If my iPhone 6 couldn’t have 3D Touch then why does it now have 3D Touch?

[boltjames]

So two years ago we were told that one of the coolest new features of the iPhone 7 was 3D Touch. Press and hold an icon on the home screen, out comes a series of additional options.

We who owned an iPhone 6 could not have this feature because our processors were too slow and our screens were not super special.

So someone please explain to me why my iPhone 6 running iOS 11.1 now has the same 3D Touch functionality as the iPhone 7? I’m talking about the icons for Apple TV and Connectivity in Control Center, as examples.

 

[Twimfy]

So two years ago we were told that one of the coolest new features of the iPhone 7 was 3D Touch. Press and hold an icon on the home screen, out comes a series of additional options.

We who owned an iPhone 6 could not have this feature because our processors were too slow and our screens were not super special.

So someone please explain to me why my iPhone 6 running iOS 11.1 now has the same 3D Touch functionality as the iPhone 7? I’m talking about the icons for Apple TV and Connectivity in Control Center, as examples.

It's likely they've just enabled support for the press and hold gesture but you'll probably find that the varying levels of pressure to perform more complex actions aren't supported due to hardware.

They probably kept the basic functionality from the older devices in order to exagerate the difference as a selling point.

 

[C DM]

I’m talking about the icons for Apple TV and Connectivity in Control Center, as examples.

What exactly about those that makes you think your device somehow has new hardware suddenly?

 

[PJ.]

Came out with the iPhone 6S as mine has it

 

[Vundu]

Yep the 6S was the first iPhone to have the 3D Touch layer in the screen.

 

[stevemiller]

What exactly about those that makes you think your device somehow has new hardware suddenly?

He is talking about how control centre toggles in iOS 11 simulate a 3D Touch response on long press. The animation is the same used for 3D Touch. Apple has muddled their own UX conventions for communicating hardware functionality.

 

[boltjames]

He is talking about how control centre toggles in iOS 11 simulate a 3D Touch response on long press. The animation is the same used for 3D Touch. Apple has muddled their own UX conventions for communicating hardware functionality.

This.

If the functionality was there all along they should not of withheld it.

 

[QuarterSwede]

It’s not quite that black and white. They added some long press functionality to the 6 and prior phones, yes but 3D Touch is still required if you want to get more options on the home screen itself (not while in CC) as a long press still invokes icon movement and deletion. They’d have to completely rework how that works if they added long press to give more options to non-3D Touch devices.
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This.

If the functionality was there all along they should not of withheld it.

You’re lucky this wasn’t Android. You wouldn’t have gotten even what we got. Be grateful.

 

[C DM]

This.

If the functionality was there all along they should not of withheld it.

So we are talking about long press? That's been around for all kinds of things for years, even before 3D Touch. They just added some long press options in more places it seems. It's still different from 3D Touch beyond the one simple long press ability.

 

[Paddle1]

It’s not quite that black and white. They added some long press functionality to the 6 and prior phones, yes but 3D Touch is still required if you want to get more options on the home screen itself (not while in CC) as a long press still invokes icon movement and deletion. They’d have to completely rework how that works if they added long press to give more options to non-3D Touch devices.
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You’re lucky this wasn’t Android. You wouldn’t have gotten even what we got. Be grateful.

I think they should just add an "Arrange Apps" option to the 3D Touch list of each icon for devices that don't have 3D Touch and make it accessible via long press. Developers and users would be more eager to use it if it had wider adoption. Seems simple enough.

 

[boltjames]

So we are talking about long press? That's been around for all kinds of things for years, even before 3D Touch. They just added some long press options in more places it seems. It's still different from 3D Touch beyond the one simple long press ability.

Listen, I'm not exactly crying over this but I just found it surprising that functionality that feels very much like 3D Touch suddenly exists in a manner contradictory to what Apple led us to believe a few years ago upon the release of the iPhone 6s.

I'll have my iPhone X in my hands in the next few days and one of the features I was looking forward to was gaining 3D Touch. In the waning days of my iPhone 6 with iOS 11 which I have just downloaded for the very first time in iOS 11.1, feels like I already have it.

 

[BFG86]

Does anyone actually use 3D touch? I find it rather annoying and gets in the way most times. it makes it harder to copy and paste certain things because when you went to press on something to copy a preview of what you're copying comes up and then you have to swipe up and select the copy option

 

[Act3]

with the 3D touch to use app switcher being back in 11.1, the only thing I really need the home button for to unlock my 6S and I don't even have to press it

 

[C DM]

Does anyone actually use 3D touch? I find it rather annoying and gets in the way most times. it makes it harder to copy and paste certain things because when you went to press on something to copy a preview of what you're copying comes up and then you have to swipe up and select the copy option

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/do-you-use-3d-touch.2068252/

 

[ZEEN0j]

Does anyone actually use 3D touch? I find it rather annoying and gets in the way most times. it makes it harder to copy and paste certain things because when you went to press on something to copy a preview of what you're copying comes up and then you have to swipe up and select the copy option

I use it all the time. Dragging the cursor when editing text (love this), quick access to something in an app, peeking at links, 3D Touch on contact picture in whatever app you are in to directly call text FaceTime etc.

