# Gesture Navigation: Immersive Modes (IV)

DevFeed: [Gesture Navigation: Immersive Modes (IV)](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/gesture-navigation-immersive-modes-iv-24925.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://medium.com/androiddevelopers/gesture-navigation-immersive-modes-43f2d37a925d?source=rss-9303277cb6db------2>)

Author: Chris Banes

Published: 2019-10-16T13:01:02Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Chris Banes on Medium](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/chris-banes-on-medium.md>)

Topics: [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [navigation](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/navigation.md>), [android-apps](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android-apps.md>), [Playback](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/playback.md>)

Tags: [android](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android.md>), [android-development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android-development.md>), [apps](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apps.md>), [gesture-navigation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gesture-navigation.md>), [image](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/image.md>), [navigation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/navigation.md>), [playback](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/playback.md>), [ux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ux.md>)

## AI overview

This fourth post in a gesture-navigation series explains Android immersive mode for apps that need to draw fullscreen while hiding system bars. It distinguishes non-sticky and sticky immersive modes, describes their system-bar states, and discusses non-sticky mode for fullscreen video playback and photo viewers.

## Source excerpt

Cover image by Virginia PoltrackGesture Navigation: immersive modes (IV) This is the fourth post in our series on Gesture Navigation. If you want to skip to another post, you can find them listed below: Gesture Navigation: Going edge-to-edge (I) Gesture Navigation: Handling visual overlaps (II) Gesture Navigation: Handling gesture conflicts (III) In this fourth post, we're going to cover what you can do if your app needs to draw across the entire screen, with the system bars hidden. Referring back to our flowchart from the previous post, we're going to cover the remaining two solutions on the right hand-side of the chart. You can find a printable PDF version of the complete flow chart here. The solutions here are to use the immersive mode which the Android platform offers apps. But what is immersive mode? What is immersive mode? Immersive mode is a way to render content fullscreen, hiding the system bars so they are not in the way. It additionally provides safety from accidental gestures/presses causing the user to leave the app, particularly useful for games. There are two types of immersive modes: Non-sticky (normal) immersive mode -- A user can exit immersive mode, by swiping in the system bars. Sticky immersive mode -- A user can temporarily exit immersive mode by swiping in the system bars. Immersive mode is automatically re-entered after a short time (few seconds). For both modes, there are two states: System bars hidden -- in this state the home and back gestures are disabled. The user must first swipe from an edge to bring in the system bars. System bars showing -- in this state the home and back gestures work as normal. Now that we've gone over the background on immersive mode, let's take a look at the two different modes in detail. Immersive mode: non-sticky As you might have seen from the flow chart, non-sticky immersive mode is ideal for UIs which need to be fullscreen, but do not require precise swiping gestures near the screen edges. Common examples includ