hide the lower area of any app if gesture navigation is enabled.
A very minor caveat is, that the regular navigation bar is still slightly visible, at least on my Lenovo M11 but that is a very very small price to pay for finally having decently sized and positioned buttons back.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Hey I wanted to share my workaround for this issue which basically boils down to installing a third party app.

Thank you for circling back to share this info and your experience. I'm sure that others experiencing this same annoyance will likely want to try it.

 

[dustojnikhummer]

The Android 13 completely destroyed my P11 Gen2. Weirdly, the "desktop launcher" (an objective downgrade from Android 12L) is not laggy at all, it's just worse. The regular "smart launcher" is laggy as hell.

I guess I will have to do what others are recommending. Use Lawnchair, ADB the stock launcher away and rely on 3rd party navbar.

In the meantime, I will shoot Lenovo a message about RMA, since this is ridiculous