Have you ever noticed that your phone sends clicks and pulses to you when pressing buttons? What you’re experiencing is haptic feedback.
Haptic feedback has a powerful role in improving the user experience for those who use it. It’s what lets users know that they’ve done something and that the phone received their input.
Tactile experiences are a big part of how we interact with technology, especially as we move away from more physical mediums into more digital ones on a large scale. The physical sensations simulate the sense of a physical presence, affecting everything from the most immersive games to the most basic apps.
A 2018 study saw that skin communicates positive and negative touch stimuli to humans’ sensory neurons.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that touch plays an essential part in helping people make sense of the world and the devices they use every day. Let’s take a look at how haptics are being used in smartphones and wearables, and even in niche fields like car dashboards and surgical simulators, and how you can benefit!
If you decide haptics are the way to go, but you’re not sure about how to integrate them into your existing apps, an expert developer can help you make use of the hardware available to you, making sure the new features don’t negatively affect your app’s performance or limit your scaling potential.
Outsourcing and staff augmentation models allow you to access these developers in a cost-effective manner by providing access to developers from countries like Latin America, without the need to commit to a full-time salary.
Are you ready to start your development project?
We have the developers you need to take your development project in the right direction.
Companies are proven to grow their business faster with Trio.
What Is Haptic Feedback?
Haptic feedback refers to the use of touch to communicate with users.
While the phrase ‘haptic feedback’ might not ring a bell, you’re probably more familiar with this technology than you know.
When your phone vibrates, for example, this is an example of a device giving you a tactile response.
Or if you’re a gamer, you’ll probably be familiar with the controller vibrating in your hands when taking damage, or when drifting in a racing game.
These examples are haptic technology at its most basic level. But haptic feedback goes a step further when it comes to smartphones.
Haptic feedback is designed to respond to specific kinds of user touch. So, the responses you receive when holding a button versus just tapping it are different, and thus, they communicate different things to you.
This sort of interaction is more nuanced and makes smartphones much more dynamic than people realize.
While haptic feedback has been around for a really long time, one of the most notable milestones was its introduction into video games, which happened in 1976 in Sega’s arcade game ‘Fonz’.
By the 1990s, it was incredibly common to see it incorporated into controllers. Today, it’s in everything; smartphones, smartwatches, and pretty much anything else with a touchscreen. You name it, the chances are that it has some sort of haptic technology.
Types of Haptic Feedback
Haptic defines a family of technologies that work similarly. However, each haptic technology communicates in different ways.
Here are some of the most common haptic technologies in use:
Vibrotactile Haptics
Vibrotactile haptics is the most widespread haptic technology amongst commercial haptic devices.
It’s the buzz of your phone and the rumble of your controller. What’s most interesting about vibrotactile feedback, however, is that the technology seeks to communicate sound through vibrations.
Generally, humans have a receptor in their brain called Pacinian Corpuscle that is tuned in to detect these special sound vibrations.
Through feeling sounds, you can react to subtle cues about objects you interact with.
It might be hard to fathom, but when you run your finger on a surface, it is sound vibrations more than anything that let you know whether that surface is rough or smooth.
Devices using vibrotactile feedback tend to rely on motors to do the trick.
In an Xbox controller, for instance, there’s a motor on either side of the controller. When the motor responds to an in-built trigger in a video game, it spins.
The unevenness of the weight gets a good vibration out of the controller. And that gives gamers a cue that there’s something to be excited about.
This is also the kind of haptic technology that we come across in smartphones. Your developers will be able to make use of it to enhance the sense of interaction when your users type, swipe, or receive certain notifications from your app.
Usually, the tools the developers use are platform-specific, so they may not be able to write hybrid code for this, especially if you want the most efficient code possible. Luckily, tools like Apple’s Taptic Engine, which offers refined vibration patterns tailored to specific actions, are really easy to get the hang of.
There are two types of vibrotactile haptics you’ll need to decide between: transient and continuous.
Transient Haptic Feedback
Transient haptic feedback is by definition brief. It comes and goes.
These impulses occur at a specific point in time, perhaps when you toggle a switch or use the Duolingo app.
