What is the offical name of the third on-screen button?

Question

I am searching for the official name of the third (right) Android on-screen button.

Android version	On-screen buttons
1-4.4
5.0+

The left and middle buttons are clear:

Left: Back button
Middle: Home button
Right: ???

Please include a reference where the name of the third/right button is stated in your answer.

Related: What is the purpose of the 3rd on-screen button on a button-less phone? — iOS, Oct 31 '12 at 12:59
Android 1.0 to 2.3.7 had physical (hardware) keys. Android 3.0 to 3.2.6 replaced these with “soft navigation buttons” in a “system bar”, which is what this question is about. Android 4.0 to 4.4.4 just changed the design of these software buttons slightly. Finally, Android 5.0 to 8.1 simplified the design further. You can see screenshots of the various designs here. The name of rightmost button is “Overview” or “Recents” button, just as the following screen is called. — caw, Jan 30 '19 at 16:06
Anyone can tell that, in which bar these buttons are placed?? Like clock and notifications are shown in the status bar. — Aashish Kumar, Mar 20 '19 at 07:16
@Aashish: I assume this should be something like "soft buttons bar", "soft keys bar" or "soft keys area" — Robert, Mar 20 '19 at 09:31
@Robert - when I google "soft buttons bar" then it suggests "navigation bar". So it should be called the navigation bar. — Aashish Kumar, Mar 20 '19 at 10:04

score 49 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 10 '20 at 13:47

It's called Overview button. I originally came to know about this from the Screen Pinning settings' description.

Google on Get around on your device (see Get around with navigation buttons) has noted:

Overview: Opens a list of thumbnail images of apps and Chrome tabs you’ve worked with recently. To open an app, touch it. To remove a thumbnail from the list, swipe it left or right.

It looks like this
If your device is running Android 4.4 or lower, your Overview button looks like this

Martyn · Answer 2 · 2017-01-10T13:03:13.330

31

~~This is called 'Recents' - you can see info about it here~~

EDIT

As Dan Dascalescu points out, it's now called "Overview".

edited Jan 10 '17 at 13:03

answered Oct 31 '12 at 15:46

Martyn

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That is outdated. It's called Overview now. Source: I work at Google and asked the Android team. We're updating occurrences of "Recents" to read "Overview". – Dan Dascalescu Jan 10 '17 at 02:07
Sometimes an obsolete reply is worth an upvote. :) – Stephen Hosking Jul 01 '19 at 22:39

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 31 '12 at 16:55

I don't know if there's an official name, but it's usually called the Task Switcher or Recent Tasks button. If you're writing instructions/manual, you may want to avoid calling it a button since older Android devices don't have a dedicated task switching button (the task switcher on my old phone was accessed by long press on the home button, for example). Instead, try to word it so that it's clear that you want them to switch to another task and leave the specifics for several common ways in various devices on a side track.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 31 '12 at 19:49

0

Different makes call it different things.

Android calls it the recent apps list (press it, it say's recent apps).

answered Oct 31 '12 at 19:49

Liam W

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What is the offical name of the third on-screen button?

4 Answers4

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