Apple won’t approve apps that use 3D Touch to weigh objects on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, but one developer has bypassed its rules with a clever web app that does exactly that. It’s called TouchScale.co, and it’s surprisingly accurate.
Asher Trockman built TouchScale.co after establishing exactly what the 3D Touch displays in the latest iPhones are capable of when it comes to detecting pressure, and therefore weight. You can read the results of his testing on his blog if you want to know all the juicy details.
But if you just want to use the scale, you simply have to visit TouchScale.co in mobile Safari on your iPhone. You can then place objects on your iPhone’s display to weigh them. There are a couple of caveats, however.
The iPhone is only capable of weighing things that can be detected by the capacitive touchscreen, such as fruit and vegetables. To get an accurate reading, you must also place those objects down in such a way that only one touch is registered by your device.
Get it right, though, and you have a surprisingly accurate pocket scale. I did a couple of tests using a satsuma and a lemon, and the reading I got from my iPhone was just 1 or 2 grams out versus the reading I got from a proper kitchen scale — as you can see in the photos below.
We certainly wouldn’t recommend ditching all your scales if you have an iPhone 6s, then, but it’s nice to know that if you really need to weigh something in a pinch, you can load up TouchScale.co on your iPhone and get a pretty accurate reading.
