3D Touch Plus Siri Shortcuts Is the Future
The iPhone XR was released this week to much fanfare. But don’t ask me about it because my non-existent dream phone would be a ceramic-cased iPhone 6–sized phone with a 5.5"edge-to-edge screen. My iPhone XS is a tad too large, but the iPhone SE is way too small.
But this post isn’t about the iPhone XR. It’s more of a reaction to a week of non-stop chatter about how most people won’t miss the absence of 3D Touch. I’m not surprised about this because most people never used Applescripts on the Mac, and going forward, most people will never set up Shortcuts on iOS.
What I am surprised about is when anyone tries to make the leap that if most people don’t use 3D Touch, that it must not be very important. They hold up the fact that Apple left it off the iPhone XR as some sort of confirmation.
But the value of 3D Touch was just elevated. It is now a part of the flagship iPhone X line only. Apple more than anyone plays the game of assigning value by making you pay for it. 3D Touch is now a premium option only for those who want the best experience. If you want Apple to go through the time and expense of designing that feature into your phone, you’re going to have to pay extra for it.
I can understand why most people don’t use 3D Touch. It’s invisible and forces you to remember what functions it operates. Shortcuts are also in a very similar situation, maybe worse, because you have to take the time to create them. 3D Touch already exists everywhere.
The other day I needed a flashlight and I pulled out my iPhone XS and pressed the flashlight button on my iPhone home screen. My light turned on and the haptic feedback gave the impression that I had pressed a physical button. I marveled at how in the new XS, 3D Touch feels so much like a real button. Then it hit me. I really like physical buttons. This is why I liked Force Touch on the Apple Watch way back in 2015 and continue to love it on my iPhone today.
I’ve always liked real buttons. Whether they are in my cars or on kitchen appliances, it’s nice to know that if I want to accomplish X, I just hit the button. Now on the new iPhone, the haptics are so good that anywhere on the screen can simulate the press of a button. Apple started this with the faux home button on the iPhone 7 and the MacBook track pads. And it’s uncanny how real it feels. I enjoy the feeling of hitting a physical button when I do things on my iPhone for everything from sending a new e-mail to calling my favorites. Sure, I could use Siri, but I often don’t want to speak to Siri when I’m at the office or in the grocery store checkout line.
As I mentioned way back in my 2015 Apple Watch review, the genius of Force Touch was that it added the functionality of physical buttons without adding in the hardware buttons. And it’s only gotten better with each year. The haptics are more nuanced, and the actions are quicker. Which is why the fake 3D Touch called “Haptic Touch” on Apple’s new devices is so disturbing. Imagine mushy buttons that you need to hold down to activate. Kind of like a toilet seat flush handle that you have to hold down in order to work. This, my friends, is the insufferable long-press. Once you get used to 3D Touch, the long-press is a real irritant.
In today’s world, 3D Touch shortcuts are built in by the developer. But I’d like to see the user be able to add his own shortcuts to the menu. For instance, let’s say that every week you open iTunes and go to Season X of a TV show to download the latest episode. It would be nice to just set up a 3D Touch menu option named Doctor Who that would do that. You could 3D Touch on the iTunes icon and swipe down to your Doctor Who shortcut. But with the power of Siri Shortcuts embedded into the 3D Touch menus, you could do almost anything.
The curse of 3D Touch menu items is that you didn’t create them. This makes them hard to remember. The curse of Siri Shortcuts is that you never see them, so many people won’t remember them either. Combining 3D Touch and Siri Shortcuts seems to dovetail nicely. You are more likely to remember shortcuts that you create. You’re also able to see the names of your available shortcuts because they’ll pop up in the menu instantly.
3D Touch coupled with Siri Shortcuts seems like a marriage made in heaven. It combines the power of automation with my love for pushing physical buttons. If more people thought of 3D Touch as creating virtual buttons on their home screen, I think they’d see it in a new light. If you like buttons, you should like 3D Touch.
What I am surprised about is when anyone tries to make the leap that if most people don’t use 3D Touch, that it must not be very important. They hold up the fact that Apple left it off the iPhone XR as some sort of confirmation.
But the value of 3D Touch was just elevated. It is now a part of the flagship iPhone X line only. Apple more than anyone plays the game of assigning value by making you pay for it. 3D Touch is now a premium option only for those who want the best experience. If you want Apple to go through the time and expense of designing that feature into your phone, you’re going to have to pay extra for it.
I can understand why most people don’t use 3D Touch. It’s invisible and forces you to remember what functions it operates. Shortcuts are also in a very similar situation, maybe worse, because you have to take the time to create them. 3D Touch already exists everywhere.
The other day I needed a flashlight and I pulled out my iPhone XS and pressed the flashlight button on my iPhone home screen. My light turned on and the haptic feedback gave the impression that I had pressed a physical button. I marveled at how in the new XS, 3D Touch feels so much like a real button. Then it hit me. I really like physical buttons. This is why I liked Force Touch on the Apple Watch way back in 2015 and continue to love it on my iPhone today.
I’ve always liked real buttons. Whether they are in my cars or on kitchen appliances, it’s nice to know that if I want to accomplish X, I just hit the button. Now on the new iPhone, the haptics are so good that anywhere on the screen can simulate the press of a button. Apple started this with the faux home button on the iPhone 7 and the MacBook track pads. And it’s uncanny how real it feels. I enjoy the feeling of hitting a physical button when I do things on my iPhone for everything from sending a new e-mail to calling my favorites. Sure, I could use Siri, but I often don’t want to speak to Siri when I’m at the office or in the grocery store checkout line.
As I mentioned way back in my 2015 Apple Watch review, the genius of Force Touch was that it added the functionality of physical buttons without adding in the hardware buttons. And it’s only gotten better with each year. The haptics are more nuanced, and the actions are quicker. Which is why the fake 3D Touch called “Haptic Touch” on Apple’s new devices is so disturbing. Imagine mushy buttons that you need to hold down to activate. Kind of like a toilet seat flush handle that you have to hold down in order to work. This, my friends, is the insufferable long-press. Once you get used to 3D Touch, the long-press is a real irritant.
In today’s world, 3D Touch shortcuts are built in by the developer. But I’d like to see the user be able to add his own shortcuts to the menu. For instance, let’s say that every week you open iTunes and go to Season X of a TV show to download the latest episode. It would be nice to just set up a 3D Touch menu option named Doctor Who that would do that. You could 3D Touch on the iTunes icon and swipe down to your Doctor Who shortcut. But with the power of Siri Shortcuts embedded into the 3D Touch menus, you could do almost anything.
The curse of 3D Touch menu items is that you didn’t create them. This makes them hard to remember. The curse of Siri Shortcuts is that you never see them, so many people won’t remember them either. Combining 3D Touch and Siri Shortcuts seems to dovetail nicely. You are more likely to remember shortcuts that you create. You’re also able to see the names of your available shortcuts because they’ll pop up in the menu instantly.
3D Touch coupled with Siri Shortcuts seems like a marriage made in heaven. It combines the power of automation with my love for pushing physical buttons. If more people thought of 3D Touch as creating virtual buttons on their home screen, I think they’d see it in a new light. If you like buttons, you should like 3D Touch.
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