3D Touch

Apple took multitouch gestures to a new level with the launch of the original iPhone. The iPhone 6s brought the concept even further, adding 3D Touch to detect pressure. Now it seems that future iOS devices may include the space above the screen as another level of input. In a patent granted this week the company details methods for hover detection, which could be used to sense gestures made without contacting the display surface at all.

The marquee piece of hardware Apple added to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus is the pressure sensitive display included in both models. Apple coined it 3D Touch because the display can recognize multiple layers of pressure. While the technology is self explanatory, it still isn't clear exactly where you can take advantage of the feature while using your iPhone.

Facebook has been working hard on its iOS app lately. It seems that every other week a new feature is added or deeper iPhone support rolls out. December and January in particular have seen several photo and video related additions to the official Facebook app, now at version 47.0. At its core, Facebook allows users to quickly access their accounts from anywhere to share updates, have conversations, play games and receive notifications. There have been five significant updates to the Facebook app over the past few weeks.

3D Touch shortcut menus give iPhone 6s and 6s Plus users a fast way to access commonly used functions without opening an app. The iOS Camera app is one example, with four shortcuts listed: Take Selfie, Record Video, Record Slo-mo, and Take Photo. Obviously there are some Camera options missing, but this is because 3D Touch menus are limited to four actions system-wide. Prolific camera jailbreak developer PoomSmart seeks to change all of this with two tweaks.

The shortcuts provided by 3D Touch on the iOS Camera app can speed up the image capture process. Installing the jailbreak tweak Point-and-Shoot brings this concept to a whole new level, bypassing the Camera app entirely. Options to Take Photo or Take Selfie will open a live viewfinder directly from the 3D Touch shortcut menu. The action takes place directly on the home screen, right next to the Camera icon.