3D Touch an underrated feature?

[GuruZac]

I was checking out a Galaxy Note 8 at the store the other, very nice phone, but I immediately missed 3D Touch. I think it is one of the most underrated features of iOS. It is a very useful layer in the UI that I use for all of my main apps. What do you all think about it? Do you use it often?

 

[44267547]

I was checking out a Galaxy Note 8 at the store the other, very nice phone, but I immediately missed 3D Touch. I think it is one of the most underrated features of iOS. It is a very useful layer in the UI that I use for all of my main apps. What do you all think about it? Do you use it often?

I agree with you. I use 3D Touch all the time. I know many believe it's a useless feature or simply don't remember to use it, some actually disable 3D Touch. But I find it to be a shortcut and convenience factor to access Mail. I do like peak/pop which I use frequently for Messages/notifications.

 

[JPack]

It’s not intuitive becuase users are accustomed to zero actuation force on a touch display. 3D Touch is like a physical pushbutton on the screen. It’s unexpected and most users don’t try to interact that way.

 

[44267547]

It’s not intuitive becuase users are accustomed to zero actuation force on a touch display. 3D Touch is like a physical pushbutton on the screen. It’s unexpected and most users don’t try to interact that way.

Part of the reason, is because most iPhone users don't even think or even aware that 3D Touch exists. I found 3D Touch to become more useful when third-party applications start supporting it, which was an advantage when you want to access a certain part of the application versus navigating through the whole application itself. For that reason, I did find it convenient and quicker.

 

[fartnugget213]

When I got my 6s, I started using 3D touch right away, it was really convenient to force-touch the settings icon and getting into wifi/battery etc easily, even though I can do that now on ios11 I still prefer to 3D touch the settings icon!

 

[GuruZac]

I use 3D Touch on all of the main iOS Apple apps, but also for Shazam, Instagram, Weatherbug, Waze, Spotify, Discover Card, etc. Omce you’re aware of it, it’s ver6 handy. Especially when you have a typo and can 3D Touch the screen to use as a large scroller. That I use several times a day. There is a similar feature on my iPad Pro, but the implementation with haptic feed back is much nicer on the iPhones.

 

[rugmankc]

I love 3D Touch. Use it a lot.

 

[JonMPLS]

My biggest problem is simply remembering that I have it. Have to use it more!

 

[Shark5150]

I use it a lot. Just wish developers would make better use of it.

 

[Oridus]

My favorite 3D touch feature is the cursor/text select on the keyboard. Use that allllllll the time.

 

[Brandonjr36]

I wish I could get use to it! I had the iPhone 7 and now the X and have not been able to get use to it. Seems like a great feature tho.

 

[Hater]

I know it's there, but I never use it or care about it.

 

[boltjames]

So the X is my first experience with 3D Touch and after a month I am mixed on the feature.

The main thing is that it's completely inconsistent from app to app so it's impossible to rely on it the way you think you might.

Something like Camera, an app divided with several distinct features, it's really useful, can take you straight into the Video camera, for example. Nice time saver. But something like Clock, similarly divided with several distinct features, it takes you to "Create Alarm" instead of just the list of "Alarms" which is far more useful if you are someone who wakes up at the same time each day, rarely sets a new alarm, and just wants to quickly tap the slider.

Worse, use 3D Touch on Phone and you get a shortcut to "Search For Contact", pretty awesome. But 3D Touch on Contacts and you don't get "Search For Contact" at all. Why would you want to search for a contact on the Phone but not in Contacts?

The inconsistencies make 3D Touch unreliable, untrustworthy, might as well just tap on the icon the old school way and get there through the app.

 

[mcdj]

Underrated? No. Under-implemented and under-promoted by Apple and devs? Yes.

 

[ThunderMasterMind]

I can't tell you how many times I use my 6S for a week, then go to use my SE, or 4S and try to use 3D touch switcher, peek and pop, etc. It truly is a great feature.

 

[44267547]

under-promoted by Apple and devs? Yes.

But look how Apple traditionally promotes and markets certain features. When the iPhone 6s launched, they did promote 3D Touch, similarly to Live photos. But I don't expect Apple to promote every feature or reiterate it with every new iPhone release.

The same applies to stereo speakers, which they had promoted with the iPhone 7 release, but they made very little mention of it really with the iPhone 8/X.

In the Grand scheme of things, 3D Touch and stereo speakers doesn't sell the iPhone. Camera capabilities, water resistance and wireless charging are examples that Apple continually markets, because they are some of the latest features and considered "New" or upgraded in the least.

 

[recoil80]

I use it a lot with keyboard to move the cursor. And app switcher gesture is nice too, I'm happy they brought it back in 11.1 after they ditched it for no reasons.
I think I could survive without it, iPad doesn't support 3D touch and I don't miss it, but it makes sense to have it on iPhone. Maybe it isn't, at will never be, a flagship feature, but it is nice to have.
A lot of people don't even know about it, and I'm talking about tech savvy guys as well. A colleague of mine, a web developer who uses Macs, iPads and iPhone didn't know it was possible to switch apps via 3D touch, and he only accidentally used 3D touch since he bought the 6s two years ago.

 

[DNichter]

I never use it, but I know some people do. Nice feature either way.

 

[Ralfi]

I think of it like keyboard shortcuts - a more efficient way of navigating the UI & getting to where you want to be. It's very handy if you know about it..

Google Maps for eg. brings up "Home" or "Work" destinations saving many steps.

Also love the Harmony App that lets me turn on an Activity & then access volume etc. controls once activity's active.

Phone brings up "Most recent" shortcut.

Spotify has the last few playlists listened to.

Clock has "Start Timer".

Settings has handy shortcuts to Wifi/Bluetooth.

Chrome has the brilliant "New voice search".

& the left edge App Switcher's another one I regularly use.

& then you've got the "New Email/Note/Tweet/Tab" for other Apps...All making things much more efficient.

 

[viperGTS]

I really only use it to get to the battery settings quicker. Beyond that, not much else (except clearing all notifications). I'm still on iOS 10 though, so there aren't as many opportunities to use it compared to iOS 11.

 

[Seth Matthews]

I use it a lot. it's personal preference, though. It is quicker (to me) to force touch the phone app to call my favorites. It is easier to use to get to features of an app I use the most, but don't want to go through the app to get there.

 

[ericgtr12]

I know it's there, but I never use it or care about it.

This has also been my experience, I know it's loaded with useful functionality yet it almost feels novelty and it's rare that I ever use it.

 

[achappy]

Use it daily and miss it when I can't (i.e. on the iPad). It's so useful and saves time. Want to quickly upload a Facebook picture? Take a selfie? New email/Message? New Tab in Safari? Peek at results in Maps? Call a Favorite contact? All done with 3D Touch.

 

[Jimmy James]

I use it a lot to move the cursor while editing text. Like when posting in this forum. Often, iOS highlights a word in spellcheck and it's otherwise a bugger to edit text around that word. 3D Touch solves the issue.