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How are you finding Force Touch?

rhyme

rhyme

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 22, 2013
224
22
It has been suggested in a few threads that force touch isn't all that useful because it's hard to know when it will do something. I think that's something we can get used to (like right click on Windows machines). But I find the actual touch quite hard to do. If I want a force touch, I usually do a long, hard press until it responds. A plain old "long touch" would take the same time, feel nicer and wouldn't have required the extra tech. I can sometimes get a force touch by doing a quick, hard jab at the watch face with a "run up" from about 10cm away, but that feels quite unnatural to me and about 1/3 of the time, it doesn't work anyway: I guess I am not jabbing quite hard enough.

How is everyone else getting on with force touch? Do you find it natural, easy to use, and better than a long touch?
 
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i remember watching a great interview The Verge did with Matias Duarte, Google's Vice President of Design, where he was asked about the use of long presses in software.

He said that while it has its place, a long press requires the user to wait, something they tried to avoid. It puts a stop to the workflow, and especially on a mobile device where integrations are best when they are snappy, it's less than ideal.

I think Apple have the same philosophy, and Force Touch is their solution. It requires no waiting, or holding, it's as quick as a tap.

Apple have done a good job of tying it into the software visually, which gives it a really tactile feel. But I think their implementation of it on the MacBook isn't as nice. I think Apple will do a good job of tying it into the visual experience of the iPhone to make it seem natural.

I think people are being short sighted when they can't see an application for it on the iPhone. Having a tap/long press/hard press on the iPhone will be a good thing if implemented well. Think about games, or drawing apps!
 
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Force Touch works pretty well for me. Think of pressing a doorbell - finger on the screen, then a short, firm press. No jabbing or run up required :)
 
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On the iPod nano with touch display there was a function where you could long touch the display to get to the home screen. I experienced that it was implemented badly because if you moved your finger just a tiny bit, it recognized it as a swipe.
Being careful and holding your finger exactly on one position was always a pain.
 
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Vundu said:
Holding your finger in place for a few seconds instead of a quick tap would of worked just as well. I think it is gimmicky so far.
Click to expand...
No one wants to wait for a few seconds for an action to take place on the screen of a phone. Force touch solves this, gives another quick interaction method.
 
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Rok73 said:
No one wants to wait for a few seconds for an action to take place on the screen of a phone. Force touch solves this, gives another quick interaction method.
Click to expand...

But for me (and it seems for the OP as well), invoking force touch takes as long as a long press. In fact, it takes more effort than a long press, because I have to push down hard on the screen, yet I still have to wait a few seconds before the force touch registers. I don't know what I'm doing wrong -- maybe it requires more force than I'm giving it?
 
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I guess I haven't really noticed a "long press", for example I use it all time to "clear all" notifications and it's a snap, I just force touch it like pressing a button and it clears all, no long hold necessary, at least it doesn't seem that way. I personally really dig that feature.
 
Have not used Force Touch that much. When I did I found that the function I needed was not there. Would be nice to get rid of the TXT msgs, but Apple did not do that. Hope OS2 is better, a LOT better!
 
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I like it, though I did have to adjust to it a little, making sure to touch lightly if I wasn't trying to invoke a menu. After a while with the watch, it became second nature, and now I'm well-trained for when the iPhone 6 Plus S comes out.
 
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testcard said:
Force Touch works pretty well for me. Think of pressing a doorbell - finger on the screen, then a short, firm press. No jabbing or run up required :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, this helps. When I think of it like pressing a doorbell, it seems to work more reliably.
 
I'm used to it. But I had joint inflammation from a virus or injury or something (still don't know what caused it) and it was hurting a bit while my finger joints were sore. If I end up with arthritis in my hands like my mom has, I have a feeling I won't be liking FT much.
 
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I found it took a couple of days to get the hang of FT. At first, I was afraid of pushing my finger right through the screen, but I soon realised that it doesn't require a lot of pressure to make it work.
 
Force Touch works for me, but definitely nowhere near as smoothly as it does on the Apple product videos. Hasn't improved as of whatever this latest OS 2 beta build is. I'm hoping the GM/Public builds have significant improvements in several areas, this being one of them.
 
rhyme said:
Thanks, this helps. When I think of it like pressing a doorbell, it seems to work more reliably.
Click to expand...

Good to hear you've got it working more reliably, but is it any faster? I never had trouble invoking force touch, but like I said, it takes as long as a long press would, plus I need to apply extra force. So it's not saving me any time, and it's making me use extra effort.
 
In principle I find it an incredibly intuitive way of interacting with devices. It's much more hit or miss on the Watch than on my MBP 15" though. And on the latter, it's really BEGGING to be paired with more sensible functionality.

I think this will get really good though. I really hope that the rumours of Force Touch for the iPhone 6+ are true!
 
FT was ok on the watch I had, a bit more useful on my MacBook. Perhaps as more software is designed to take advantage of it, there'll be more reasons to like it, but for now it's nothing spectacular once ones out from under the hype cloud Apples created.

It's great to be Apple. Introduce any new feature backed by hyped up claims and suddenly it's proclaimed as significant. That immediate star power has got to drive other companies crazy. :D
 
Night Spring said:
Good to hear you've got it working more reliably, but is it any faster? I never had trouble invoking force touch, but like I said, it takes as long as a long press would, plus I need to apply extra force. So it's not saving me any time, and it's making me use extra effort.
Click to expand...

Yes, the doorbell method is faster than the "long, hard press" approach that I was using before, and easier than the "hard jab", as well as more reliable. Slower than a simple touch, but faster than a long touch.
 
I like Force Touch, and I think it's part of a larger strategy... Force Touch adds the equivalent of the right click to touch devices - and potentially, with long press and long Force press, four levels of input (to replicate hover/mouse over and middle mouse button).

Why does this matter? ARM and iDevices are rapidly displacing laptop and desktop systems, and in terms of power are catching up.

I can only assume Apple has been watching MS and others try - and fail - to merge desktop and mobile OS's and will learn from their mistakes. And when the time comes, the hardware will be ready.
 
rhyme said:
Yes, the doorbell method is faster than the "long, hard press" approach that I was using before, and easier than the "hard jab", as well as more reliable. Slower than a simple touch, but faster than a long touch.
Click to expand...

I must be missing something, because I don't see the difference between "doorbell method" and "long hard press." :(
 
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