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How to Get Trackpad Features on an Older iPhone With iOS 12


Ah 3D Touch, Apple’s pressure-sensitive smartphone feature. The artist formerly (creepily?) known as Force Touch surfaces additional options for users with iPhones that support it. Push into the screen’s left edge, for example, to reveal the app switcher. Push into an app’s Home screen icon to reveal shortcuts. Push into the keyboard to move the cursor anywhere you want.

That last one is both fun and super-helpful, if you’ve ever found yourself failing to place the cursor in the right spot when editing a text message. Now, in iOS 12, iPhones that don’t have 3D Touch can access this feature as well.

Spotted by Reddit user Toprelemons, iOS 12 beta users—on devices that don’t have 3D Touch—can now simply tap and hold the space bar to magically move the cursor back and forth across the screen. You can even highlight text with this move: put your keyboard in this pseudo-trackpad mode, continue to hold and then tap somewhere else on the keyboard. This will allow you to select text as your cursor moves around. (Those on 3D Touch devices can achieve the same by pushing in on the keyboard, lifting a bit and then pushing in once more.)