A method, comprising: at an electronic device with a display, a touch-sensitive surface, and one or more sensors to detect intensities of contacts with the touch-sensitive surface: displaying a user interface that includes: an editable content area that has a plurality of characters, and a content deletion control; detecting a deletion input that includes detecting a contact at a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to the content deletion control on the display; and in response to detecting the deletion input, deleting content in the editable content area based on a duration and a characteristic intensity of the contact, including: in accordance with a determination that the contact was maintained for a first time period without the characteristic intensity of the contact increasing above a first intensity threshold, deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content of a first type of sub-unit of the content at a rate that does not vary based on the characteristic intensity of the contact; in accordance with a determination that the contact was maintained for a second time period that is longer than the first time period without the characteristic intensity of the contact increasing above the first intensity threshold, switching to deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content of a second type of sub-unit of the content at a rate that does not vary based on the characteristic intensity of the contact, wherein the second type of sub-unit is different from the first type of sub-unit; and in accordance with a determination that the characteristic intensity of the contact increased above the first intensity threshold, deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content at a rate that varies based on the characteristic intensity of the contact. displaying a user interface that includes: an editable content area that has a plurality of characters, and a content deletion control; an editable content area that has a plurality of characters, and a content deletion control; detecting a deletion input that includes detecting a contact at a location on the touch-sensitive surface that corresponds to the content deletion control on the display; and in response to detecting the deletion input, deleting content in the editable content area based on a duration and a characteristic intensity of the contact, including: in accordance with a determination that the contact was maintained for a first time period without the characteristic intensity of the contact increasing above a first intensity threshold, deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content of a first type of sub-unit of the content at a rate that does not vary based on the characteristic intensity of the contact; in accordance with a determination that the contact was maintained for a second time period that is longer than the first time period without the characteristic intensity of the contact increasing above the first intensity threshold, switching to deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content of a second type of sub-unit of the content at a rate that does not vary based on the characteristic intensity of the contact, wherein the second type of sub-unit is different from the first type of sub-unit; and in accordance with a determination that the characteristic intensity of the contact increased above the first intensity threshold, deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content at a rate that varies based on the characteristic intensity of the contact. in accordance with a determination that the contact was maintained for a first time period without the characteristic intensity of the contact increasing above a first intensity threshold, deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content of a first type of sub-unit of the content at a rate that does not vary based on the characteristic intensity of the contact; in accordance with a determination that the contact was maintained for a second time period that is longer than the first time period without the characteristic intensity of the contact increasing above the first intensity threshold, switching to deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content of a second type of sub-unit of the content at a rate that does not vary based on the characteristic intensity of the contact, wherein the second type of sub-unit is different from the first type of sub-unit; and in accordance with a determination that the characteristic intensity of the contact increased above the first intensity threshold, deleting the content in the editable content area by sequentially deleting a plurality of sub-units of the content at a rate that varies based on the characteristic intensity of the contact.