The line between iOS and Android have significantly blurred in the past few years with gesture navigation, digital well-being and more features now common across the two platform. If a report by 9to5Google is to be believed, the line is going to become even blurrier with the introduction of Android’s version of 3D Touch, called “Deep Press”.
The feature was discovered while testing the latest developer build of Android Q. Information present in documentation related to “MotionEvent” function of Android Q have revealed there will be something called “Deep Press” in the upcoming Android OS.
The documentation states that presently, users intentionally press harder on the screen when long-pressing. Deep Press should be “used to accelerate the long press behaviour.” Essentially, deep press will be a feature where an action can be triggered when the user presses down on the display harder than usual.
The feature sounds quite familiar to Force Touch or 3D Touch, a pressure-sensitive navigation feature which debuted in the first Apple Watch in 2014. \
However, just because there’s support for Deep Press in Android Q doesn’t mean it can be used. It needs specialised hardware for it to work. However, if Android Q does support it, OEMs can be encourage to install components to enable the feature.
The Deep Press feature will possibly debut with Google Pixel 4 which is expected to launch in October, a few months after Android Q rolls out to the masses.
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