Words
Looks like Apple is ending the iOS Photos.app interaction paradigm experiment with bimodal swipe-to-switch state. I get why they tried it—a navigation bar for only 2 modes feels like overkill. But a hidden gesture was probably too subtle.
The eternal UI challenge: when you have exactly two modes, every solution feels wrong. Too few for a nav bar, too important for a buried gesture. It’s like the dropdown rule—you need 3+ options to justify the pattern.