What is Apple’s Haptic Touch technology, how does it work and what can you do with it?
Apple introduced a pressure-sensitive technology in 2015 called 3D Touch. But in 2018 the tech fell out of favour, and the iPhone XR, iPhone SE, iPhone 11 models, iPhone 12 models and iPhone 13 models replaced it with Haptic Touch.
This is everything you need to know about Haptic Touch, how it works, what it lets you do and how it is different to 3D Touch.
How does Haptic Touch work and how is it different to 3D Touch?
3D Touch-enabled devices from the iPhone 6S onwards enabled you to apply pressure to the screen and get a shortcut menu, particularly on app icons.
Apple’s Haptic Touch technology is similar to 3D Touch but it doesn’t rely on pressure. Instead, Haptic Touch kicks in when a user long-presses the screen, offering a small vibration as acknowledgement following the press; haptic feedback, hence the Haptic Touch name.
Haptic Touch is software-based rather than hardware-based, while 3D Touch was hardware-based, requiring a different type of screen technology that would have made it difficult to deliver the edge-to-edge displays we now expect.
With 3D Touch, different results appeared depending on the force with which you press – such as Peek and Pop. You can read all about 3D Touch in our separate feature if you have a 3D Touch compatible device.
What can you do with Haptic Touch?
When 3D Touch first launched, only a few apps were compatible – predominantly Apple’s native apps. As the months and years went on however, more third-party apps built-in compatibility and while 3D Touch was never a feature we used that much, there were some pretty cool shortcuts.
According to Apple, Haptic Touch “lets you do things faster, like take selfies without launching the camera app”. Haptic Touch now offers a lot of functionalities very similar to 3D Touch – you are unlikely to miss 3D Touch at all (if you used it in the first place).
With Haptic Touch, when you long-press some apps, a shortcut menu will appear, along with the option to Remove App or Edit Home Screen. For other apps that haven’t developed Haptic Touch compatibility yet, only the option to Remove App, Share App or Edit Home Screen will appear.
What apps work with Haptic Touch?
Most of Apple’s native apps work with Haptic Touch – though not all – and there are a few third-party apps too. Here’s a list of a few of our favourite icons to long-press on to deliver shortcuts:
Torch at the bottom of your lock screen for turning on or offNotification on the lock screen to see more detailsCamera app to see a menu for take a selfie, record a video, take a portrait or take a portrait selfieCalendar app to add an event quicklyPhotos app to see your most recent photos, your favourites, search or show photos from one year agoPhone app to create a new contact, search for a contact, view your most recent call, view your most recent voicemailMaps app to send your location, mark your location or search nearbyFitness app to see trends, workouts, sharing and the option to send your activity ringsSettings app to open Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Mobile Data and Battery settingsMail app to open all inboxes, create a new email, search emails or see VIP messagesSafari to show your bookmarks, start a new private tab, start a new tab or show your reading listClock to create an alarm, start a stopwatch or start a timer Siri Shortcuts to see your shortcuts or create a new shortcutWeather app to see the weather in your location, add a location, or see other recent locationsHealth app to see your Medical ID, a summary or all your health dataWhatsApp to start a new chat, search chats, open the camera or see your starred messagesSlack to snooze notifications or search your DMs and channelsInstagram to open the camera, create a new post, view activity or see direct messagesSonos to resume your last played, search or see My SonosWaze to drive home, drive to work, send your location or search an addressAmazon to open search, see today’s deals or scan a productASOS to see new in, saved items or open search
The list above is just a few of the ones we’ve used regularly, but if you try long-pressing any of your favourite apps, you might be surprised to see a shortcut menu appear.
How do you change the sensitivity of Haptic Touch?
There are two sensitivity options for Haptic Touch – fast or slow. Fast will deliver shortcut menus quicker so you don’t have to press an icon for as long.
To change the sensitivity of Haptic Touch:
Open Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Haptic Touch > Select Fast or Slow.
