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Why Apple's Haptic Feedback on My New iPhone is Messing With My Mojo

Under my fingertips, when I touch my iPhone, I feel a kafkian dialogue taking place

By Rui AlvesPublished about a year ago 6 min read
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Why Apple's Haptic Feedback on My New iPhone is Messing With My Mojo
Photo by Rob Hampson on Unsplash

Dear Apple, lately, my phone's haptic feedback feature has been getting in the way of my writing mojo.

I know that haptic feedback is nothing more than a vibration when I hit a key. 

It was cool at first because it felt like an actual keyboard under my fingertips, not just a screen.

You will say that I can easily switch it on or off, but it's funny that I get easily fed up with it when I have it on, and then I miss it when I turn it off.

It is not a question of whether the messing up of my mojo has a positive or negative effect on my writing.

It's not just the sound of me hitting these keys, but it is combined with the knowledge that every tap entails some visual response - that there is a slight vibration each time I hit a key and that this vibration makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something real. As if an actual tangible word appeared on the screen while I typed and got rid of all that blank space.

When I pick up my phone, it's usually to write something down quickly and easily, like a quick thought, or to take dictation for an article I'm penning later in the day.

This knowledge is in my head, and I can't get rid of it.

I'm worried about this - It bothers me on an existential level; don't take my word for it - try tapping at random on your screen while someone reads out loud from Pride and Prejudice.

It's almost as though they were placed there by some higher power specifically to distract me as I tried to get work done.

When haptic feedback is on, and I'm trying to type quickly with one hand, it feels like someone has their hands over mine as they're tapping - and that's a massive distraction from what my brain is focused on: getting words down on the page as fast as possible.

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Dear reader,

If you're not familiar with how haptics work in today's smartphones, then here's a quick refresher:

Haptic feedback, or haptics, is the use of tactile sensation to provide virtual and physical feedback. It's used in various products and services: iPhones, Apple Watches, Apple TVs, MacBook Pros, and Airs all use haptic feedback.

Apple has been developing its own in-house haptics technology for some time now - first with the Taptic Engine on early iPhone models (and later with other devices like iPad Pro).

A force-sensitive resistor (FSR) can be used to detect when you touch something on your screen or press down on it and send that information to the software being run by the CPU inside your device.

That software can then use this information as input from which it can calculate how hard you're pressing against it, allowing it (for example) to detect whether or not someone has tapped their finger against an icon or button to select or close out an app; this type of input is called "capacitive sensing" because capacitive resistors measure changes in capacitance caused by charges moving through them (or away from them).

Apple and other Big Tech companies are looking into new haptic feedback systems that could be used in future devices to create sophisticated haptic effects that mimic real-world or virtual-world environments and actions across full displays or on targeted collections areas.

Apple's cutting-edge haptics tech

One of the big innovations in Apple's iPhone franchise was its state-of-the-art approach to haptics.

But what if your next iPhone could give you more than just a bigger screen? What if it also could deliver new and improved haptic feedback that would go even further that the one on our Apple Watch? 

After all, that watch has been rocking our wrists for a while now, so it'd be about time for another breakthrough feature to make its way into future iPhones (and other devices).

  • Haptic feedback helps you be aware of your surroundings without looking at your device.
  • Haptic feedback is a great way to be alerted of something without looking at your device. 

For example, you can feel the vibration in your pocket or on a table if the phone rings. 

Haptic feedback also lets you know when an email arrives or if someone has texted you. It's even been used for alarms - the alarm goes off, and there's no need to look at the clock.

Because haptic feedback gives us information without looking at our devices, it has become essential to how we interact with our phones.

Apple has been working on delivering various kinds of haptic feedback

Apple's original patent introduced an idea for an audio transducer assembly that would produce user-specific haptic feedback in response to inputs from an accelerometer or a gyroscope.

For example, if you were listening to music and started running, the speaker's vibration could be adjusted based on your speed so that it felt like you were running with the beat of the song.

In practice, this meant that when specific movements were detected - like turning off or on display - and certain sounds were produced by hardware components inside our phones, like speakers or vibrators that might not otherwise make any noise at all. 

We'll likely hear something different than what we're used to hearing today when powering down our devices after unlocking them with their faces first before they're fully powered off through some auto sleep function, as well as other things explicitly related to us, as individuals who use them regularly every single day without fail because they're integral parts of our lives now since when smartphones first hit worldwide markets.

Your iPhone could use something called "3D Touch" to convert raw touch data into pressure data to deliver user-specific haptic feedback related to 3D objects.

For example, when you press your finger on an icon for an app, the phone will recognize its shape and give you feedback based on that shape. 

If your finger presses against a rectangular icon, it might vibrate like a buzzer; if it presses against a circular icon, it might vibrate like a bell. 

The iPhone would be able to tell which type of tool you wanted based on how hard or soft your finger was pressing down, but even more interesting was the idea that this technology could be used as an input method for apps rather than just another way of interacting with them.

You can expect the next iPhone will have an improved Taptic engine

If Apple plans to use a new Taptic engine in the next iPhone, this means you can expect an upgrade: the new one will be faster and more accurate than currently available.

It will also be more powerful and capable of producing more complex haptic effects beyond simple taps or buzzes. 

So you can expect to feel some real force feedback when scrolling through apps or improved ways of using your phone as a controller for virtual 3D games.

Concluding remarks

Apple has been a leader in the field of haptics for years now, and with every new iPhone release, it looks like they're going to keep pushing forward.

These companies may well be working in state-of-the-art ways of manipulating magnetic fields within smartphone devices. 

The concept is pretty wild - and would likely require much more work than simply adding the buzziest vibration motor to your next iPhone.

_____________

Thanks for reading this article. Please consider supporting our community of creators by becoming a Vocal+ Member. Feel free to come back any time and pick up another thread from my Vocal book of content. Small tips, pledges, and big hearts are highly appreciated. Till next time, cheers. - Rui

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About the Creator

Rui Alves

Hi, I'm Rui Alves, a teacher, army veteran & digital pathfinder. Author, alchemist of sound & Gen-AI artist.

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