3D Touch in iOS 10: Respond to Notifications, Share Apps, Adjust Control Center Settings and More

In iOS 10, Apple has focused heavily on making 3D Touch more useful and relevant, so if you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, there are a whole slew of new gestures you can use on the Lock screen, the Home screen, and in certain apps.

Given the expansive new 3D Touch options in iOS 10, we've created a video that shows you everything you can do with one of Apple's newest iPhones. With Apple introducing so many new 3D Touch capabilities, we can expect 3D Touch to be a feature that will show up in all of Apple's future devices, from iPhones to iPads.


Incoming notifications now support 3D Touch Peek and Pop capabilities, allowing users to do things like view photos and videos and respond to incoming messages all without leaving the Lock screen. In the Notification Center itself, there's now an option to use a 3D Touch press to clear all of the notifications for the day.

When downloading an app, you can press on it to pause or cancel the download, and when 3D Touching on any app, there are new options for bringing up the share sheet. Apps that have accompanying widgets, like Weather, will display that widget when using a Quick Action press on the Home screen.

Pressing on a folder now brings up an option for quickly renaming it, and if there are apps with Notification badges inside of a folder, you can easily access them using 3D Touch.

In the Control Center, there are 3D Touch shortcuts for the Flashlight (change intensity), Timer (pre-set intervals), Calculator (copy last result), and Camera (picture options), while Apple Music offers more info when 3D Touching on a song that's playing and Messages brings up Bubble Effects when using a 3D Touch to customize chat bubbles.

For full details on the new features coming in iOS 10, make sure to check out our iOS 10 roundup. Don't miss out on our previous videos, which have covered watchOS 3, macOS Sierra, and other iOS 10 features:

- WWDC 2016 Overview in Seven Minutes
- iOS 10's Overhauled Lockscreen
- The New iOS 10 Photos App
- The New iOS 10 Messages App
- macOS Sierra - Siri
- iOS 10 Hidden Features
- watchOS 3 Overview
- iOS 10's Redesigned Apple Music Experience

We've also got roundups for all of the upcoming operating systems, including watchOS 3, macOS Sierra, and tvOS 10.

Related Forum: iOS 10

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Top Rated Comments

Mac Fly (film) Avatar
118 months ago
Year 1: 3D Touch? Apple marketing crap. iPhone 6s is a rebranded iPhone 6. Apple can no longer innovate. Steve wouldn't have shipped this. Fire Tim Cook. I'm switching to Samsung.

Year 2: I have no use for this feature. It is handy to have, I'm just so glad you can switch it off.

Year 6: How did we ever live without 3D Whiz? It's such an integral part of my tech experience. Wasn't it Samsung who had this first? If it was, Apple should fire Tim. If it wasn't, then it doesn't matter, when you think about it there was no invention here because it was such an obvious feature. Apple trying to patent touching things again!
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Corrode Avatar
118 months ago
I can't wait for the public beta!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peepo Avatar
118 months ago
They are focusing so much on 3D Touch yet recently introduced the SE which lacks this feature!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPLC Avatar
118 months ago
If I could make one wish for iOS... It would be for some kind of "naked" or "light" version of iOS. I would be so happy to find one main switch in the settings menu that gives me the choice to turn off everything that makes iOS far from intuitive. No more 3D touch, no menu's popping out of the side, top or bottom. No more hidden functionality. A simple version of the settings menu, a music App that that doesn't look like a website etc etc. Short: No more UI noise.

Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone but what I love more is my good o'll iPod touch with the very first iOS. It does what it should do, basic functionality, easy and fast and most important, it feels like an Apple product.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zmmyt Avatar
118 months ago
Glad to see Apple expanding 3D Touch functionality. Since so many iOS devices still lack this feature I thought they might ditch it in the near future.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iPad Air Avatar
118 months ago
I have to say, I thought 3D Touch was a minor gimmicky thing at first, even though it was announced as a big feature...that was before I got my hands on it. After recently moving to iPhone 6S Plus, using this feature has changed my mind. I think 3D Touch is great and useful. Just wait especially down the road - in hindsight we will wonder how we got along navigating iOS without 3D Touch. I think its great they are expanding it and making it more innovative.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)