Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Video: Force Touch might be a game-changer for MacBook, Watch and iPhone

Published Mar 13th, 2015 5:23PM EDT
MacBook Yosemite Force Touch Features
Image: Apple Inc.

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

One of the 12-inch MacBook features Apple showed off on stage during its Spring Forward event is the Force Touch trackpad that brings not only touch feedback, but also a new Force Touch gesture that can trigger various actions in Yosemite and future Mac apps. Force Touch is also available on Apple Watch, and is rumored to make its way to the iPhone.

A video from 9to5Mac demos no less than 15 Force Touch actions that are already supported in Yosemite, which could further improve the way you interact with your Mac while saving you precious time in the process.

DON’T MISS: Videos deliver awesome breakdowns of how new MacBooks’ Force Touch trackpads work

Force Touch is already available on the 2015 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, and has been put to the test ahead of the MacBook’s April 10th launch.

The new gesture is quite simple and can be configured from the Mac’s settings. The smart trackpad can now tell the difference between the intensity of touches, triggering different responses depending on the force of the finger pressing against it.

Some of the useful things Force Touch can do right now include renaming any label, previewing any file, previewing calendar events and adding new events by clicking any date on the screen, previewing web pages by clicking on links (a Safari-only feature), editing contacts and adding new ones, looking up word definitions, showing all the windows for an app, and plenty more.

What’s interesting though is that developers will be able to integrate Force Touch functionality into future Mac apps, creating actions that can further save you time sinceyou wouldn’t have to dig through menus or more complex gestures.

9to5Mac’s list of existing Force Touch features is available in the following video.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.