Android Q’s Deep Press May Enable 3D Touch-Like Experience, Pixel Phones Expected to Get a Themes App

Android Q may be getting Apple's 3D Touch-like experience. The operating system has been found to have some references hinting at upcoming feature implementation, which Google is calling "Deep press." It is, however, unclear whether the new experience will be available on all the existing devices compatible with Android Q or will require specific hardware to detect the pressure being applied on the screen. Separately, a Pixel Themes app has been spotted in the Android Q Beta 2 that could enable customisation on the Pixel phones.

While defining Motion events through a dedicated document on the Android Developers portal, Google has showcased the Deep press classification constant. This suggests the development of an experience that could be reminiscent of 3D Touch that Apple has implemented on its iPhone models since the release of iPhone 6S back in September 2015.

"The current event stream represents the user intentionally pressing harder on the screen. This classification type should be used to accelerate the long press behaviour," explains the listing on the Android Developers portal.

While Google may formally call the new feature deep press, it's likely to be used to sense pressure on the display to perform certain actions -- similar to how 3D Touch works on iPhone models. This means on Android Q, the users may able to access multiple features by pressing the screen harder than their usual behaviour.

Apple has enabled 3D Touch to detect various levels of force using the compatible display hardware. This isn't likely to be a part of Google's deep press. However, it is unclear whether the new capability will work on all the existing devices compatible with Android Q or will be limited to afresh models that have supported hardware.

This is notably not the first time when Google is seen tweaking the software to bring pressure sensitivity to Android. As 9to5Google notes, an Easter Egg drawing app on the Pixel 3 models gave an example of how pressure sensitivity can be simulated using software algorithms. Google also brought App Shortcuts with Android 7.1.1 Nougat in 2016 that enable the option to show shortcuts by long pressing an app's icon.

Twitter user Till Kottmann first spotted the existence of the deep press classification on Android Q.

Separately, XDA Developers was able to find a Pixel Themes app within Android Q Beta 2 that debuted last week. The new app, which is currently available as PixelThemesStub, doesn't have any particular content pertaining to customisations. However, there are assets showing custom theme previews.

The half-baked Pixel Themes app is found to have strings revealing three custom themes, codenamed Anthony, Johanna, and Reiko. Each of the available themes has distinct accent colours, icon styles, and fonts. There are also four new wallpapers that could be available to the users through the Pixel Themes app.

Four different wallpapers spotted within the Pixel Themes app
Photo Credit: XDA Developers

The Pixel Themes app is expected to be available through Google Play as well. However, the app listing on Google Play was empty at the time of filing this story.