The secret iPhone feature Apple doesn't want you to use

26.11.2015 22:30

Apple introduced its new pressures sensitive technology – dubbed 3D Touch – with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, back in September.

3D Touch is able to detect when users are pressing deeper than a usual tap.

A more forceful press into the multitouch display summons new options, including a preview of a webpage, scrubbing through video playback, quick access to messages, contacts and the ability to play Live Photos.

But the Apple technology can also be used to weigh objects resting on your iPhone 6S or iPhone 6S Plus display.

Developer Ryan McLeod has created a new app which transforms your smartphone into a digital scale using a "creative workaround".

That workaround had to be in place since Apple's own 3D Touch API only measures weight on its own custom scale – from 0.00 to a "maximum possible force" of 1.00.

Mr McLeod solved the problem with his iOS app – dubbed Gravity – by asking iPhone owners to recalibrate the scale when the app is launched by placing US nickels on the screen.

Unfortunately this nifty workaround generated its own issues since the multitouch display would not register the US coin as a touch input.

"We needed an object that was conductive, had finger-like capacitance, formed a single finger-like touch point, was a household item, and could hold items to be weighed," explains Mr McLeod.

The solution was to place a spoon on the iPhone display and use it to catch the objects that users wanted to weigh.

But after submitting the iOS app to the Apple App Store, it was immediately rejected.

Writing on Medium, the app developer said he believed Gravity was rejected "for having a misleading description," which he puts down to the dozens of "digital scale" that are "for entertainment purposes only."

Mr McLeod says he resubmitted the app alongside a video which showed the digital scale in action.

The iOS developer then claims Apple told him over the phone that "the concept of a scale app was not appropriate for the App Store."

"We have a strong respect for the subjective process Apple uses to maintain a selection of high quality apps," Mr McLeod posted on Medium.

"But [we] do hope for a day when Gravity can be one of the hand-picked, who-knew-a-phone-could-do-that-apps anyone can download on the App Store and have in their pocket."

Huawei demonstrated a smartphone digital scale app on the ForceTouch version of its Mate S smartphone, unveiled earlier this summer at the IFA technology tradeshow in Berlin.

Unfortunately the firm has yet to announce a ship date for the ForceTouch model, which will only be available with a costly 128GB of internal storage.

Samsung is also believed to be hard at work on its own pressure sensitive technology for the upcoming Galaxy S7 smartphone.

(dailystar.co.uk)

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