Haptic Touch tips and tricks

Uncover the secrets of the long press and access app features faster

Haptic Touch has its roots in a couple of different Apple technologies. It provides much of the same functionality as the old 3D Touch on iPhone, enabling you to access app features and menus without actually opening the apps, for example. But the process no longer relies on a touchsensitive layer on the screen that used to detect a ‘firm’ press. Instead, it now uses the length of press to determine what you’re trying to do.

The other technology is haptics, where the device, whether it’s an iPhone, Apple Watch or a trackpad, provides feedback that you can feel with your fingers.

The Taptic Engine provides this feedback. The Taptic Engine was introduced in 2018 with the iPhone XR, though it wasn’t until the following year that it featured across the whole iPhone range. In previous iPhones, including the iPhone X and XS, 3D Touch provided similar features but without the haptic feedback. Kenny Hemphill