iOS 17: How to Make Haptic Touch Faster on iPhone

[MacRumors]

In iOS 17, still in beta, Apple has added an accessibility setting that makes the haptic feedback feature activate faster than in previous versions of its mobile operating system. If you fondly hearken back for the days of 3D Touch, you might just prefer it.

As many iPhone users might remember, ‌3D Touch‌ was an interactive haptic feature that Apple introduced in 2015 with the ‌iPhone‌ 6s. When the iPhone was released in 2018, Apple kiboshed 3D Touch‌ to the dismay of some users, and instead implemented the simplified ‌Haptic Touch, which offers less functionality‌.

‌3D Touch‌ supported multiple levels of pressure for different interactions depending on how hard you pressed, with Apple implementing "Peek and Pop" gestures. In contrast, ‌Haptic Touch‌ supports just a single level of pressure for the long press gesture.

‌Haptic Touch‌ has always worked slower than ‌3D Touch‌ because of the two levels of pressure that ‌3D Touch‌ allowed for. The first ‌3D Touch‌ pressure level activated quickly when pressing on the display, so those who became used to ‌3D Touch‌ may have found the ‌Haptic Touch‌ replacement to be too sluggish.

The good news is that in iOS 17, setting ‌Haptic Touch‌ to the new Fast option makes a noticeable difference in how quick haptic menus pop up under the finger when an icon or on-screen element is long pressed. The speed brings ‌Haptic Touch‌ interactions closer to 3D Touch interactions. Here's how to enable it on iPhones and iPads running iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, respectively.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Under "Physical and Motor," tap Touch.
4. Tap Haptic Touch.
5. Select from Fast, Default, and Slow. Note that when you select a speed, you can test it using the flower image on the same screen.

It's still not entirely clear why Apple got rid of ‌3D Touch. Some have argued that it suffered from a lack of discoverability, similar to the Apple Watch's Force Touch functionality, which suffered the same fate. Others have speculated that Apple eliminated it in order to bring gesture parity to the ‌iPhone‌ and the iPad. Either way, the change allowed Apple to remove the capacitive layer that used to be integrated into every ‌‌iPhone‌‌ display.

Article Link: iOS 17: How to Make Haptic Touch Faster on iPhone

 

[t0rqx]

They should really bring back 3D Touch and find ways to make an interactive introduction with the device. There are so many hidden gestures and shortcuts that are amazing but I never knew existed.

The fact they showcased it in racing games and in keyboard was amazing.

Guess they will reintroduce it with the new generation of kids and market it as a new invention again just to hype.

 

[Sorinut]

Guess they will reintroduce it with the new generation of kids and market it as a new invention again just to hype.

It's never coming back. Long-press works 80% as well and just requires software.

I had 3d touch for years (6s and 8 plus) and didn't use it for anything other than the keyboard cursor.

 

[d4cloo]

They should really bring back 3D Touch and find ways to make an interactive introduction with the device. There are so many hidden gestures and shortcuts that are amazing but I never knew existed.

The fact they showcased it in racing games and in keyboard was amazing.

Guess they will reintroduce it with the new generation of kids and market it as a new invention again just to hype.

You kinda answered why Apple dropped support for it; discoverability.

Dealing with both pressure and touch is confusing, and IMHO their decision to drop it was the right one.

Pressure for pencil users is another story where it’s part of a creative process and mimicking the analogue equivalent.

 

[Reason077]

You kinda answered why Apple dropped support for it; discoverability.

Haptic touch interactions are no more easy to discover than 3D touch ones. In fact, they're harder as haptic touch commands take longer to activate!

Apple really dropped 3D touch due to its cost: the extra sensor was expensive and took up precious space within the device.

 

[jclardy]

You kinda answered why Apple dropped support for it; discoverability.

Dealing with both pressure and touch is confusing, and IMHO their decision to drop it was the right one.

Pressure for pencil users is another story where it’s part of a creative process and mimicking the analogue equivalent.

