The official unveiling of Apple’s next iPhone, dubbed the “iPhone 6s”, is fast approaching. Consistent rumor and speculation over the last few months has pretty much confirmed that Force Touch will be amongst the new features that will be introduced with the new iPhone, a feature that allows the operating system to split user interaction into varying groups depending on the force of the touch detected on the display. A new set of leaks, coming from individuals who claim to have hands-on experience with the iPhone 6s, outlines exactly how Apple will adopt the Force Touch technology within iOS 9.
One of the great potential benefits of Force Touch, is the window of opportunity that it brings to the introduction of a range of deeper gestures within the operating system. The Apple Watch and the latest Retina MacBook Pro already have Force Touch integrated, which undeniably adds a new dimension to the product allowing users to interact with the hardware in a number of different ways. The question has never been “is Force Touch coming to the iPhone?”, but more “how will Force Touch be integrated into iOS and compatible devices?”
An inside source has provided 9to5Mac with some insights into that integration. According to the source Force Touch will primarily be used on the latest iPhone to initiate shortcut actions. This will allow first and third-party apps to offer up quick access to specific functionality within an app when a touch of a certain pressure is detected on this display. An example given by the source pertains to the native Maps application whereby Force Touch would immediately invoke turn-by-turn navigational directions when triggered on a displayed point of interest. Apart from this, Force Touch gestures from Safari in OS X are also set to be part of iOS experience where users will be able to quickly ‘Look Up’ a word in dictionary by a touch of force on the particular word on the display.
On a more interesting note, it’s also speculated that Apple is internally testing a feature that would integrate Force Touch within app icons on the device home screen. As above, a deep press on an app icon on home screen would provide the user with a set of options pertaining to the particular app. This could be navigating directly to the Contacts tab within the Phone app from home screen, immediately invoking Bookmarks by Force Touching Safari app icon from the home screen, or opening a specific category within the App Store. Of course, this is a feature in testing and may not initially make it into iOS 9.
Apple’s iPhone 6s and new Apple TV media event is rumored to be happening on September 9, so we don’t have that long of a wait to see Force Touch in action.
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