19 Awesome Things You Can Do with 3D Touch on iPhone

3D Touch. Maybe you love it. Maybe you hate it. Maybe you don’t even know what it is. Regardless of how you feel or what you know about 3D Touch, it still seems to be on Apple’s chopping block. In fact, the upcoming iPhone XR doesn’t support true 3D Touch, and so we can’t be sure how long this awesome feature will actually stick around.

But if you’re not sure what 3D Touch is, it’s basically a pressure sensitive feature found on newer iPhone displays. It allows users to apply pressure to the display in varying degrees and the phone recognizes this as input.

Because it’s so dynamic it has multiple possibilities. Generally it’s used for contextual content, much like right-clicking on a desktop computer. This can be helpful to bring up more actions.

Some games utilize it as well. For example, GRID Autosport uses it to control how hard or soft the accelerator is depressed in a virtual vehicle.

Another feature of 3D Touch is what Apple calls “Peek and Pop.” This unique navigation tool allows users to “peek” into content with a little pressure without fully opening the content.

If the user presses harder they will “pop” into the content. For example, in iMessage you can gently press on a message thread to peek at the contents of the thread. Any unread messages will remain unread while peeking. Press harder and the thread will open completely (pop).

Another example of peek and pop are links such as the ones found in Safari and Mail. You can peek to preview the Web content or pop into the page completely.

As useful as 3D Touch is, some users don’t know about it, don’t use it, or find it gimmicky. Some users appreciate its ability to add more actions to an element and it can be helpful in speeding up some tasks. Personally, I love 3D Touch and encourage users to try it out.

As you become accustomed to it you might find yourself wondering why you never used it before. There are quite a few cool things you can do with 3D Touch. Continue reading to learn 19 Awesome Things You Can Do with 3D Touch on iPhone.