iPhone 13 Pro I really miss Force Touch

[DaffiDuck]

Force Touch was too unreliable. Long tap is much more reliable.

Also, when nobody copies you technology, you know it’s a lemon. Nobody copied Force Touch.

You say that but Force touch Launched in September 2014 . With the current technology they could or have developed a way to be 100% reliable and use very very small battery. So you can't really say that if it was in a brand new iPhone today ? or they could make haptic touch and force touch and switch it off in settings too

 

[twistedpixel8]

I still got the 8 Plus solid waiting on the 14... And imagine if they bring it back oopsey ? buy year that haptic rubbish is never superior to the Force 3D touch ? maybe if everyone complained about it instead of sheeping it would change

Sadly I don’t think it’s coming back. Maybe Apple will figure out how to bring it back as a different tech but without the downsides to Force Touch. I kept my X and I think I’ll use the flashlight button every so often for nostalgia ?

 

[marty1980]

I did have a harder time activating the camera from the Lock Screen on my 13 Pro Max compared to my iPhone X. It doesn’t feel right.

Force Touch didn’t pay off in the grand scheme. Whatever reason they decided to ditch the tech, it’s not a big deal, but I can imagine a few interactions that will take getting used to without Force Touch. I’m glad I skipped out on the fake home buttons. My kids had iPhone 7 & 8 and I do not like the home buttons on those because they use haptics instead of actually pushing in like a normal button.

 

[Quarric]

Guess people could always turn on voice over on and toggle the speech off (3 finger double tap) plenty of tap and holds, force touches, multi taps, multi finger taps, split taps and haptic feedback coming out your ears. I also didn't really appreciate how recently general users got features some of us have had since day one almost.
3D Touch etc is basically my entire phone use experience.

 

[Denzo]

I just upgraded to an iPhone 13 Pro from an iPhone X and while I really appreciate the 120Hz display, amazing cameras and the overall design… I really miss Force Touch. Tap and hold is just not the same. The place I find this most apparent is the torch and camera buttons on the Lock Screen. Anyone else feel the same?

Sad face.

Yeah.. 100% feel the same. Such a nice differentiation to other phones and great to use.

 

[twistedpixel8]

I did have a harder time activating the camera from the Lock Screen on my 13 Pro Max compared to my iPhone X. It doesn’t feel right.

Force Touch didn’t pay off in the grand scheme. Whatever reason they decided to ditch the tech, it’s not a big deal, but I can imagine a few interactions that will take getting used to without Force Touch. I’m glad I skipped out on the fake home buttons. My kids had iPhone 7 & 8 and I do not like the home buttons on those because they use haptics instead of actually pushing in like a normal button.

But were those fake home buttons not just the same as the trackpads that “click” via haptics? Because they’re absolutely brilliant. I can’t see how the home button version would be worse but then I never had an opportunity to try them.

 

[Nozuka]

I miss it in safari. "popping" a picture to open it "alone" in the tab. afterwards you could copy the url, zoom in etc.
have not found out how to do it without force touch yet.

 

[twistedpixel8]

I miss it in safari. "popping" a picture to open it "alone" in the tab. afterwards you could copy the url, zoom in etc.
have not found out how to do it without force touch yet.

Oh I forgot about that one!

 

[Wahlstrm]

A hard press on the keyboard to be able to move the cursor around the screen like you do with a trackpad on a laptop is amazing.

Is this feature completely gone from devices without 3D Touch or does it still work in some way?

 

[xxray]

I don’t miss it much - except for the Lock Screen flashlight and camera buttons. I have such muscle memory of using those for fast access, and now everything is slowed down with the long press.

Feels like it defeats the purpose when I’d usually use the camera button to activate the camera really quickly before the scene I’m trying to take a picture of changes. Guess I’ll have to start training myself to swipe left to ge to the camera instead.

 

[marty1980]

But were those fake home buttons not just the same as the trackpads that “click” via haptics? Because they’re absolutely brilliant. I can’t see how the home button version would be worse but then I never had an opportunity to try them.

