Excellent point on swiping horizontally instead of a "Back" button. That's a great change, but one I already try to incorporate as the dedicated header bar is (or was) distinctly iOS.

If I'm building a cross-platform app (or have the intention of going cross-platform eventually), I try to steer clear of any interactions or UI elements that are too obviously from one platform or another.

I really appreciate apps that have their own distinct look and feel which don't use "proprietary" UI features (like the header bar and back button). The most recent app that I've admired is Dots. It doesn't look Androidy or iOSy. It looks like it's own thing. The team behind that did a fantastic job.

I agree that Dots is great, but it's a game--the UI is by nature specifically tailored to the application.

If I'm using a news reader or productivity app, I hate having to spend time learning a novel interface. The more conventional the UI, the more easily and quickly I can use it. Unless uniqueness adds a tangible benefit, it's just a pain in the butt.

FWIW I'm using the iOS 7 beta, and this behavior is inconsistently present. It works in nested lists, but other screens e.g. the music Now Playing screen don't do it at all. Hopefully it gets OS-wide integration.

But hey, it's a (really buggy!) beta.

Of particular hilarity is that swiping left-to-right on the Now Playing screen did in fact do this on prior versions.

iOS 6 added a swipe gesture on all navigation bar back buttons, and even in 6.1.4 it doesn't work in Apple's Messages out of all apps. I would be surprised if this new gesture ended up working consistently.

The Back buttons have to be one of the weakest elements of the current UI. I know from experience that less-computer-literate people are blind to them. We'll have to see how easily they pick up on the new conceit.