How to adjust the 3D Touch sensitivity on the Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus

posted by Mihai A. / Oct 05, 2015, 1:30 AM

How to adjust the 3D Touch sensitivity on the Apple iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus

As much as some love to hate Apple for its policies and company philosophy, no one in their right mind can deny the fact that Apple stood behind some major revolutions in the tech industry.

Although an increasing number of people vehemently claim that Apple stopped bringing true innovation to the market a few years ago, the truth is that Apple's new pressure-sensing display technology opens the way to a new user input dimension.

Debuted this past Spring on the Apple Watch and inherited by the new iPhone 6s series, the 3D Touch system can recognize between a tap, a press, and a hard press. A growing number of iOS apps are now being optimized for pressure-sensitive displays, as app devs both big and small make use of the new hardware to allow for more complex user interaction.

Now, since each user has his own strength and a unique sweet spot for when it comes to force-touching or light tapping the display, Apple has included a way to adjust the sensitivity of the 3D Touch system. Here's how to customize this feature:

Step 1. Go to the Settings app on your Apple iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.

Step 2. Go to General -> Accessibility.

Step 3. Scroll down and tap on 3D Touch.

Step 4. Select one from the three settings; Light makes the display very sensitive to hard presses. Go for the Hard setting if your regular touches are misinterpreted for hard presses. Medium is the default setting.

Apple conveniently includes small test button. Play with the settings until you're comfortable with the sensitivity of the 3D Touch feature.

Step 5 (Optional). If you don't want to use the 3D Touch system, you can turn off the feature by flipping the 3D Touch switch to the right.

There you go, now you can adjust the 3D Touch sensitivity, or even turn down the feature if you find the extra input dimension to be a bit confusing.

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23 Comments

1. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

Man If You Needed This Article To Figure That Out You're An Idiot Sorry But Its True. Honestly PA You Post To Many Articles About Useless Apple Stuff. You Don't Post Multiple How To Stuff About Other Phones You've Reviewed So Why Treat iPhones Differently.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 1:44 AM 1

2. Taters

Posts: 6474; Member since: Jan 28, 2013

This feature is pretty useless. More trouble than its worth. In most cases just opening the App is more pleasant. It has zero flow.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 2:15 AM 4

3. AlikMalix unregistered

Spoken like someone who hasn't OWNED a phone with Force Touch.. My wife got 6S for half a week now, and guess what after playing with it for a couple of days, I'm subconsciously forcepressing things on my 5s... This thing alone is eliminating 2 to 3 taps that you would otherwise do with android or old iOS... BTW were you the same guy that said Fingerprint sensors are useless, and 64bit was useless, and anything apple developed is "useless"....?

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 2:23 AM 7

4. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

He Probably Was Cause Taters Is Just Another Annoying Troll Who Dislikes Apple. He's Almost As Bad As The Guy That Says, No Sd Card, No Removable Battery, And No Blah Blah Blah Fail.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 2:42 AM 3

5. vliang86

Posts: 337; Member since: Oct 05, 2015

True. I bought my iPhone 6S on the first launch day and have been using force touch for a week. I have to say that it is a very good innovation to interact with the screen. And I really enjoy using it. I also bought my iPad Mini 4 and have been using it for a week. It doesn't have the force touch and I have found myself pressing it like the iPhone 6S. Now I would not use any phone without force touch...it acts like the right click on a mouse.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 2:59 AM 1

6. AlikMalix unregistered

You too, huh?

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 3:01 AM 0

16. Taters

Posts: 6474; Member since: Jan 28, 2013

Sure you are Apple cheerleader. I had one since launch and have no desire or need to use 3D. Eliminating 2 or 3 taps? You get that from an Apple ad or something? A force touch takes longer than a tap so if you add in annoyingly pushing something harder it takes as long as 2 taps, so useless. Sorry isheep, that's the truth.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 10:50 AM 0

17. AlikMalix unregistered

Man put a sock in it. "A force touch takes longer than a tap so if you add in annoyingly pushing something harder it takes as long as 2 taps, so useless." Dude, long press takes longer to tap, forcetouch is instant, just like regular taps... When looking at list of people you texted with, forcetouching the photo will allow you to call, facetime, or email (if you have it), forcetouching the preview will bring forth the conversation without needing to enter one after another to find the conversation you're looking for - VERY EFFING HELPFUL when you're a contractor and you have texts from unknown phone numbers all over your text log. So from there you dont need to go inside then choose options to call/facetime/mail (3 steps eliminated) or go in and out of each conversation to find the one you're looking for eliminating tap to enter/check/exit (eliminating 2 steps per contact). I also love how every image comes front and center on any page when you forcetouch instead of waiting for it to load after tapping the page and then swiping back to go back to the article (2 steps) Email is abosolutely the BEST for Peek and Pop - You have no F'ing clue what you're yapping about... I may not know all about Android features, but Dont come at me with iOS, I will school you on how all your favorite features should be implemented just with what's in iOS... Sorry Testies, that's the truth...

