This document discusses how gestures have revolutionized how people interact with their mobile phones and the apps that popularized these gestures. It outlines several iconic gestures like pinch to zoom, double tap, swipe left/right, and press and hold and the apps that helped mainstream their use, such as the iPhone popularizing touchscreens, Instagram using double tap to like photos, and Tinder implementing left and right swipes for matching. The document also notes some gestures that did not catch on as much and asks for predictions on what the next big gesture may be.

1. GESTURES THAT
CHANGED OUR
LIVES
AND THE APPS THAT MADE THEM FAMOUS

2. WHO WE ARE
Over the last 6 years, the FreedomApps' programming team have developed over 130 awesome apps for
clients in over 13 countries.
They’ve spent nearly 250,000 man hours in front of their keyboards programming new app ideas.
We know our stuff!
And we’re constantly on the cutting edge of which apps are hot and which are not. Even more important
we’re watching trends over the next 3 years to see what the next big winners are likely to be.
We have two offices both in Sydney and abroad. In Sydney we’re situated amongst the leafy streets and
cafes of trendy Victoria St, Darlinghurst.

3. Interacting with our mobile phones have been
so ingrained into our habits that it has become
natural to swipe, slide and tap
—sometimes without even looking at our
devices.

4. Let us take a look at the gestures that
revolutionised how we used our phones
and revisit the apps that popularised them.

5. The Forefathers of the Touchscreen.

6. In the 1960s, phone companies began
producing push-button telephones to replace
the clunky rotary ones.

7. It was revolutionary. Why, you ask?
It took around ten times longer to dial a “0”
than a “1” on a rotary phone.
A push-button phone changed people’s lives.

8. But for another 40 years, the basic layout of
push-button phones remained the same.
Even when mobile phones started coming out

9. Enter the Nokia 7110.
As an old Microsoft blog put it: it was
“The Phone That Changed the World.”

10. It was one of the first widespread mobile
phones where you can access the web on

11. One of 7110’s innovations was the navi-roller,
a cylindrical control that allowed users to scroll
up and down and select a highlighted option all
in one button.

12. Then two years later, Apple blew our minds with
a click wheel in their iPods that could also
navigate and select.

13. With all due respect to Nokia’s Matrix phone
The iPhone was the one that changed the
world.

14. It did not have a physical keyboard.
Neither did you need fancy scroll knobs
to navigate,
because you did it with your fingers.
The world was shocked!!!

15. From push buttons to
touchscreens, we have
continuously found new ways to
interact with our phones.

16. Which brings us to today,
with gestures changing our lives:

17. PINCH TO ZOOM
When the iPhone introduced this in photos and safari,
it was the stuff of sci-fi. If you wanted a closer look at
a photo or text, you just put two fingers on the screen
and pulled them in opposite directions. You can do the
opposite to zoom out.

18. PINCH TO ZOOM
It created a fuss then, but now almost all apps do it.
It has even come to the point where if your app does
not allow pinch to zoom,
users will eventually ask why not.

19. DOUBLE TAP
Tapping the screen twice to do something was not new when
Instagram started using the gesture, but the photo sharing
app stumbled upon a gem when it implemented it. Instead of
struggling to click a small button, you can just tap on a photo
twice to “like” it. Users loved how intuitive it was.

20. DOUBLE TAP
No specific app has stood out as having mimicked the double
tap, but developers have thought of other uses for it.
Sony’s Xperia phones, allow you to double tap to wake your
screen, while other third-party android apps offers that
function as well.

21. DOUBLE TAP
Double tapping is just so different from single tapping, but just
as easy to perform, that it opened up endless possibilities.

22. SWIPE LEFT / RIGHT
Tinder’s entry in this list is more ubiquitous for the younger
generation, but it has become part of everyday lingo.
Tinder allowed you to swipe right if you liked what you see
and swipe left if you did not.

23. SWIPE LEFT / RIGHT
It was so simple and had very little wasted motion that users
were able to go through a long list of potential matches in
little time.

24. SWIPE LEFT / RIGHT
Other apps also took advantage of the simple swipe right or
left motion to let users decide on what they like. Some e-
commerce apps, have been implementing it. Something
similar has also been applied by apps like Google Now,
which lets users “flick” (a faster swipe) to dismiss an item.

25. PRESS & HOLD
Apps have long been using a press and hold gesture to
launch a different function than what a simple tap would.
Facebook, recently started allowing users to press and hold
the “Like” button to launch even more options.

26. PRESS & HOLD
iPhone and Android “home screens” have this feature to
enter edit mode, but it has not been until recently that apps
began implementing something of the same.

27. There Have Also Been A Lot Of Misses
When Apps Try To Implement Gestures

28. The “Triple Tap” has not really gained much
adoption. Tapping once or twice is fine, but having
to tap thrice to launch an action is just unnatural.

29. Two-finger swipe down is gaining some traction,
and iPhone’s 3D touch might be a
game changer.

30. Give us your thoughts.
What do you think will be the next big
gesture?

31. Thanks!
Any Questions?
You can find us at @freedomapps & freedomapps.com.au