When you press and hold on some screen elements, you are effectively selecting a specific item for the purpose of acting on it in a specific way. Thus, long-pressing an app, image, or word, for example, displays a menu with contextual commands. This feature is called Haptic Touch.

In iOS 12, Apple introduced Haptic Touch as a universal long-press response on iPhone and iPad, preparing to replace a prior iPhone-only feature called 3D Touch. As of iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, all devices on these versions supported Haptic Touch.

The phaseout of 3D Touch will be complete as of iOS 17, as no devices that supported 3D Touch will support this version.

Touch Duration

You can specify how quickly contextual actions appear when long-pressing an item. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Haptic Touch to find Touch Duration. At minimum, the choices are Fast and Slow. [Update: As of iOS 17, an added choice of Default appears between these.]

In both cases, upon touching an element, the device waits a fraction of a second to verify that your finger is not moving. If you start swiping, the interface will respond by scrolling the screen instead.

Second, if you hold slightly longer and then start swiping, the long-press behavior may be canceled and/or may set a different action in motion, such as dragging an app or image. The duration limit of this touch is dependent on the setting.

Third, if you continue holding, the haptic touch will activate fully and display the contextual behavior.

You can use the Touch Duration Test at the bottom to experience each duration choice. On devices that include Apple’s Taptic Engine, you receive audible and haptic feedback when the Haptic Touch registers.

Hold Duration

If you have Arthritis, Parkinson’s, or any condition that causes your hand to shake and/or makes it difficult to touch your device screen precisely, you may benefit from specifying Hold Duration. This accessibility setting delays all touch from registering before a specific length of time.

To enable Hold Duration, visit Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Touch Accommodations. In whichever order works best for you, enable Touch Accommodations at the top, enable Hold Duration, and specify the duration.

The minimum duration is 0.10 seconds. You can use the + and – buttons to adjust the duration in 0.05-second increments or tap the duration and type your desired length.

Note: If you enable Touch Accommodations first, any settings you specify below will take effect immediately. This may confuse you if, for example, you’re not used to this feature, you change Hold Duration, and then you have to respect the setting and press longer to further adjust the duration.

Accessibility Shortcut

Do you find that you don’t consistently need Touch Accommodations enabled but want the flexibility to enable or disable it with ease? You can activate Touch Accommodations with the Accessibility Shortcut.

To specify features, go to Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut. Tap a feature to add or remove it from the Accessibility Shortcut menu. Use the thumb holds on the right to drag features into your desired order.

Accessibility Shortcut involves triple-clicking the Home Button or Side Button to toggle one or more accessibility features. If only one feature is selected, the shortcut will instantly activate that feature. When more than one feature is selected, the shortcut will display a menu of choices in the specified order.

You may also change the speed with which the device responds to this triple-click. To do so, visit Settings > Accessibility > Home Button or Side Button and change the Click Speed.

How do you make use of touch-related features on iPhone or iPad? Will you make any changes to your usage based on these tips?