I’m always amazed to discover how many people are unaware of one of my favorite features in iOS – using 3D Touch to gain fine-grain control over the text insertion point while writing.
With the advent of the iPhone 6s, Apple introduced 3D Touch as a feature shipping with its high end iPhones and has continued to include it up to the present day. This feature, which brings an additional layer of functionality to many controls across the system, can also be used to gain accurate control over the blinking cursor that signifies where typed text will be inserted. Prior to 3D Touch, users would have to clumsily tap around in a block of text to move the cursor or tap and hold to invoke the system’s magnifying glass interface. These legacy features are still options, but 3D Touch makes things so much easier.
To accurately move the text insertion point on your iPhone with 3D Touch, simply press moderately hard on the keyboard and then, leaving your finger pressed down, swipe back and forth and up and down. You will see the text insertion cursor move in sync with your finger. When the cursor arrives where you want it to be, simply lift your finger back up and resume typing like normal.
This feature may be great if you’re using an iPhone, but what if you’re using the phone’s larger cousin – the iPad? As of the writing of this article, Apple is yet to ship an iPad that includes 3D Touch as a feature – likely because of the size of the device’s larger screen. The good news is that Apple hasn’t left iPad users out in the cold – they too can use this feature. To easily move the text insertion point on an iPad, simply swipe on the keyboard with two fingers. Beyond that, the process is the same as on the iPhone.
What if you have an iPhone 5s, 6, SE, or any other iPhone that lacks 3D Touch? Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t enabled this feature for those devices. If you have such an iPhone, you’re somewhat out of luck in this area and will need to rely on the legacy method of tapping and holding to invoke the magnifying glass.
What about you? Do you use 3D Touch to move your cursor around? Let us know in the comments section below!
If you haven’t tried this feature out, give it a shot! I’ll bet it’ll change the way you use your device for the better like it has for me.
