Have you noticed a strange silhouette of a person, an icon or an incomprehensible stripe at the bottom of your smartphone screen? This is not a virus or a malfunction - most likely, we are talking about navigation panel, gesture panel or an interface artifact. This problem occurs a Android 10-14 after updates, firmware changes, or accidental changes to settings. In 90% of cases, it can be removed in 2 minutes without resetting to factory settings.

But there is a nuance: on different brands of smartphones (Xiaomi, Samsung, Realme, Oppo) the path to the solution is different. In some places it’s enough to disable gestures in the settings, but in others you’ll have to dig into developer or even reflash systemui. We have collected all the working methods - from simple to extreme - and described them for different scenarios.

1. What is this “person” at the bottom of the screen?

In fact, this is not a person, but interface elements that the system displays incorrectly. Here are the main “culprits”:

  • 👤 Google Assistant icon - appears when the gesture is activated Swipe up from bottom corners (swipe from below in the corners). Often buggy after updates.
  • 📱 Navigation panel —classic three buttons (“Back”, “Home”, “Recents”) or a gesture strip that can “stick” on the screen.
  • 🤖 MIUI/One UI artifacts — on Xiaomi and Samsung sometimes “ghost” elements appear due to conflicting themes or animations.
  • 🔧 Debug elements —if you turned on Developer mode, service indicators could be activated (for example, Show touches).

To accurately identify the problem, try to take a screenshot: if the “man” or strip are not displayed on the screenshot is a system interface bug. If displayed, it is most likely an overlay application (for example NavBar Apps or Edge Lighting).

📊 What smartphone do you have?
Xiaomi (MIUI)
Samsung (One UI)
Realme/Oppo (ColorOS)
Other Android
iPhone (off topic)

2. Method 1: Disabling gestures and navigation bar

Let's start with the most obvious - checking the navigation settings. This method works on 95% of smartphones with pure Android or shells MIUI, One UI, ColorOS.

Instructions for most devices:

  1. Open Settings → System → Gestures (or Accessibility → System navigation).
  2. Select an option Navigation buttons (3 buttons) instead Gestures or Swipe-up.
  3. If the problem is in the “ghost” band, turn the mode on and off Full screen gestures 2-3 times in a row (sometimes resets the interface cache).

For Samsung Galaxy (One UI 5/6):

  • 🔄 Go to Settings → Display → Navigation panel.
  • 📱 Select Buttons instead of Gestures.
  • 🔧 If the bar remains, disable Show menu button and Show recent button.

☑️ Check navigation settings

Done: 0 / 4

If after these manipulations a gray bar or icon remains at the bottom of the screen, proceed to the next method.

3. Method 2: Resetting the interface settings (without data loss)

Sometimes the problem lies in a system cache failure or a theme conflict. You can reset the interface settings without deleting data:

For Xiaomi (MIUI):

  1. Open Settings → About phone.
  2. tap 5 times by MIUI Versionto activate Developer Mode.
  3. Return to Settings → Advanced → Mode developer.
  4. Find Reset interface settings and confirm.

For other devices:

  • 🔄 Go to Settings → Applications → All applications.
  • 🔍 Find Launcher (or One UI Home, MIUI Launcher).
  • 🗑️ Click Storage → Clear cache and Reset settings.
💡

If after resetting the interface becomes “crooked”, reboot the phone into Safe Mode (press the power button → hold “Turn off” → confirm safe mode This will help). check if a third-party application is at fault.

4. Method 3: Disabling debugging functions

If you previously activated Mode. developeryou may have accidentally enabled the display of touches or borders of elements. This often looks like strange icons or stripes.

How to check:

  1. Open Settings → System → Developer mode (or For developers).
  2. Scroll down and disable:
    • 👆 Show touches (Show touches)
    • 📐 Show element borders (Show layout bounds)
    • 🔄 Animation windows and Animation of transitions (sometimes buggy)
  • Reboot the phone.

    • If there are too many unclear items in the developer menu, you can reset its settings:

    • 🔧 In the upper right corner of the developer menu, click on ⋮ → Reset settings.
    What to do if there is no "Developer Mode" item?

    To activate it, go to Settings → About phone and tap on Build number (or MIUI version for Xiaomi). After this, the item will appear in the main settings menu.

