Many of us with newer iPhones and iPads regularly use the Touch ID button to unlock our devices. However, a newly-published patent application suggests that future Touch ID buttons could be used for activating a much broader range of functions through exertion of varying degrees of pressure.
The filing, published by the US Patent & Trademark Office, describes how pressure sensors, like those for the on-screen 3D Touch system in the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, could give the device user “a different effect presented in response to a relatively soft touch, in contrast with a relatively hard touch”.
It’s easy to imagine Apple putting such functionality to uses similar to those it has already employed for 3D Touch. A light press, for example, could unlock the device in the familiar manner, while a firmer press could both unlock the device and open a particular app that the user frequently turns to and has previously specified in the Touch ID section of the Settings app.
As ever, it should be emphasized that Apple’s decision to file a patent is no guarantee that the mooted technology will actually appear in any of its future products. However, the technology described in this application seems relatively likely for future inclusion, given its natural and logical extension of the Touch ID functionality that is now standard in new iPhones and iPads.
