iOS 9 Reportedly Supports Force Touch for iPhone 6s

Sources say that Apple has designed iOS 9 to be Force Touch-ready for the next-generation 'iPhone 6s,' according to a new report from 9to5mac. iOS 9 may also bring other enhancements including a tweaked keyboard, iMessage improvements, and Apple Pay in Canada.

The next-generation iPhone will have a force touch display with haptic feedback, which will serve as a major feature for the upcoming device. While Apple will not announce this hardware until the Fall, it plans on implementing Force Touch in iOS 9 and working with developers to integrate the technology into App Store apps. Force Touch will reportedly offer similar functionality as the new MacBook trackpads.

Force Touch will be integrated into Maps to drop new pins, into media players for pressure-sensitive scrolling, into the Calendar for adding new events, and across the system for quickly looking up word definitions, according to sources who have used Force Touch on prototype versions of the “iPhone 6S.”

The sources note that Force touch on the iPhone 6s will be more "power user-centric," as it will not be an essentially feature of the iPhone. With Force Touch, users can also receive real time haptic feedback. Notably, Force Touch is also included in the iPad version of iOS, indicating that Force Touch would eventually make its way on the iPad.


Keyboard
Apple is also reportedly working on an updated and improved keyboard for iOS 9. Apple has designed several prototype keyboards, including one that is a bit longer than the current keyboard, but brings additional editing controls while in portrait mode. QuickType, which was introduced with iOS 8, could also be tweaked to be more accessible. Finally, Apple is said to have redesigned the shift key to make it easier to see when shift or caps lock was enabled.

Apple Pay in Canada
Canada could be one of the first countries outside of the United States to support Apple Pay, as iOS 9's Passbook application has the necessary frameworks to support banks and financial institutions in Canada. It is unclear if Apple will announce any Apple Pay expansions at WWDC, as negotiations with banks and other partners may still be on going.

iMessage
iOS 9 is also expected to bring some iMessage enhancements. Apple has reportedly upgraded its back end infrastructure to support read receipts for group chats, as well as a contact-by-contact basis. With iOS 9, you could set read receipts for certain friends, but disable them for others. Additionally, Apple has considered removing the Game Center application, as it is not present in current iOS 9 builds, but that could change before WWDC.

So far we've learned that iOS 9 will primarily be focused on "quality" with several security and performance enhancements and even a new font. Additionally, Apple could finally bring split screen multitasking to the iPad.


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