Switches and checkboxes

tldr: Say no to switch toggles. Say yes to checkboxes. (Unless you are Airbnb)

Switches

Switches can be ambiguous about their state and their intent.

IRL, they are usually vertical

Which side is on?

Or labeled for choosing modes

switch_mode

They don’t do RTL well

Using an RTL language? Which is the on side—turned to the right, or to the left?

The accent colours on the switch are a helpful clue.

But the colours can’t help when Digital Wellbeing turns on the grayscale mode.

switch settings rtl grayscale
Grayscale turned on by wind down mode. Which switch is ON, again?

But Google uses them

Yes, they do. They also appear to be learning the folly of their ways. Check out these screenshots from upcoming Android 12:

Checkboxes

If it’s filled, it’s on. If it’s empty, it’s not.

There’s no right, left, up or down. Language doesn’t matter. Colour doesn’t matter. No ambiguity1. No confusion.

rtl_gmail_checkbox
Gmail. No colours for hint. No RTL support on an RTL device. Yet, no confusion. Checkboxes FTW!

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