Leaf&Core

Tech Writers Are Dismissing One of the iPhone’s Greatest Features: 3D Touch

Danielle from Leaf and Core
Reading Time: 3 minutes.

3D Touch text selection made easy

 

The iPhone XR does not have 3D Touch. A few highly misinformed (yet well-meaning) journalists have mistakenly pointed out that 3D Touch is “unnecessary” or “a failure.” They couldn’t be more wrong.

Apple and journalists are trying to tell you the iPhone XR is still a worthy device, even without 3D Touch. However, if you think 3D Touch is unnecessary or a failure on the iPhone, you’re clearly not using its best feature: text selection. Apple may have advertised 3D Touch using the “peek and pop” gestures, as well as shortcuts on the home screen or quickly dismissing notifications, but they lost sight of what was truly important.

Not a single Android phone does text selection as well as the iPhone does with 3D Touch. While they may have Apple beat on customization, authentication, and pretty designs, Apple still crushes them in something that most people do daily. No, not just privacy, but text selection. That’s why it’s one of Apple’s true killer features, something Android manufacturers can’t replicate.

Here’s why Apple’s 3D Touch is a killer feature, and how you can use it for text selection. After you learn, you’ll likely use it every day.

How to Use 3D Touch to Select Text

First off, what am I talking about? How do you use 3D Touch to select text? It’s actually incredibly intuitive. You may have already figured it out. If you haven’t, here’s how it works.

First, get to a text entry area. The URL bar or a note in the Notes app would work. Anything that pulls up the keyboard. Enter some text. Now, press on the keyboard. Not tap, press, use pressure. You should see the letters disappear. Keep your finger on the screen, but loosen your press. You just need to keep your thumb on the screen now. As you move your thumb around, you can move the cursor!

To select text, go over the item you want to select and press again. The word will be highlighted, and now you can move your thumb around to select text. Congratulations! You just learned the best way to select text on any mobile platform!

Apple’s Secret Killer Feature

If you haven’t used an Android device in a while, you might not realize how special this really is. Most Android devices don’t respond to extra pressure on the screen. When Apple first introduced Force Touch and 3D Touch, Android manufacturers tried to replicate them. However, they never came close, and eventually gave up.

Text selection on the iPhone was always a little better than on Android, but, with 3D Touch, it became unfathomably better. It became almost as easy to select text on the iPhone as you can on a computer with a mouse and keyboard.

3D Touch on the Mac

Another factor journalists seem to forget is that 3D Touch is used on the Mac. The Apple Wireless Magic Trackpad uses the feature, as does every MacBook. This enables users to click anywhere on their trackpad with a press, and access additional information or features with a harder press. I can honestly say I don’t use that third level of pressure very much yet on my MacBook Pro, however, I am looking forward to learning more about it. The fact is though, I mostly use a mouse and keyboard with all of my computers. First, because I love mechanical keyboards, second, because I find that mice are more ergonomic than trackpads, and finally, because I have an ultrawide gaming monitor and prefer it to a 15″ monitor.

Problems with 3D Touch

Using 3D Touch is like playing a game of Minesweeper. Which one does something, and which one is a waste of time?

It’s not a perfect feature. Unfortunately, learning about the ways you can use 3D Touch is difficult. You could either read a tip on a website (oh, hey!), or you could learn through trial and error. There’s no clear way to learn what can be pressed harder on, and what items will do nothing with the additional force.

An idea for 3D Touch indicators by Eliz Kılıç.

Take the iOS homescreen, for example. Do you know what apps have shortcuts? Many of them don’t have a useful shortcut, but you won’t figure this out until you try using it. It would be as though every button you interact with was unlabeled. Can you use a keyboard that doesn’t have letters on the keycaps? Of course (and it looks great, by the way). However, if you didn’t know how to type yet, this would make using that keyboard impossible. That’s, unfortunately, what has become of 3D Touch. There’s no way to be sure of what each feature does, or what you can interact with when you press harder on it. Because there isn’t a visual cue, you’re left to trial and error or helpful blog posts.

3D Touch is Still Incredible

Despite the difficulty in learning how to use Apple’s pressure sensitive glass, it is still an incredible tool. You may only ever use it for text selection, and that would still make it a priceless feature for the iPhone. No competitors have come close to matching it. Sprinkle in peek and pop in lists and website links on social networks and websites, and you have something that makes using your iPhone a little magical.

3D Touch isn’t a failure. It’s not unnecessary. It’s one of my favorite features on the iPhone. If you start using it for selecting text, it’ll become one of your favorites too.

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