PSA: iPhone SE's Haptic Touch Doesn't Work With Notifications and It's Not a Bug

[deepredbells]

Hah just goes to show how half-baked rich notifications are. I barely use them from the lock screen because it's not obvious. And a lot of major apps don't support them at all. I do use it however in incoming banner notifications quite often, especially in apps like Duo or when I want to mute a Messenger convo. At least it works there.

Apple should've considered the solutions put forth here: https://medium.com/@eliz_kilic/how-apple-can-fix-3d-touch-2f0ca5ea589e

 

[canadianreader]

Apple bring back 3D Touch!

 

[Westside guy]

I would say it has to be a bug otherwise it's purely a we are holding back features on the cheaper phone.....

I don't think they've ever arbitrarily held back features from a new device, have they?

They've certainly done it with older devices, even when the spec-based explanation seemed dubious. But never new ones.

 

[dms_91]

It’s straight up a software bug. Has to be. My guess is because it is the same displays used on the 8 but without 3D Touch, so this phone needs software driven Haptic Touch instead like all the current iPhones. So my assumption is the software code of such was botched.

 

[TheShadowKnows!]

I had a chuckle.
Not on the missing Haptic Touch (maybe/maybe not expected behavior).

But on the news displayed by Notification Center on the left iPhone.

1. RING: Motion report at the Front Door
2. Washington Post: US death soared in early weeks of the pandemic...
3. .... <no sleep apnea> <sleeping like a baby>
4. NY Times: ... analysis of Trump's coronavirus briefings ...
5. RING[not shown]: <loud klaxon> <warning, home invasion>: a rightwing-mob has broken in /s

 

[B4U]

Honest questions:
Does Matthew work for Apple?
Or did he dig into the OS codes?
Otherwise, how is his answer official?

 

[Appleman3546]

This could be patched in the next update, there was a specific operating system build for the SE at launch after all and may have wanted to get the product out before squashing the crash/bug

 

[HappyDude20]

So it’s not a bug.


What gives Apple.

 

[JPack]

I don't think they've ever arbitrarily held back features from a new device, have they?

They've certainly done it with older devices, even when the spec-based explanation seemed dubious. But never new ones.

Tap to Wake is a good example.

 

[joesegh]

This is most likely a bug. There's some apps like Duo that require this functionality to work!

Duo doesn't strictly require this, although it makes it a hell of a lot more convenient to use. If you tap the notification from Duo, it brings you to an in-app approving screen.

 

[GreyOS]

This is most likely a bug. There's some apps like Duo that require this functionality to work!

Duo doesn’t let you swipe the notification left and tap View?

 

[JPack]

Honest questions:
Does Matthew work for Apple?
Or did he dig into the OS codes?
Otherwise, how is his answer official?

The quotation marks suggest his answer is based on Apple's response.

 

[now i see it]

Since apple says it's not a bug and is working as intended - that's a harbinger of how new "features" will be deployed in the future — flagship iphones will get the software bells & whistles while Eco-phones will have them turned off. Kinda like what Intel does with its CPU's (turning off cores and down locking speeds) but this will be software based.
Wanna iPhone that has animated transitions? Pony up for the $1100 Pro model.

 

[Stromos]

Duo doesn’t let you swipe the notification left and tap View?

Yes it does but it launches the app instead of just saying approve. It's inconvenient at best. No real reason to paywall this to premium devices.

When you work someplace that's two factor everything its annoying as hell.

 

[BF1M]

“working as intended” = bug we didn’t catch.

 

[GreyOS]

Yes it does but it launches the app instead of just saying approve. It's inconvenient at best. No real reason to paywall this to premium devices.

When you work someplace that's two factor everything its annoying as hell.

It doesn’t open the app, swipe left and tapping View opens the rich notification in the same way 3D Touch did. You’re thinking of swiping right and tapping Open.

 

[Stromos]

It doesn’t open the app, swipe left and tapping View opens the rich notification in the same way 3D Touch did. You’re thinking of swiping right and tapping Open.

I stand corrected. It has to be a bug if literally everything works in the UI sans the long press.

 

[mannyvel]

“working as intended” = bug we didn’t catch.

That's what you say when the feature was marked "not important, next release" and they find out that people actually used the feature.

That's OK, at least it wasn't omitted by mistake and shows Apple is still in control of its development process. Why it was marked as "don't do" is another question.

 

[GreyOS]

I stand corrected. It has to be a bug if literally everything works in the UI sans the long press.

Swipe left and View is a feature that goes way back to at least iPhone 6. Whichever was the oldest phone without 3D Touch when rich notifications were introduced. Due to this I don’t think it is an indication it’s a mistake it didn’t come to SE- just continuing the tradition of supporting only this workaround feature in older/lower end iPhones.

i do hope they listen to the user feedback on this one though!

 

[bryanios]

Is he an iOS software engineer? How is he so sure about that?

 

[Cozmosis]

Oh there you are user hostile Apple!

 

[Populus]

If there isn’t a true technical justification for it (maybe the iPhone 8 screen is not ready for haptic touch, which seems dumb because it is a software feature AFAIK) I’m afraid I’ll advise people not buy this phone and look for an iPhone 8 while there’s stock.

I’m sorry but this is an UGLY, UGLY movement from Apple. They aren’t hiding it anymore, they are screaming “hey, we disable things on cheaper phones that could be cappable of doing it”, and we, as consumers, shouldn’t accept that.

However if we end up buying the expensive models instead, we’re doing what they expect from us.

 

[steakpinball]

I think this is working as intended. On the iPhone 7 3D Touch is still used in two places in iOS 13.4.1. First for turning the keyboard into a touchpad to move the cursor by 3D pressing anywhere on the keyboard. Haptic Touch works only on the space bar for the same feature. It also works to expand a notification. Haptic Touch doesn't fo anything on a notification. To get the same functionality without 3D Touch, you swipe left and tap view. Haven't tested on an iPhone 8.

Even though it is "intended" Apple should seriously consider changing it.

 

[bryanios]

I think this is working as intended. On the iPhone 7 3D Touch is still used in two places in iOS 13.4.1. First for turning the keyboard into a touchpad to move the cursor by 3D pressing anywhere on the keyboard. Haptic Touch works only on the space bar for the same feature. It also works to expand a notification. Haptic Touch doesn't fo anything on a notification. To get the same functionality without 3D Touch, you swipe left and tap view. Haven't tested on an iPhone 8.

Even though it is "intended" Apple should seriously consider changing it.

then why does my iPad Air 2 support haptic touch on notifications?

 

[NickName99]

If there’s sufficient backlash, they will probably change it. It could be related to 3D Touch existing in iPhone 8 but not in the new SE.