I would agree - but they kept all the hidden functionality (Now just moved to long press) and now it is even less discoverable as you have to tap and hold and wait for potentially nothing, meaning users are trained to just not even try it, even more than they were with 3D touch. 3D Touch had the benefit of failing immediately with a little haptic vibration if the button does nothing, with long press you get no feedback.

IMO they should have kept it and doubled it with long press, with options to disable either or. But the hardware tradeoff wasn't worth it to Apple (extra thickness/weight)

This is my favorite hidden iOS 17 feature though as it brings it just slightly closer to the glory days of immediately responsive 3D touch.

 

[McWetty]

I sorely miss 3D Touch. I still find myself pressing the screen just a little bit harder to get things to happen at that deeper level and they don’t. I know they took it out for a myriad of reasons, but I hope it makes a comeback some time in the future.

 

[mactactic]

Never use, Haptic Touch is first thing I disable.

 

[Tomas1988]

I dont why but i set to slow and works better

 

[Juanchi007]

My problem with these Touch Durations is that the Fast option is nearly instantaneous, while the Default settings is much too slow.

If they made it slightly more granular (Slow, Default, Fast, and Instant), or simply made the Default a smidge faster, this would be a welcome addition to Haptic Touch.

 

[Devyn89]

Just changed it to fast, for me it’s way better this way.

 

[Razorpit]

I dont why but i set to slow and works better

You sir have an outdated phone and need to step up to iPhone 15, where that and many other problems will be solved. 😉

I miss 3D Touch...

 

[ghostface147]

Ooooh, I like the fast setting.

 

[alexandr]

They should really bring back 3D Touch and find ways to make an interactive introduction with the device. There are so many hidden gestures and shortcuts that are amazing but I never knew existed.

The fact they showcased it in racing games and in keyboard was amazing.

Guess they will reintroduce it with the new generation of kids and market it as a new invention again just to hype.

It's hardware — unless they add it to future displays — it's not coming back. I miss it myself, don't get me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Analog Kid]

Taking off the phone doesn't bother me nearly as much as taking it off the watch. The smaller screen on the watch begs for more ways to interact that doesn't require menus and pages.

 

[Fyrus]

I’m fine-ish with the removal of Force Touch… just let me remove te flashlight from the homescreen.

It was placed there because it worked great with Force Touch, now it’s just annoying since I turn it on all the time by holding my phone wrong for to long.

 

[hch720]

Love this! Just enabled it. Unfortunately I never got to use 3D Touch because the Xr was my first iPhone

 

[zarmanto]

... It's still not entirely clear why Apple got rid of ‌3D Touch. ...

I think Occam's Razor applies, here... and to me, the simplest explanation is that 3D Touch was more expensive.

 

[ifxf]

It was removed to increase profits on the phones.

 

[baking soda]

3D touch was perfect and nothing will ever replace it.

 

[Shirasaki]

Oh yeah the long press. Only Apple has the gist to rebrand a long press into something sounding amazing.
Apple is truly a marketing company that happens to build hardware and software.
To be honest, they should not even give user the ability to select speed. Just “fast” and call it a day. Make it as responsive as it can.

 

[Devyn89]

It was removed to increase profits on the phones.

I mean technically literally every design decision is to increase profits on the phone.

 

[tommayye]

I like everything Apple is doing in terms of accessibility and I think they're ahead of their competitors when it comes to making technology accessible to those with different abilities. But, can we just request that they implement a feature where you can lock a photo album with a password? you know... so you can... umm.. *looks shifty* lock personal memories away from prying eyes?

 

[Demovx]

Marking the whole sentence with the thumb by pressing more firmly ... it was something

 

[tommayye]

I like everything Apple is doing in terms of accessibility and I think they're ahead of their competitors when it comes to making technology accessible to those with different abilities. But, can we just request that they implement a feature where you can lock a photo album with a password? you know... so you can... umm.. *looks shifty* lock personal memories away from prying eyes?

Disregard this. I just figured out the hidden album feature. Good job Apple! haha.