Apple replaces 3D Touch with Haptic Touch on iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2019
As rumored, Apple has abandoned 3D Touch technology in its latest iPhone lineup, moving to a less hardware-intensive Haptic Touch solution that debuted with iPhone XR last year.

Haptic Touch
Haptic Touch on iPhone XR.


The change was left unmentioned during Tuesday's special event, with Apple quietly noting its decision to eschew 3D Touch in favor of Haptic Touch in sections of the product's dedicated webpage.

"Haptic Touch lets you do things faster, like take selfies without launching the Camera app," Apple says.

Tech Specs pages covering both iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro lines advertise Haptic Touch integration with no sign of 3D Touch to be found.

Introduced alongside iPhone XR in 2018, Haptic Touch does without 3D Touch hardware, specifically a capacitive sensing layer, by delivering a similar user experience through software. Instead of pressing firmly on a 3D Touch display, users touch and hold UI elements to invoke secondary commands like app Quick Actions and contextual "Peek and Pop" views.

Apple introduced 3D Touch with 2015's iPhone 6S, bringing force-sensing technology first seen on Apple Watch to iPhone. The demise of 3D Touch also marks an end for pressure-sensitive input on Apple handsets, though the feature was rarely utilized by third-party developers. Pressure sensitivity is arguably more useful on iPad which does support the feature thanks to Apple Pencil.

The company was first rumored to ditch 3D Touch in July, a move thought to increase internal headroom and save on production costs.

More recently, reports suggested Apple would upgrade the Taptic Engine, which underpins all haptic feedback-related functions on iPhone, for use with Haptic Touch. Whether that is the case with iPhone 11 remains to be seen.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    gregoriusmgregoriusm Posts: 517member
    I’ll be interested in seeing if there is still some kind of support for pressing in the centre of the keyboard to move the text cursor around in iOS. I know I can use the Space Bar, but I find it impossible to move downward in a text area if I use the Space Bar to move the text cursor rather than using 3D Touch in the centre to top area. 
    edited September 2019 bloggerblogwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 22
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,987member
    right now with my Xs, I can long-press an icon on the home screen and it starts the jiggling for chaining the icon order, or I can hard-press to get a menu of options (like going straight to the BT menu in the settings app.) Are these menus all going to be gone then?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 22
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,323member
    I like haptic touch much better (at least, how it’s presented and perceived on my iPhone X running 13.0). 
    Having to touch with different pressure levels never worked for me - too much to think about - and now the OS is designed around long presses, the experience is much more natural. 
    ronn
  • Reply 4 of 22
    king editor the grateking editor the grate Posts: 662member
    Squishing the flashlight or camera icon with resulting feedback on X still astonishes me. Attempting multiple times to open a link in background instead of as a preview remains astonishingly bad. Overall, I reckon I shan't miss it much.
    edited September 2019 ronndocno42lolliverAppleExposed
  • Reply 5 of 22
    indiekidukindiekiduk Posts: 385member
    Haptic long press is effortless and delightful, 3D touch hard presses were terrible frustrating and error-prone. 
    ronn
  • Reply 6 of 22
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,500member
    If the above posts are of any indication, I must be one of the very few who use 3D Touch often :(
    AppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 22
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,129member
    3D touch is integral to the Apple Watch.
    lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 22
    donjuandonjuan Posts: 61member
    Weak.
    chemengin1AppleExposed
  • Reply 9 of 22
    Eric_WVGGEric_WVGG Posts: 971member
    It's a weird move and inarguably a regression. The normal Apple M.O. is to stick to something and refine it.