 

[Act3]

Does anyone actually use 3D touch? I find it rather annoying and gets in the way most times. it makes it harder to copy and paste certain things because when you went to press on something to copy a preview of what you're copying comes up and then you have to swipe up and select the copy option

Use it all the time. Slow adaptation at first but finding it more and more useful once I learned what it can do. Especially app switcher.

 

[HankHowdy]

So two years ago we were told that one of the coolest new features of the iPhone 7 was 3D Touch. Press and hold an icon on the home screen, out comes a series of additional options.

We who owned an iPhone 6 could not have this feature because our processors were too slow and our screens were not super special.

So someone please explain to me why my iPhone 6 running iOS 11.1 now has the same 3D Touch functionality as the iPhone 7? I’m talking about the icons for Apple TV and Connectivity in Control Center, as examples.

You sure you don't have a 6S?

 

[Paddle1]

You sure you don't have a 6S?

Those features are available on all iOS 11 devices.

 

[TechFann]

Does anyone actually use 3D touch? I find it rather annoying and gets in the way most times. it makes it harder to copy and paste certain things because when you went to press on something to copy a preview of what you're copying comes up and then you have to swipe up and select the copy option

I use it to quickly connect to wifi or a Bluetooth device from settings, or check the weather real quick from the weather app, and I use it for stock previews as well.

 

[HankHowdy]

Those features are available on all iOS 11 devices.

I have an iPhone 6 on iOS 11 in front of me. When I long press on the settings app I do not see a shortcut menu like force touch-enabled devices. Is this what we are talking about?

 

[boltjames]

You sure you don't have a 6S?

Certainly.

I purchase all the non-S phones on Day 1 of their release except for the 7 and 8 because they weren't interesting or different enough. 3D Touch was the one feature I eschewed during that time. Looking forward to it on my X (ordered at 3:05AM on release day but my configuration wasn't available until the 17th).
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I have an iPhone 6 on iOS 11 in front of me. When I long press on the settings app I do not see a shortcut menu like force touch-enabled devices. Is this what we are talking about?

Swipe up from the bottom exposing Control Center.

Press and hold your finger in the center of the square showing the icons for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Several of the other icons on Control Center operate in the same way, for example the shortcut to Night Mode and the only way now to get to Airdrop.

This is the 3D Touch behavior that was touted as a breakthrough feature only available on the 6S forward due to their superior processor and screen designs. Guess not.

 

[C DM]

I have an iPhone 6 on iOS 11 in front of me. When I long press on the settings app I do not see a shortcut menu like force touch-enabled devices. Is this what we are talking about?

That is a 3D Touch feature. In control center, for example, some 3D Touch-like features were implemented through long press basically.

 

[aevan]

Certainly.

This is the 3D Touch behavior that was touted as a breakthrough feature only available on the 6S forward due to their superior processor and screen designs. Guess not.

This is NOT 3D Touch. This is an alternative for non-3D touch devices. Same thing existed with live photos from day one the 3D touch was introduced: 3D touch a live photo on iPhone 6S, tap and hold on other devices.

3D touch is an instant action based on pressure followed by taptic engine feedback. It is present throughout apps - try to preview links or emails by pressing them stronger, to open widgets and menus on home screen icons by pushing them stronger, to activate the multitasking app switcher by pressing the side of the phone stronger - try all that on your iPhone 6. No? Because it doesn’t have 3D Touch.

Apple added some essential functionality where they could, like in the control center - so that devices that don’t have 3D touch (iPads, older iPhones) could still use things like live photos or expanded control center options. This is not 3D touch.

I don’t see how you can consider it a negative or complain about it, tbh.

 

[simonmet]

I use it all the time. Dragging the cursor when editing text (love this), quick access to something in an app, peeking at links, 3D Touch on contact picture in whatever app you are in to directly call text FaceTime etc.

Ditto on the curser moving. Also, I imagine using 3D Touch to expand the Control Centre widgets is quicker than a press and hold.

 

[boltjames]

This is NOT 3D Touch. This is an alternative for non-3D touch devices. Same thing existed with live photos from day one the 3D touch was introduced: 3D touch a live photo on iPhone 6S, tap and hold on other devices.

3D touch is an instant action based on pressure followed by taptic engine feedback. It is present throughout apps - try to preview links or emails by pressing them stronger, to open widgets and menus on home screen icons by pushing them stronger, to activate the multitasking app switcher by pressing the side of the phone stronger - try all that on your iPhone 6. No? Because it doesn’t have 3D Touch.

Apple added some essential functionality where they could, like in the control center - so that devices that don’t have 3D touch (iPads, older iPhones) could still use things like live photos or expanded control center options. This is not 3D touch.

I don’t see how you can consider it a negative or complain about it, tbh.

You miss my point. And you have bought into Apple’s magic pixie dust. Pressure sensitive and long press are the same thing.

What 3D Touch provides primarily (popular buried functions quickly accessible via long press on app icons) was just quietly introduced to older devices via iOS 11.1

It is now nothing more than savvy marketing to call the feature that is on the 6S and forward iPhones “3D Touch“ when the same functionality is now persistent on the 6 and older devices. No special screen is needed, no special processor is needed, same type of functionality can be emulated quite easily without all of that supposedly important hardware.