3D Touch gesture to access the app switcher will return with future iOS 11 update

A gesture that Apple had to drop from iOS 11 due to a "technical constraint," will return in a future update of the company's mobile operating system. The dropped gesture allowed iPhone users to quickly reach the app switcher to switch between open apps. The user simply hard-pressed along the left edge of the screen, and swiped to the right and released. The user could then swipe to the right to see a carousal of open apps. Apps could be closed by flicking them up and off the screen.

This information was discovered in an email sent by Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi. The executive was responding to an iPhone user who had asked Federighi in an email if Apple could bring back the 3D Touch multitasking gesture in iOS 11. In his email, Federighi said that a future iOS 11.x update will bring it back.

Currently on iOS 11, double pressing the Touch ID button will bring up the app switcher. On the Apple iPhone X, which won't have a Touch ID button, swiping the virtual home bar up and pausing in the middle will set off the app switcher and the multitasking capabilities of the phone.

You can check out the now removed 3D Touch gesture that accessed the app switcher by clicking the video at the top of the story.

source: MacRumors, Adrian Zaone