    The tech that reminds me most of 3D Touch is the Macbook Pro Touch Bar — a cutting edge hardware feature that never quite found the software usefulness or usability to become mainstream. I'm one of those isolated weirdos who loves the Touch Bar, but this makes me think it may not be much longer for the world.
    AppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 22
    mobirdmobird Posts: 757member
    Haptic or 3D touch both sound like half-baked ideas. I look forward to iOS 13 running on my iPhone X and to see if the new solution is an improvement.
  • Reply 11 of 22
    harmonix23harmonix23 Posts: 29member
    Is haptic touch still capable of sensing pressure? I have the iPhone 7 and don’t use 3D Touch on any operating system level things, but it is great for music apps being able to hit a pad harder and get a louder sound makes making music on the iPhone much more expressive and musical. I am hoping something like that is coming to the iPad where there are much more useful apps.
    AppleExposed
  • Reply 12 of 22
    kiowavtkiowavt Posts: 95member
    I tried using 3D touch for a while. Completely annoying and not for me useful. Have had it turned off in my last two iPhones.
    ronn
  • Reply 13 of 22
    just cruisinjust cruisin Posts: 109member
    I like the vast majority of things Apple does but 3D touch was always a stupid gimmick, and now it’s gone!
    jcallowsronn
  • Reply 14 of 22
    nubusnubus Posts: 570member
    Eric_WVGG said:
    It's a weird move and inarguably a regression. The normal Apple M.O. is to stick to something and refine it.
    The glowing Apple logo on laptops, battery indicators, MagSafe connector, startup chime, good keyboards (sorry), and the audio jack. Hardware features don't stay forever.
  • Reply 15 of 22
    charlesgrescharlesgres Posts: 71member
     I liked 3D Touch.. was not entirely reliable in all circumstance (e.g. previewing) but sufficiently so in many others.. 

    Pity to see it gone, but based on the many positive feedback on haptic touch, I suppose Apple made its homework and made sure to make it enjoyable..

    I'll adapt..
    chemengin1AppleExposedwatto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 22
    jcallowsjcallows Posts: 150member
    just cruisin said:
    I like the vast majority of things Apple does but 3D touch was always a stupid gimmick, and now it’s gone!
    Agreed.  Apple's ego didn't allow it to get rid of the 3D Touch years ago when it should've.  Another gimmick that's gotta go?  The stupid Touchbar.  It's useless, it unnecessarily adds another layer of complexity, and it disrupts the symmetry of the overall look.

    While adding those useless gimmicks, Apple ignored two features customers have demanded most.  The first of course is a longer lasting battery.  The other is the ability to record videos in landscape mode no matter how you hold the phone.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, records videos in vertical mode on purpose.  It almost always happens by accident because it's just easier to hold the phone vertically.  With 3 cameras now, there is no excuse for not having the ability to record horizontally no matter how you hold the phone.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 17 of 22
    DuhSesameDuhSesame Posts: 1,278member
    Eric_WVGG said:
    It's a weird move and inarguably a regression. The normal Apple M.O. is to stick to something and refine it.

    The tech that reminds me most of 3D Touch is the Macbook Pro Touch Bar — a cutting edge hardware feature that never quite found the software usefulness or usability to become mainstream. I'm one of those isolated weirdos who loves the Touch Bar, but this makes me think it may not be much longer for the world.
    Not when macOS Catalina just adding more features, with Sidecar also emulates one.
    edited September 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 22
    rysmithazrysmithaz Posts: 16member
    I liked 3D Touch but I’ll like a longer battery much more. The extra space available is being put to good use. 
    just cruisinronnwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 22
    jdb8167jdb8167 Posts: 626member
    I turned 3D Touch off on my iPhone X to see if I would miss it. I can barely tell the difference vs Haptic Touch. My conclusion is that I won’t miss it. 
    just cruisinronnjcallows
  • Reply 20 of 22
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    So this means if i accidentally have my finger on the camera/flashlight icon a second too long it'll activate? Pure garbage. What made 3D touch so magical is that it made touchscreen icons feel tactile like analog buttons.

    This was so advance that iKnockoffs couldn't copy it. Shame Apple reverted to something inferior that will be copied soon.

    jdb8167 said:
    I turned 3D Touch off on my iPhone X to see if I would miss it. I can barely tell the difference vs Haptic Touch. My conclusion is that I won’t miss it. 

    Kiss battery life goodbye if haptic touch activates the flashlight by accident.

    MplsP said:
    right now with my Xs, I can long-press an icon on the home screen and it starts the jiggling for chaining the icon order, or I can hard-press to get a menu of options (like going straight to the BT menu in the settings app.) Are these menus all going to be gone then?

    3D touch should have stayed with Haptic touch as an OPTION. Apple is either gonna introduce something better soon or they've lost their mind. It's like going back to TouchID and removing FaceID completely.

    just cruisin said:
    I like the vast majority of things Apple does but 3D touch was always a stupid gimmick, and now it’s gone!

    Do you even know the definition of "gimmick"?
    watto_cobra
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