All Devices Wish list item: Haptic feedback while typing on virtual keyboard keys

[Nicky G]

Why isn't it an option to have a device's haptic feedback issue subtle little "clicks" when you type on the virtual keyboard's keys? It seems to me that this would be really nice to have. This could be extended to other common interface widget items, for instance when buttons are pressed.

Maybe it would be bad for battery life? Maybe it ends up being much more annoying than useful? It seems trivial for this to be doable, and appears as if it could alleviate a lot of issues some people have when interacting with a slick piece of glass. I'm surprised that as far as I know, this is not a feature in iOS.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

Why isn't it an option to have a device's haptic feedback issue subtle little "clicks" when you type on the virtual keyboard's keys? It seems to me that this would be really nice to have. This could be extended to other common interface widget items, for instance when buttons are pressed.

Maybe it would be bad for battery life? Maybe it ends up being much more annoying than useful? It seems trivial for this to be doable, and appears as if it could alleviate a lot of issues some people have when interacting with a slick piece of glass. I'm surprised that as far as I know, this is not a feature in iOS.

If they did add it it’d hopefully be a toggle you could turn on and off in keyboard settings. I know I’d always have enabled, anytime I use an android phone and feel the feedback from keyboard clicks I always wish my iPhone could do it.

 

[Nicky G]

If they did add it it’d hopefully be a toggle you could turn on and off in keyboard settings. I know I’d always have enabled, anytime I use an android phone and feel the feedback from keyboard clicks I always wish my iPhone could do it.

I didn't know that was an Android feature. Dang!

 

[TheSkywalker77]

I didn't know that was an Android feature. Dang!

Yup! It's been there for quite some time.

 

[danmart]

I has this way back on a Windows Mobile phone... (before there was an iPhone...)

 

[Paco II]

Fwiw Gboard offers this.

 

[retta283]

My Samsung Galaxy S from 2010 can do it. Not sure why there's never been an option for it on iPhone.

 

[Nicky G]

My Samsung Galaxy S from 2010 can do it. Not sure why there's never been an option for it on iPhone.

There's a decent chance that it's under patent, and Apple doesn't want to license it, considering how obvious this feels, and especially now that I know it's been an option on Android for a while. They (the rights owners) may be asking for an exorbitant licensing fee.

I thought maybe, the actual user experience of this much haptic feedback would be annoying, and not work as well as it does in my head. But yeah, based on feedback in this thread (thanks all!) it seems like it's probably not that.

 

[danmart]

To give you some context to this comment, my degree is in Ergonomics, so human-computer interfaces is something I have spent quite a lot of time with.

Haptic feedback when you press a key on a touchscreen is of limited value, in my opinion. The group it would be most useful for are people who can’t hear audio feedback, or who don’t want to use that. All it tells you is that you pressed a button, nothing more than that.

That kind of haptic feedback is no use for navigating controls, i.e. helping you press the right button. For that you need ‘surface haptics’. Typically this is done with electrostatics, and it allows you to move your finger across a flat screen and ‘feel’ that you have moved from one button to another. If Apple were to integrate that into the iPad it would make touch typing on the soft-keyboard possible, and would be a big leap forward.

Presumably the technology is not mature enough for that yet, but it will come at some point, I am sure.