I would prefer in-app view of links if apps wouldn’t have a broken back button.

In-app web view back buttons go back to the app instead of one page back in the history. It’s driving me nuts.

We did get that right at least!

Did they provide any feedback on why they hated it, btw?

Not really. My impression was that people just felt it was a cleaner experience having everything in the app. Objectively it didn't have a significant effect on load times either way, but I could see a couple of potential reasons that could make sense, like leaving around open browser tabs that would have to be manually closed. Also some may not know how to quickly switch back to the previous app. As well as giving the option to just open by default in browser, we do also now provide a button along with the webview to open a given page in the browser, which seems like a good balance to me. That way if you want it in browser for bookmarking or what have you, it's easy to get that, but if you just want to take a quick glance, there's no need to leave the app.

I have observed non-technical people struggle with phone multitasking. They usually fail to notice the apps switching, and if they do, they often use a slow path back to the original app (for example opening an app via the Home Screen) rather than through the app switcher.

Gesture nav makes the app switcher impossible to discover (or "discover often enough to learn") for non-technical users.

I don't know what my mom and dad would do if Android ever took away the three button option.

I have a device where the app switcher is literally broken. I don't think it's due to gesture navigation, because the gesture works fine on a device from a different vendor (so I think I know how to do it correctly).

So yeah. Lenovo sucks.

To answer the question: have a child (you) that teaches it to them so they don't need to randomly discover it.

I'm more worried about others that don't have savvy children

And this might be a perfect example of where manuals make sense. Not a 300-page book (not that I'm opposed to that as a reference option), but a few pages that explain the basic gestures rather than having to randomly stumble upon it. My grandma asked for a manual when she needed a new smartphone (upgrading from Android ~5 to ~9 I think) and honestly I think it would really help her to have some pages of written instructions for the basics (not help pages or a document file to prevent a catch-22)

Their short-term memory persistence is not what it once was.

For example, they recently converted from DirecTV to Chromecast with Google TV (...with YouTube TV), and they use it every day, and my mom still has trouble using the d-pad to navigate menus in four directions. She was entirely used to DirecTV's menus, which (mostly) just scroll up and down using the channel rocker button.

It's been a year and despite saving probably 50%+ on their monthly TV bill, it's all my mom can say -- "When are we going back to DirecTV? It was so much easier. Google makes me feel stupid."

Windows/Xerox PARC put running applications in a dedicated spot on the screen so they're always visible and there's no guesswork for a reason. If multitasking on phones is to improve, it can't be hidden away and invisible. (And it wasn't, Android's multitasking button was at least how my dad got comfortable with the concept.)

We have decades of UX research telling us not to hide critical functions, but we keep doing it anyways because fashion/art/trends/etc.

Very good points, I'm starting to experience that as well (in the one grandparent that uses any technology at all, that is)

People don’t like littering tabs and changing the focused tab in mobile safari. And they don’t like switching back to another app instead of just closing a modal.

The safari view component solves the privacy issue when adopted.

This feels solvable by the OS. The OS should be able to make it possible to bring up the user's choice of browser in a way that feels like they haven't exited the app they were just in. Maybe back always goes back to the app, etc...