You can adjust the haptics to try to match what feels like the best button press for you, but I never liked it when playing around with those settings on my kids phones. The trackpads are fine. The home button was different to me coming from older generation iPhones with an actual button. The tech isn’t bad, it’s a personal preference issue. L

 

[twistedpixel8]

A hard press on the keyboard to be able to move the cursor around the screen like you do with a trackpad on a laptop is amazing.

Is this feature completely gone from devices without 3D Touch or does it still work in some way?

Yep, completely gone. Still works on my X but I think that was one of the last iPhones to get it. 12 and 13 definitely don’t have it.

In fact, Apple (quite brazenly) disabled it on Apple Watches that had FT with watchOS7. My AW3 cannot use FT anymore despite having the hardware. That didn’t massively bother me as I don’t think it worked quite as well as with iPhone but still, I feel that was a poor decision for Apple. Others may well have loved it on Apple Watch.

 

[KittyKatta]

I forgot Force Touch existed.

People are quick to adjust to new things and the loss of Force Touch is one of them. The feature was obviously neat but Apple compensated quickly with Long Press and I havent thought about it for years.

 

[Snide]

“You’re touching it wrong”.

 

[Jett0516]

A hard press on the keyboard to be able to move the cursor around the screen like you do with a trackpad on a laptop is amazing.

Is this feature completely gone from devices without 3D Touch or does it still work in some way?

Not on the keyboard but now you can press on the screen and move cursor anywhere you like.

 

[adam1080]

Editing text is not remotely as quick or as accurate without Force Touch.
The space bar vs anywhere on the keyboard does not compare.

It is still a step backwards.

 

[adam1080]

Not on the keyboard but now you can press on the screen and move cursor anywhere you like.

Not sure about others, but this works like hot garbage for me. Drops in the wrongs place more often than the right place.

 

[The Doctor11]

Not being able to use it to move the cursor when typing is killing me, very hard habit to break. It was incredibly convenient and easy.

 

[7thson]

I liked it as well but it’s discoverability wasn’t good and it caused confusion for those that didn’t know it was there when they did discover it. Also of note was its lack of adoption in 3rd party apps.

 

[Surfer13134]

I miss it as well, however, most people just did not know about the feature, I mean unless you knew about it who would of thought pressing into the screen would activate a secondary function.

 

[Nozuka]

A hard press on the keyboard to be able to move the cursor around the screen like you do with a trackpad on a laptop is amazing.

Is this feature completely gone from devices without 3D Touch or does it still work in some way?

I'm confused that everyone says this is gone. Either i didn't understand what you mean or people just don't know...

You can longpress the spacebar and then you can move around the cursor like before.

 

[retta283]

It was a nice feature that wasn't utilized to its full potential. The lock screen buttons are a pain now, as mentioned earlier in this thread a few times while I had my 12 I accidentally turned on the flashlight and drained my battery, one time it killed my phone so I was stuck.

Personally I accidentally long press way more than I ever accidentally force touched something. Even on my iPad, I find myself bringing up menus I do not wish to see all the time.

 

[twistedpixel8]

I'm confused that everyone says this is gone. Either i didn't understand what you mean or people just don't know...

You can longpress the spacebar and then you can move around the cursor like before.

Yes but with Force Touch you could forcibly press *anywhere* on the keyboard to move the cursor. I think that’s what they’re referring to.

 

[macOS Lynx]

Going from my XS to an 11, I never noticed anything had changed. Everything I used 3D Touch for (Peeking notifications, previewing websites/links, previewing conversations, and quick app shortcuts) I can do just fine with haptic touch.

To be honest, since the switch, features like using the keyboard as a trackpad have been way more reliable. I always found it a pain to use 3D Touch to do that.

I do really miss it on the watch though. It made moving through the UI easier there.

 

[bluecoast]

Having had an XR since April 2019 and a 7 before that, I'd totally forgotten that force touch was even a thing until this thread!

So I guess that means 'no'.