How To Move Icons On An Iphone 7

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Nov 10, 2016, 10:40am EST |

How To Move And Delete Apps On An iPhone 7 With 3D Touch

Brad Moon

Reviews and guidance for Apple gear, audio systems and consumer tech.

This article is more than 5 years old.

3D Touch Affects Some Familiar Actions

Anyone who has been using an iPhone for any length of time quickly learns a few key functions. One of the most important --at least in terms of keeping things organized-- is the procedure for moving or deleting apps. You know the drill: touch an app icon and hold. The apps all start to jiggle and you can then move them or click the "x" in the icon corner to delete it.

However, upgrade to an iPhone 6s or iPhone 7 and the "touch and hold" is likely to result in this:

3D Touch means pressing an app brings up quick actions (Credit: screen capture by Brad Moon)

I recently upgraded from an iPhone 6 to a 7 Plus and what I saw when I tried to delete an app was initially a head scratcher. Newer iPhones incorporate a pressure-sensitive feature called 3D Touch. Pressing an app icon brings up a menu of quick actions. So how do you move or delete an app?

How To Move And Delete Apps On An iPhone 7 With 3D Touch

It's all in the touch pressure. Follow the exact same "touch and hold" procedure as always, but use a light touch on the app icon. Place your finger on it without applying pressure. If you do it right, you'll see the expected Home screen full of jiggling app icons and you can move and delete as usual.

A light touch with an iPhone 7 gets the expected jiggly screen to move or delete apps (Credit:... [+] screen capture by Brad Moon)

If you get the blurred screen with one app icon and an action dialog, that means you've pressed too hard and invoked 3D Touch. It may take a few tries to get the hang of it, but once you figure it out you'll be back in business.

If you continue to find it a challenge, there is a way to reduce the sensitivity of 3D Touch.

In Settings, choose General, then Accessibility and scroll down to 3D Touch. There you can tweak the sensitivity so it requires more pressure to activate the 3D Touch functions.

You can adjust 3D Touch sensitivity (Credit: screen capture by Brad Moon)

Brad Moon