Lesser-Known 3D Touch Features: Peek and Pop Safari Tabs, Keyboard Trackpad, and More

[Otis Bagotis]

3D touch is unreliable and not intuitive. When do you poke, when do you peek, how much do you press ... and on what ?

An idea that sounds good on paper ..

I disagree. There may be some instances where you don't know what it's going to do, such as on App Icons that you haven't done it on before, but for most things it's pretty obvious what's going to happen.

Is there a link to another webpage? It will Peek a preview of the page. Press a little harder and you'll pop into the page.

A link to an address? Peeks up a preview of the address in Maps.

A phone number? Pulls up a menu to either call, text, or save as contact.

An email address? Pulls up a menu to message or save as contact.

Those last two are especially nice. Trying to add a number to a contact is a lesson in patience. Trying to select the number without accidentally clicking on it or getting the selector to select more than just one group of numbers is a pain. To be able to do it with one click is a huge improvement.

 

[JVo]

I just spent several minutes figuring this out, too. Thanks for confirming. The tutorials about this feature don't make this clear. I only now realize you don't have to maintain pressure (just a regular touch/drag) after you activate the cursor move in order to drag the cursor. Actually here's another tip: If you're having trouble re-activating the trackpad after doing one cursor move, try using a little less pressure initially. The way 3D touch works is by the screen bending a little bit and I think if you've put too much pressure, and if you haven't given it a second or two to fully flex back, the phone can't detect the new push. That's my theory at least.

 

[tacoshell]

The only thing 3-D touch did on my phone was make copy/paste a nightmare and make it nearly impossible to open a link in a new tab in safari. So yeah, it is off now.

 

[cfc]

The only thing 3-D touch did on my phone was make copy/paste a nightmare and make it nearly impossible to open a link in a new tab in safari. So yeah, it is off now.

You may want to try adjusting the sensitivity so that you have to press harder or not as hard in order to invoke the 3D Touch operations. There is a slider in the Settings app under General / Accessibility / 3D Touch (although you will need to switch 3D Touch back on in order to see it).

 

[recoil80]

I always switch between apps and I couldn't go back to a phone without 3D touch I love that gesture!

 

[the-msa]

the keyboard cursor is nice.

i guess it will not take long for google to implement a similar feature in android on an os level, considering android already has a (kind of) pressure sensing feature built in for a couple years and a lot of apps are already using it.

 

[ILikeAllOS]

I find 3D Touch useful even for just the trackpad alone!

I agree with the other guy though that it often moves the cursor when I lift my thumb, though I have no problem reactivating the touchpad.

 

[zmunkz]

Wow #4 is amazing! #5 looks cool, but it's kind of annoying to trigger....