In iOS 17, still in beta, Apple has added an accessibility setting that makes the haptic feedback feature activate faster than in previous versions of its mobile operating system. If you fondly hearken back for the days of 3D Touch, you might just prefer it.

haptic touch ios 17 fast
As many iPhone users might remember, ‌‌3D Touch‌‌ was an interactive haptic feature that Apple introduced in 2015 with the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ 6s. When the ‌iPhone‌ was released in 2018, Apple kiboshed ‌3D Touch‌‌ to the dismay of some users, and instead implemented the simplified ‌Haptic Touch, which offers less functionality‌.

‌‌3D Touch‌‌ supported multiple levels of pressure for different interactions depending on how hard you pressed, with Apple implementing "Peek and Pop" gestures. In contrast, ‌‌Haptic Touch‌‌ supports just a single level of pressure for the long press gesture.

‌‌Haptic Touch‌‌ has always worked slower than ‌‌3D Touch‌‌ because of the two levels of pressure that ‌‌3D Touch‌‌ allowed for. The first ‌‌3D Touch‌‌ pressure level activated quickly when pressing on the display, so those who became used to ‌‌3D Touch‌‌ may have found the ‌‌Haptic Touch‌‌ replacement to be too sluggish.

The good news is that in iOS 17, setting ‌‌Haptic Touch‌‌ to the new Fast option makes a noticeable difference in how quick haptic menus pop up under the finger when an icon or on-screen element is long pressed. The speed brings ‌‌Haptic Touch‌‌ interactions closer to ‌3D Touch‌ interactions. Here's how to enable it on iPhones and iPads running iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, respectively.

  1. Open the Settings app.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Under "Physical and Motor," tap Touch.
  4. Tap Haptic Touch.
  5. Select from Fast, Default, and Slow. Note that when you select a speed, you can test it using the flower image on the same screen.

haptic touch faster ios 17

It's still not entirely clear why Apple got rid of ‌‌3D Touch‌. Some have argued that it suffered from a lack of discoverability, similar to the Apple Watch's Force Touch functionality, which suffered the same fate. Others have speculated that Apple eliminated it in order to bring gesture parity to the ‌‌iPhone‌‌ and the iPad. Either way, the change allowed Apple to remove the capacitive layer that used to be integrated into every ‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌ display.

Related Forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17

Top Rated Comments

t0rqx Avatar
21 months ago
They should really bring back 3D Touch and find ways to make an interactive introduction with the device. There are so many hidden gestures and shortcuts that are amazing but I never knew existed.

The fact they showcased it in racing games and in keyboard was amazing.

Guess they will reintroduce it with the new generation of kids and market it as a new invention again just to hype.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
21 months ago

You kinda answered why Apple dropped support for it; discoverability.
Haptic touch interactions are no more easy to discover than 3D touch ones. In fact, they're harder as haptic touch commands take longer to activate!

Apple really dropped 3D touch due to its cost: the extra sensor was expensive and took up precious space within the device.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jclardy Avatar
21 months ago

You kinda answered why Apple dropped support for it; discoverability.

Dealing with both pressure and touch is confusing, and IMHO their decision to drop it was the right one.

Pressure for pencil users is another story where it’s part of a creative process and mimicking the analogue equivalent.
I would agree - but they kept all the hidden functionality (Now just moved to long press) and now it is even less discoverable as you have to tap and hold and wait for potentially nothing, meaning users are trained to just not even try it, even more than they were with 3D touch. 3D Touch had the benefit of failing immediately with a little haptic vibration if the button does nothing, with long press you get no feedback.

IMO they should have kept it and doubled it with long press, with options to disable either or. But the hardware tradeoff wasn't worth it to Apple (extra thickness/weight)

This is my favorite hidden iOS 17 feature though as it brings it just slightly closer to the glory days of immediately responsive 3D touch.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McWetty Avatar
21 months ago
I sorely miss 3D Touch. I still find myself pressing the screen just a little bit harder to get things to happen at that deeper level and they don’t. I know they took it out for a myriad of reasons, but I hope it makes a comeback some time in the future.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Fyrus Avatar
21 months ago
I’m fine-ish with the removal of Force Touch… just let me remove te flashlight from the homescreen.

It was placed there because it worked great with Force Touch, now it’s just annoying since I turn it on all the time by holding my phone wrong for to long.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
21 months ago

Guess they will reintroduce it with the new generation of kids and market it as a new invention again just to hype.
It's never coming back. Long-press works 80% as well and just requires software.

I had 3d touch for years (6s and 8 plus) and didn't use it for anything other than the keyboard cursor.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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