Continuous Haptic Feedback
Continuous haptic feedback, unsurprisingly, is the exact opposite of transient haptic feedback.
The patterns that take place in continuous haptic feedback are more akin to the vibration of a ringtone.
The feedback is noticeably lengthy and happens over a period of time.
Ultrasonic Mid-Air Haptics
Ultrasonic mid-air haptics is the latest technology in haptic feedback, which genuinely seems like it came out of a modern science fiction film.
Mid-air haptic technology generates tactile sensations on a user’s skin in mid-air, without needing any direct interaction with the user’s body.
The scientific root of this phenomenon involves ultrasonic phased arrays. These arrays focus acoustic radiation in space and deflect the skin, stimulating a tactile sensation.
In practice, such a sensation is difficult to describe. But you can guarantee it’s the next big thing in virtual reality applications.
There are already a bunch of research labs and startups, like Ultraleap, who are investing a lot of time and money into perfecting ultrasonic mid-air haptics. The idea is that they will not only use them for the most basic sensations, but eventually will be able to implement them into other tools.
Some examples – outside of the basic immersive AR/VR experiences – we’re really looking forward to including touchless control panels and gesture-based interfaces. The latter could be particularly useful in areas known for being unsanitary due to traffic, like hospitals or ATMs.
Microfluidics
Microfluidics technology utilizes fluids that flow through and are confined in containers.
The geometrical constraints create pockets of pressure or temperature on a user’s skin.
Point-of-care (PoC) diagnostics in the healthcare industry are a major facilitator of microfluidics. Blood testing especially takes advantage of this technology.
Glucose testing, cholesterol testing, and even COVID-19 testing employ microfluidics.
Force Control
Force control haptic technology encompasses large-scale mechanical devices that exert force on some part of the user’s body or their full body.
This type of haptic feedback normally works via a robotic lever or controller. The manipulator of the lever can feel the force the controller is experiencing.
They can also adjust the level of force they receive to reduce physical fatigue.
Force feedback is exceedingly helpful in the manufacturing process for its sensor capabilities, as it ensures a machine is exerting the proper amount of force for a given task. It’s also used in fields like medicine to simulate tissue feedback in remote operations utilizing surgical robots and ease the transition for doctors.
As a more commercial consumer, you’ll probably encounter force feedback in tools like high-end gaming wheels, flight simulators, and anything else trying to use resistance to give you a more realistic and immersive experience.
Surface Haptics
Surface haptics is another common haptic feedback mechanism. In surface haptics, interactive touch to a physical surface prompts a tactile effect.
Interactive touch, in this case, typically requires the use of human fingertips. Similarly, touchscreens are the optimal physical surfaces to deploy surface haptics.
While at first surface haptics might not seem any more interesting than a simple vibration, the possibilities are endless.
What if you went online shopping and it was possible to feel the fabric of the clothes you’re considering buying?
The crux of this innovation is active friction. Passive touch surfaces can be a virtual environment in and of themselves.
Naturally, delivering surface haptics for commercial use is the latest challenge among modern application development trends. Tanvas, Hap2U, and a bunch of other companies are working on it, focusing on mimicking textures.
Although there are very few definitive results at this point in time, a little bit of imagination is all we need to envision the future of this technology in sectors like e-commerce and product design.
How Haptic Feedback Works
Haptic feedback involves a lot of different aspects working together. You have the software components, and then the hardware components that need to be integrated efficiently for the optimal user experience.
Haptic systems use actuators. These devices convert electrical signals into mechanical movement, generating the force, motion, or – most commonly – vibration that we understand to be haptic feedback. The most common kinds we see today include Eccentric Rotating Mass motors (which we mentioned above) and Linear Resonant Actuators.
ERM motors spin an off-center weight to create vibration, while LRAs use a magnetic mass and spring. The latter is more precise between the two.
There are also advanced systems like piezoelectric actuators (expand and contract to generate vibrations) and ultrasonic phased arrays, which simulate mid-air touch as discussed above.
The most difficult part is being able to use the haptic feedback as accurately as possible to convey the experience that you would like to.
Applications of Haptic Feedback
Now that you understand the different types of haptic feedback and a little bit of the technology behind how it works, let’s look at the applications. This will not only give you a better idea of the competitors that you could look at, but also give you an idea of where there are some market gaps you could take advantage of.
