iOS 9 Hack Gives iPad Pro 3D Touch Peek And Pop

Apple's new 3D Touch functionality is currently only available on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. With its pressure sensitivity, 3D Touch enables features like Peek, where a somewhat firm press opens a preview of an email, image, etc, and Pop, which is a firmer press to fully transition to said previewed item. These features could prove to fairly useful on the new iPad Pro, but how would it work if the tablet doesn't have the same screen tech as the iPhone 6s?

Well, with the use of an iOS 9 jailbreak and the new Apple Pencil stylus, developer Hamza Sood shows us how it could be done. By altering some of iOS 9's system code, a process detailed on GitHub, Sood was able to have the pressure sensitivity data from the Apple Pencil register as 3D Touch interactivity.

Useless project of the day: using Apple Pencil pressure data to drive the 3D Touch engine https://t.co/y3GNEZ8sfh pic.twitter.com/OwYpI9kIqD

— Hamza Sood (@hamzasood) November 23, 2015

The hack is demonstrated in the video above. As a stylus-like tool, the Apple Pencil features sensors in its tip that detect how much force is being applied by the user. This is generally meant to use for drawing and writing features, such as when someone wants to write a thick line, as if with a bold marker, versus a thin line used in regular handwriting.

All of this means that Hood's 3D Touch hack for the iPad Pro is dependent on the Apple Pencil, and wouldn't work based on how hard a user presses with their finger. It's highly unlikely Apple would implement something like this officially with the iPad Pro and Pencil, but it's still a neat way to make use of 3D Touch features.

SOURCE Hamza Sood/Twitter

VIA 9to5Mac