    5. applications

    Often, the “person” at the bottom of the screen appears due to a conflict with:

    • 🎨 Third-party launchers (Nova Launcher, Apex Launcher, Microsoft Launcher).
    • 🔄 Applications for customizing gestures (Fluid Navigation Gestures, NavStar).
    • 📱 apps for simulating buttons (Button Mapper, EasyTouch).

    How check:

    1. Boot into Safe Mode (instructions above). If the bar disappears, third-party software is to blame.
    2. Uninstall all recently installed launchers or utilities to customize the interface.
    3. If you are not sure which application is at fault, sort the list. in Settings → Applications by installation date and delete one by one, checking the result.
    Application Typical problem Solution
    Nova Launcher Gesture strip is duplicated Disable Launcher gestures in Nova settings
    Fluid NG Icon of a person in the corner Delete the application or disable it overlay
    MIUI Themes Artifacts after changing the theme Reset the theme to standard
    EasyTouch Transparent panel at the bottom Disable Floating panel in settings

    6. Method 5: Manual editing of systemui (for advanced)

    If all the previous methods did not work, the problem may lie in the system file systemui.apk. This method requires root access or ADB and is only suitable for experienced users - incorrect actions can lead to to the brick of the phone.

    Instructions via ADB (without root):

    1. Install ADB Tools on PC and connect the phone via USB (enable Debugging by USB in the developer settings).
    2. Execute the command to reset systemui: 
      adb shell pm clear com.android.systemui
    3. Reboot the device.

    For devices with root:

    • 📂 Use Root Explorer or Mixplorerto go to /system/priv-app/SystemUI.
    • 🔄 Rename the file SystemUI.apk to SystemUI.apk.bak.
    • 📥 Download the original SystemUI for your firmware and place it in a folder.
    • 🔧 Set permissions 644 (rw-r--r--).
    💡

    Before editing systemui be sure to make a backup via TWRP or Titanum Backup. In 30% of cases, after such manipulations, flashing is required.

    If you are not sure of your actions, it is better to contact the service center. Incorrect editing of system files can lead to loss of warranty or total inoperability device.

    7. If all else fails: hardware reasons

    In rare cases, a “man” or a bar at the bottom of the screen appears due to:

    • 🔋 Malfunctions of the display cable —especially after falls or repairs.
    • 📱 Problems with the graphics chip (on older ones Samsung Exynos or MediaTek).
    • 🔌 Conflict with the magnetic case (some cases activate hidden functions).

    How to check:

    1. Connect the phone to an external monitor via USB-C → HDMI. If there are no artifacts on the monitor, the problem is in the display or cable.
    2. Run the screen test in the engineering menu (code #0# for Samsung or ##4636## for others).
    3. Try to use the phone without a case for 1-2 days.
    💡

    On Samsung Galaxy S20/S21 with a chip Exynos 990 such artifacts may indicate the beginning of degradation of the graphics core. In this case, only replacing the motherboard will help. boards.

    FAQ: Frequently asked questions

    Why did a gray bar appear at the bottom of the screen after updating Android?

    This is a known bug in Android 12-14, when the system incorrectly calculates the gesture area. It can be solved by resetting the interface settings (Method 3) or rolling back to. previous version of the firmware. On Xiaomi disabling the function MIUI Optimization in the developer settings helps.

    I deleted all the launchers, but the bar remains. What should I do?

    Try roll back updates for applications Android System WebView (in Settings → Applications). Sometimes web viewer bugs affect the display of the interface. If this does not help, reset via ADB (Method 5).

    On my Realme 9 Pro an icon of a person with an arrow is displayed. How to remove it?

    This is Google Assistant Gesture, which is activated by swiping from the lower corners. It is disabled in Settings → System → Gestures → System navigation → Advanced → Assistant Gesture. If the item is not there, update Google App in Play Market.

    Can I remove the bar without losing it? data?

    Yes, in 99% of cases, resetting the interface settings (Method 3) or disabling gestures (Method 1) is enough. A full reset to factory settings is required only in case of hardware malfunctions or serious firmware failures.

    After resetting the settings, a black bar appears at the bottom.

    No, this indicates incorrect operation of the graphics driver. Try:

    1. Disable hardware acceleration in the developer settings (Disable hardware overlays).
    2. Update the firmware to the latest version.
    3. If the phone is on MediaTek - reflash the vendor section.

    If your problem is not solved - describe it in as much detail as possible in the comments: phone model, Android version, when the bug appeared and what has already happened tried. This will help diagnose the cause more accurately.