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Apple hires Aubrey Plaza to explain 3D Touch on the iPhone 6S

Apple hires Aubrey Plaza to explain 3D Touch on the iPhone 6S

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Two new ads for Apple's under-used features

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Apple released two new video ads yesterday highlighting the more novel features of the iPhone 6S. 3D Touch, which works like the right-click function of a computer mouse for your phone screen, lets you quickly execute an app's most-used actions and also "Peek" and "Pop" webpages, links, emails, and the like. Not every app has 3D Touch support, but a handful of major ones like Facebook, Spotify, and Twitter do. So Apple may be using this video spot, called "Less Time" and featuring actress Aubrey Plaza, to help explain to everyday iPhone users how to take better advantage of it.

3D Touch lets you "do a ton of stuff in a lot less time," the narrator says. "Like look at a site without going to it, or watch a video without opening it. You can do pretty much everything faster." Plaza shows off how you can use Peek to look at a flight time from an email without having to click through.

"You can do pretty much everything faster."

The second ad highlights Live Photos. By enabling Live Photos through the phone's camera app, you can capture a GIF-like moving image that captures the moments before and after a shot. When you press down hard on the screen, you can see it come to life. "Live Photos are more than just photos," the narrator says. "Every time you take a picture, you get more than just a photo. You get to relive a moment."

Both the Live Photos and 3D Touch spots seem to suggest customers may not be getting the most of the new iPhone's force-sensitive touchscreen — and need a reminder to do so. But both ads are surprisingly fun and well produced, as Apple ads tend to be, so they may just nudge an iPhone 6S owner to start using the new features more.