Skype, Snapchat, other iOS apps add 3D Touch commands, Apple blocks weight scale app

Posted:
in iPhone edited October 2015
A number of iOS apps have been updated with new 3D Touch commands for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, including mainstays like Skype and Snapchat. Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly rejected an app called Gravity that attempted to use 3D Touch as a weight scale mechanism.




With Skype for iPhone, users can now press down on the app's homescreen icon to display a range of Quick Actions. Inside the app users can "peek" into shared locations, photos, contacts and URLs, as well as recent conversations, displaying instant messages or live video calls.

The latest Snapchat update adds a pair of Quick Actions, simply letting users send a chat or add a new friend. Amazon Music has likewise gained shortcuts, though the focus of the update is on new Play Queue functions.

One of the most significant updates is for Astro HQ's Astropad Mini, an app that allows iPhones to serve as drawing tablets for Mac apps like Photoshop and Lightroom. With 3D Touch support, drawing is pressure-sensitive without the need for a Bluetooth stylus.

On Gravity, developer Ryan McLeod said on Medium that the app was initially blocked from the App Store for having a "misleading description," which he speculated was because there are numerous fake scale apps sold as entertainment. Gravity didn't have such a disclaimer, since it actually works.

McLeod created a demonstration video and filed an appeal, but was later told over the phone that the concept of a scale app was not appropriate for the App Store.





Apple has a history of periodically rejecting apps that take its technologies in unexpected directions, one example being Launcher, which was briefly banned for offering a widget with customizable app shortcuts, but is now both available and fully functional.

Other reasons for Gravity's rejection however might include damage concerns -- the app flashes a red warning light for objects over 385 grams -- and potential associations with drug use. McLeod said he might like to resubmit one day after 3D Touch becomes more widespread.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    That Gravity app is pretty sweet. I'd buy that.

  • Reply 2 of 18
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member

    ah, i just saw that app that weight fruit and such and apple band it. I guess it was not a good idea to demo it with a spoon and something in a spoon, Perfect for your street drug dealer. I could see our stupid government putting on the list of drug paraphernalia and people being arrest of posession of drug paraphernalia

  • Reply 3 of 18
    I think the fatal flaw was the use of the spoon. I can't think of a reason why the spoon would be necessary for the app to work (indeed, I would think it would make the app less accurate), and it certainly conjures up images of heroin use.
  • Reply 4 of 18
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,090member

    Personally, I think Apple banned it to prevent knuckleheads from using an iPhone to weigh their airline luggage.  It wouldn't surprise me that there are people stupid enough to try it, and then whine as to why Apple won't replace their damaged iPhone that "mysteriously" cracked.

  • Reply 5 of 18
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    After having this rejected I'd be broken up pretty bad...
  • Reply 6 of 18
    Great concept, but it would have to be more accurate than that to weigh drugs.
  • Reply 7 of 18
    Seriously? Get a scale of you're going to deal drugs.
  • Reply 8 of 18
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,714member

    I'm sure Apple was mainly worried about class action lawsuits from idiots who cracked their screen using the app.  The opportunistic lawyers would argue that since Apple approved the app for sale, they were sanctioning use of the iPhone as a scale.

  • Reply 9 of 18
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member

    How many levels of pressure can the iPhone 6s recognize?  When finger sketching using Notes in iOS 9, it seems to only show "light" and "heavy".

  • Reply 10 of 18
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    I love 3D Touch, but I do wish there was a Settings option that one could toggle, say, a small icon in the upper left of the Home Screen icons to let you known which apps support 3D Touch. After using iOS for mover 8 years without this third-dimension of touch, it's 1) easy to forget it's an option, and 2) you have to simply try every single app one-by-one in order to find out which apps support 3D Touch.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by davidness View Post



    I think the fatal flaw was the use of the spoon. I can't think of a reason why the spoon would be necessary for the app to work (indeed, I would think it would make the app less accurate), and it certainly conjures up images of heroin use.

     

    It has nothing to do with drug us, it has everything to do with people weighting 100 pounds on this and then wondering why the screen... "bended". Surprised we haven't had a youtube video of someone putting their finger through the screen yet...

  • Reply 12 of 18
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Haggar View Post

     

    How many levels of pressure can the iPhone 6s recognize?  When finger sketching using Notes in iOS 9, it seems to only show "light" and "heavy".


     

    I think this has more to do with the app. If its able to be accurate to 3%, it is obviously capable of much more subtlety than that.

  • Reply 13 of 18
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by justinpe View Post



    Great concept, but it would have to be more accurate than that to weigh drugs.

     

    Yeah, no drug dealer wants to lose, 3% of their earnings ;-). Hey, they're business men too.

    The little scale he used before is portable and perfectly adequate for drug dealers.; not that they're using that as their marketing ;-).

  • Reply 14 of 18
    haggarhaggar Posts: 1,568member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post



    I love 3D Touch, but I do wish there was a Settings option that one could toggle, say, a small icon in the upper left of the Home Screen icons to let you known which apps support 3D Touch. After using iOS for mover 8 years without this third-dimension of touch, it's 1) easy to forget it's an option, and 2) you have to simply try every single app one-by-one in order to find out which apps support 3D Touch.



    Same with pressing the Option key in every single menu and dialog box in OS X.  Apple keeps hiding more and more items behind the Option key.

  • Reply 15 of 18
    2oh12oh1 Posts: 503member

    I can't believe people are trying to weigh things by putting them on their iPhones.

     

    Every now and then, I manage to forget how stupid most people are.  And then, they remind me.

  • Reply 16 of 18
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    2oh1 wrote: »
    I can't believe people are trying to weigh things by putting them on their iPhones.

    Every now and then, I manage to forget how stupid most people are.  And then, they remind me.

    I don't see how it's stupid. There's a new sensor, if it's actually sensitive enough to measure a fraction of a pound that could come in handy in certain situations. I don't use my iPhone as a level, but the 6- axis accelerometer and gyroscope does mean it's possible, despite that not being the reason it's included. Apple even builds that functionality into the included Compass app.
  • Reply 17 of 18
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  • Reply 18 of 18
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    lol at those blaming drugs. REALLY?

    I think it was rejected because it's just not accurate enough. The demo was clunky also.

    Second reason, the obvious. People weighting themselves. The lawsuits would flood in.
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