RIP Force Touch?

[ericg301]

Installed Watch OS3 overnight. Took it for a spin this morning at the gym. Was surprised by the lack of force touch -- it has been taken out in a lot of places. I knew about the swipe to change screens...but no more FT to end a workout? Interesting.

 

[lordofthereef]

I think Apple just realized heir implementation was forced (no pun intended). I only ever got to play with the Watch pre os3, so I don't have overwhelming first hand experience, but I can say I like how it's been implemented in iOS.

 

[strategicthinke]

I have had the same impression. It's a shame, as I don't find the implementation in watchOS particularly cumbersome or hidden as some other people perceived. That being said, all I needed to remember is to use it whenever I wanted an extra option such as answering a message or composing a new one. I hope they will re-enable force touch on watchOS 4 with some new, updated uses for it - in an interative pattern such as in iOS. But I do miss it - quite a lot - on the watch.

 

[profets]

I noticed that as well. Specifically back at WWDC during the whole watchOS 3 preview and demo they didn't once use the phrase force touch.

 

[sean000]

Force touch is useful sometimes, but the problem is you never know where it's available until you try it. Yes you eventually learn where it's available, but that can be a challenge for the apps I don't use that often. If you don't think to try it, you might not even realize every function available in a given app.

My most frequent use of Force Touch has been to change watch faces, but I will be happy to do away with it and just swipe side to side instead after upgrading to OS3. I guess I also use it to pause workouts, check weekly activity stats, and my other most frequent use for it: clearing all notifications.

I think the one consistent use for it I have seen in most apps is that it's usually the way you add a new entry for something in the app.

Sean

 

[jbachandouris]

THANK GOD! I don't know how many times I've tried to either start or stop a run and it took forever for it to work, if it even worked at all. Good riddance!

Now if they could get rid of time machine, that'd be nice too.

 

[teidon]

Now if they could get rid of time machine, that'd be nice too.

You can disable Time Machine and screenshots. During the betas they were both off by default.

Was surprised by the lack of force touch -- it has been taken out in a lot of places. I knew about the swipe to change screens...but no more FT to end a workout?

Changing watch faces with just a swipe instead of ForceTouch->swipe->tap is much better. I don't understand why they made the change to workout app though. But other than those two, I can't recall what other FT interactions was removed/changed (I have been using wOS since first beta).

 

[maflynn]

THANK GOD! I don't know how many times I've tried to either start or stop a run and it took forever for it to work, if it even worked at all. Good riddance!

Same here, I seemed to kick in, just when I didn't want it too, then other occasions when I tried to use it, then it didn't work

 

[jhfenton]

Force Touch was definitely problematic when your hands and watch were covered in sweat. Any touch controls are problematic in that case. Adding the shortcut to pause the workout by pressing both side buttons makes all the difference in the world in watchOS 3.