3D Touch tips and tricks for the stock Videos app

iOS 9 Videos 3D Touch teaser 001

In this day and age of YouTube streaming and on-demand video, the stock Videos app feels a little outdated and way too limited in terms of features though it gets the job done.

With the Videos app, you can watch movies, televisions shows and music videos that you bought or rented from the iTunes Store, as well as enjoy your personal clips synchronized from iTunes on your computer.

On the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, using the Videos app is a little more engaging thanks to 3D Touch. In this tutorial, we’ll let you in on 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures that are available  in the Videos app.

Continue watching videos from the Home screen

Press the icon of the Videos app on the Home screen of your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus to access the shortcuts menu. There, you can access up to four most recently watched videos, including ones you haven’t finished watching, those you have watched through to the end and the videos you have recently downloaded from the iTunes Store and didn’t start watching yet.

iOS 9 Videos 3D Touch Home screen shortcuts iPhone 6s screenshot 001

iOS keeps your watching history synchronized across devices so you can start watching a movie on, say, your Apple TV and pick up right where you left off on another device. And with 3D Touch, continuing a video is as easy as selecting it in the shortcuts menu on the Home screen of your iPhone 6s.

The menu even lists the time remaining (for example, “5 min remaining”) and whether you have watched a video through to the end, in which case you’ll see “Watch again” below the video title.

Preview movies

Tap the Movies tab at the bottom to access the movies downloaded to your device as well as your cloud purchases (as denoted by a cloud icon) that you haven’t downloaded yet. To preview a movie, press it lightly in the movie list. Press a little harder to pop open the item in full screen mode.

iOS 9 Videos 3D Touch Preview iPhone 6s screenshot 001

Preview TV shows

Like movies, TV shows in the cloud and those you’ve downloaded to your iPhone 6s ore iPhone 6s Plus can be accessed by tapping the TV Shows button at the bottom. You can preview the whole series or individual episodes by pressing an item lightly.

iOS 9 Videos 3D Touch Preview iPhone 6s screenshot 002

While peeking at the episode, press a tad harder to go full screen. Pressing a TV show season in the list will peek at the available show seasons, as seen below.

iOS 9 Videos 3D Touch Preview iPhone 6s screenshot 004

Preview music videos

As you may have guessed, previewing music videos downloaded to your device or those in the cloud is the same as peeking at movies and TV show episodes. Just press an item lightly in the music videos list to preview a video, or press a little harder to go full screen.

iOS 9 Videos 3D Touch Preview iPhone 6s screenshot 003

As mentioned, you can also preview your personal clips with 3D Touch though you’ll need to synchronize them first from iTunes on your computer.

Hiding your cloud purchases

To hide your purchased movies, TV shows and music videos so that you see only the clips downloaded to your device, go to Settings → Videos and toggle the Show iTunes Purchases switch to the OFF position.

There, you can also choose where to resume playback the next time you open a video and sign into Home Sharing with your Apple ID to stream the videos from your computer.

Did you find this article useful? Are you going to be using these 3D Touch shortcuts and gestures in the Videos app?

If you find other 3D Touch goodies in Videos that the article doesn’t mention, give us a heads-up in the comments section and we’ll update the post with new information.

3D Touch guides for other stock apps

We have covered 3D Touch shortcuts, gestures and tips and tricks in other stock Apple applications. If you’re interested in making the most from 3D Touch on your iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus, check out our selection of 3D Touch how-tos in our archives:

Need help? Ask iDB!

Got stuck? Not sure how to do certain things on your Apple device? Let us know at help@iDownloadBlog.com and a future tutorial might provide a solution.

Submit your how-to suggestions at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.