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 1:16 PM 0

22. MrElectrifyer

Posts: 3960; Member since: Oct 21, 2014

"When looking at list of people you texted with, forcetouching the photo will allow you to call, facetime, or email (if you have it), forcetouching the preview will bring forth the conversation without needing to enter one after another to find the conversation you're looking for - VERY EFFING HELPFUL when you're a contractor and you have texts from unknown phone numbers all over your text log. So from there you dont need to go inside then choose options to call/facetime/mail (3 steps eliminated) or go in and out of each conversation to find the one you're looking for eliminating tap to enter/check/exit (eliminating 2 steps per contact)." Everything you described, I already do with Textra on my OnePlus One. Simply swipe left on a conversation for those e-mail/call options. Want to find that conversation quickly, simply search and filter at a glance instead of tap and hold to glance through individual messages. On the home screen icons with Nova Laucher, simply swipe up to lauch quick actions, like dial a favorite contact, open the favorites, launch first app from a folder, etc. Want special in-app shortcuts, simply tap and hold on indicators inside the app. Varies depending on what the developer supports, just like force touch. Force touch is just a marketing buzz word, it brings nothing special that hasn't been possible already...

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 10:28 PM 0

23. AlikMalix unregistered

Swiping left will give you the option to delete a conversation. Filter thru search is on iOS too, but that's not always helpful. Launchers are available on iOS where you can select certain actions from opening apps to dialing contacts to shortcuts of all sorts and can be set up as a swipe down action from any screen even inside a game. There were also lots of apps that can do the same s**t you described. Force touch does create specific interactions that don't require to wait for long press. The nice thing is that it's limited to manufacturers native apps and it's not limited to specific phone, it is supported by many 3rd party apps now and works throughout the entire platform which makes it a muscle memory very quickly. But swiping gestures has always been used in iOS for various options and functions, multi finger gestures are also part of the UI. But force touch adds another layer of interactive with UI and it works good, really good... After using it for only 2 days, going to my 5s makes you miss it. I'm glad you like your gestures, but I like this... I'm really sorry that it offends you.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 11:21 PM 0

7. No_Sammy_No_Gimmicks

Posts: 149; Member since: Jun 10, 2015

Some fandroids are claiming that they don't need 3D Touch, they have long press. Just wanna know how long press can do 'Peek' n 'Pop'?

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 3:22 AM 1

8. ibend

Posts: 6747; Member since: Sep 30, 2014

it can, if developers fell like to do it :-/

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 3:44 AM 1

9. No_Sammy_No_Gimmicks

Posts: 149; Member since: Jun 10, 2015

Did read the 'how' part? Or u claim it can be done but u don't know how?

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 3:50 AM 0

11. Diezparda

Posts: 941; Member since: Oct 23, 2013

How? air view feature (what so-called a gimmick) on Note series and older Galaxy S device serve same functionality. So why not? it still limited though... While Apple apps dev need some time to optimize this feature, but i find it's quite convenient both air view and force touch is nice to have.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 4:19 AM 1

18. tedkord

Posts: 17415; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

Galaxy S4 owners have had it for two years. Hover your finger over, get a preview (peek). Touch, and open (pop). When it came out, Apple fans called it useless and a gimmick.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 3:27 PM 1

20. AlikMalix unregistered

Is air view still available on Samsung Phones? I remember it well, and also remember people NOT using it at all as it often erroneous when used.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 5:06 PM 0

21. Diezparda

Posts: 941; Member since: Oct 23, 2013

Absolutely not anymore in S6 but still present on Note 5 & i'm note 3 user, i'm using it so yeah why you'd always make some weird conclusion.

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 6:06 PM 0

10. wando77

Posts: 1168; Member since: Aug 23, 2012

complex user interaction....... I thought apple was all about simplicity

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 4:15 AM 2

13. deanylev

Posts: 234; Member since: Mar 11, 2014

Not really. For the people who find it to complex, they don't have to use it... It's called options...

posted on Oct 05, 2015, 5:46 AM 1

14. AlikMalix unregistered

It's also adjustable... But it's seriously good at differentiating different forces, couple that with haptic feedback, and user error is nearly impossible.