A Closer Look at 3D Touch on iPhone 6s

3D Touch is a flagship feature of the new iPhone lineup. We take a closer look at how different apps use it in this video.

3D Touch could change how you use the iPhone. The new iPhone models' pressure-sensitive screens let you "peek" into content and jump to frequently used actions from the home screen, making more actions accessible more easily.

Right now, 3D Touch mostly works with Apple's built-in apps. You can dip in and out of mail, messages, camera, maps, photos, Safari, calendar, music, video, news, iBooks and a few other apps. The most obvious use of the "peek" functionality, in our estimation, was previewing mail messages, but the real killer was previewing URLs in Safari. That got rid of the commitment factor of opening a new Web page when I tapped on a link, making browsing even more fluid.

A few third-party apps are beginning to dip into the 3D Touch waters. Dropbox lets you upload photos with a quick action from the home screen. An astronomy app, Sky Guide, lets you check the position of satellites. It's going to spread quickly across the third-party app universe.

I'm also intrigued to see how 3D Touch works with the iPhone 6s Plus for artists. 3D Touch makes the screen pressure-sensitive, which means a simple capacitive stylus will work a lot more like a real pen or brush. For now, that only seems to be supported in Apple's Notes app.

Watch the video to see how 3D Touch works in several different iOS apps.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta. Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed... More »

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