Master 3D Touch on iPhone

Unleash the extra power of your iPhone 6s or 7’s pressure-sensitive screen with Alan Stonebridge.

The screen in the iPhone 7 and 6s series (but not the SE) can sense the amount of pressure you apply to it, enabling apps to react differently than if you simply tap on an item. Apple calls this tech 3D Touch and uses it extensively throughout iOS to provide you with quick routes to many useful features.

On the Home screen, 3D Touch provides shortcuts — or Quick Actions, as Apple calls them — to popular features in many apps with just a firm press followed by a tap. In fact, you don’t even need the tap; just press your finger on an icon, slide it to the Quick Action you want and then let go to choose it. Sometimes, you’ll also be shown a widget containing key information from the corresponding app, such as current conditions from Weather, the last item you worked on in Notes, and up to four of your most recent Memories in Photos. (Note that items in widgets have to be tapped.)

3D Touch also provides a more powerful experience when selecting text in apps like Notes and Pages. It enables you to move the insertion point around a document while keeping your fingers over the on-screen keyboard rather than obscuring the text with them and having to rely on iOS’s magnifying glass effect and find the desired finishing position. 3D Touch also enables you to very quickly extend your selection by additional whole words, sentences or paragraphs.

FEELING THE PRESSURE

Though we say text selection with 3D Touch is powerful, it can take a few attempts to master applying different levels of pressure to trigger its effects and become comfortable with it. If you find 3D Touch over- or undersensitive, bear in mind that its responsiveness can be altered; you’re shown an option to tailor it when you first set up your iPhone, and it can later be adjusted to one of three levels in ‘Settings > General > Accessibility > 3D Touch’.

After trying out the things 3D Touch can do for you, there is, of course, a chance that you’ll dislike some aspects of it. Sadly, unlike being able to turn off certain gestures on a Multi-Touch mouse or trackpad on your Mac, iOS provides no way to selectively disable some of 3D Touch’s behaviours. So you must get used to accidentally triggering some features and try to adjust the firmness of your presses over time, or if that doesn’t pan out, disable 3D Touch altogether in the Settings page mentioned above.