Apple iOS 9 Code Confirms Biggest iPhone 6S Change

Apple may not have officially announced the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus yet, but we can now put money on what its biggest change will be…
Buried deep in the code of iOS 9 – which will launch alongside the new iPhones – is a reference to the command ‘DeepPress’ for selecting text. DeepPress is the same command found in the watchOS code for the Apple Watch and inside Mac OS X for activating Force Touch.
This code was discovered by Hamza Sood, a developer renowned for his code discoveries. Over the years he has used iOS to uncover evidence of Touch ID, Apple Activity and iPhone camera upgrades.

Force Touch references found deep inside iOS 9 code – image credit Hamza Sood

“Some force touch code in iOS. Looks like they’ve tested kb trackpad gestures on the 6S, activated via force touch,” explained Sood in a tweet.
Force Touch Potential
For the few still unaware of Force Touch, it gives users an additional command by pressing slightly harder on the screen. With the Apple Watch this can be a shortcut to options like changing watch faces or in OS X a quick way to speed up or slow down panning speed through a video.

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Some examples of how this will be used with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus have already leaked such as a shortcut to turn-by-turn navigation in Maps, jumping to voicemail by force touching the phone icon or getting song options when force touching a track in Music.
Big Risk, Big Reward
Interestingly, while it is likely to be an upgraded camera, increased performance or perhaps better battery life which sells most iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus devices, it is Force Touch which is the more important long term.
Get Force Touch right and Apple creates a notable differentiator to Android which provides a simple and intuitive new command which can bring a whole new dimension to usability and third party apps. Google GOOGL +0.56% is unlikely to be able to edit Android or convince Android manufacturers en masse to increase costs by adding this functionality (Force Touch is a hardware addition) to their phones any time soon.




But get Force Touch wrong and Apple, for the first time, will complicate iOS in a manner which may alienate users. After all iOS has always worked based primarily on tapping commands you can see. But when to use Force Touch will be less certain and could leave users randomly guessing what can and can’t be force touched around the phone.



The interesting thing about Sood’s discovery is it is just the latest in a long line of Force Touch leaks which stem all the way back to March.
Both Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal have also pinned their colours to the mast and declared Force Touch will be the big new iPhone 6S/iPhone 6S Plus feature. Meanwhile iOS 9 has even given hints about Force Touch before now.

iPhone 6S production sample showing cut away for Force Touch display access – Image credit Nowhereelse.fr

On top of this hardware leaks have shown the new iPhone 6S has an access panel cut in behind the screen. This is a requirement for Force Touch technology as its hardware needs direct access to the display. Yes, sadly this also means Force Touch is not something which can be added to existing iPhone models by a software update.
So while Apple may still have plenty of surprises lined up for us on iPhone launch day, I think we can categorically now say Force Touch is one announcement which should surprise no-one…