I have no experience with android go but it might simply that they disabled widget support in the default launcher to save memory. Of that's the case just install a replacement launcher like "lawnchair 2"
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But custom launcher do not function well with gesture navigation.
unfortunately, that's a problem with most custom launchers.
It's still the case and not just a quirk of the specific android version when they introduced it?
I have two pixel 5 side by side, one with lawnchair 2, the other with the default launcher and I can't see any difference in gesture navigation (except that the custom launcher is better as I can customize the gestures)
Is gestures not sluggish,
I am on android 11 probably u r on upper version
yes i am on a12-13
never personally tried gestures on android 11