Consumer Electronics
Consumer electronics like phones, tablets, smartwatches, and other tools that utilize touch screens are one of the most common places you’ll see haptic feedback in the consumer market. This includes buzzing when you click on certain buttons or make certain gestures to confirm you’ve clicked in the right place.
Users are usually able to set up their haptic feedback preferences, including the intensity, consistency length, and more. Just think of your Apple or Android device.
Wearables rely strongly on tactile cues, as many do not have the visual or audio alerts available on larger, more complex electronics.
Gaming and Virtual Reality
The goal of gaming isn’t so much to confirm an action as it is to simulate real-world sensations. PlayStation is one of the biggest names in the industry, with its DualSense controller for PS5, which aims to intensify immersion by simulating tension, impact, and even terrain in some cases.
Players can feel a heart beating in their hands, or when their car hits gravel.
As VR systems go further, the immersive nature of haptic feedback in gaming becomes even greater.
HaptX and bHaptics are two major players in the wearable industry. They are expanding VR technology into things like gloves, which will allow users to feel texture, pressure, and more in their future games. But this is really just the start, as full-body suits are on the horizon.
Automotive Industry
The automotive industry used to have haptic feedback limited to touchscreen dashboards. However, that is no longer the case, although many major companies still do this to minimize the need to look at the panel while driving.
Tesla’s yoke steering wheel uses haptic feedback to confirm inputs (lane changes, autopilot activation, etc) and even ensure that drivers do not fall asleep on the road.
Vibration can also be integrated into other parts of the car, like seats and pedals. However, it’s important to consider the costs associated with more haptic feedback mechanisms in relation to the increased convenience or safety provided.
Medical and Healthcare
The medical and healthcare fields are among the fields that stand to benefit from haptic feedback the most, as it can be utilized in everything from training and diagnostics to actual patient care.
We’ve already mentioned how surgical simulators and robotics can make use of force feedback.
Haptics can also be used in assistive technology. Just think of how visually impaired people can benefit from touch-based navigation cues. This means they would be able to use smartphones without needing to speak, and vibrations on something like a smartwatch could help them navigate in real-time.
FeelSpace is already working on this with their belt that helps users orient themselves. Gloves that help with rehabilitation when motor issues pop up.
Best Practices for Implementing Haptic Feedback
User experience (UX) thrives on custom interactions. Users want to be immersed in the digital experiences they seek out.
As technology becomes more and more modernized, immersive experiences must involve a sort of interactivity that older generations could never even imagine.
This is why there are smart applications that store user data and tell you everything from your favorite song to your heart rate.
Likewise, businesses that prioritize mobile application development are constantly on the lookout for ways to enrich their consumers by making frequent updates and collecting user feedback.
Any app reviews you’ve seen likely challenged the user interface (UI) of a particular app or the ads that appeared far too often.
Users want technology that works with them rather than against them. That much is clear.
To make sure that you are doing this, make it intuitive. User expectations are essential to consider, so it is important to keep things subtle and non-intrusive, especially if you are making changes to an existing app. Likewise, it is important that you ensure consistency across devices.
When designing your app, you need to think about your primary target market, but you also can’t forget about the smaller groups of people that may use your app, such as those with accessibility issues, specifically those who have motor or sensory impairments.
Haptic feedback can be very helpful, but can also cause issues, so make sure you always allow users to customize their experience.
Finally, we would recommend that you do some real-world testing. You can run A/B tests or simply roll out updates to smaller groups of your existing users to make sure they are received well.
Subscribe to learn more about Hiring
Challenges and Considerations
By far the biggest issue people run into is overusing haptic feedback, which leads to fatigue on the user’s part. Just think about any apps you’ve used that buzz too much. It can be incredibly annoying, and sometimes you end up becoming so desensitized that you don’t even notice it anymore.
Battery consumption can also be an issue, as you don’t want your app to be too intensive. Similarly, it’s important to remember that some older devices might be used to run your app, which can affect the overall feel of the haptic feedback, so you may have to adjust to maintain consistent implementation.
Then, of course, there are accessibility concerns as mentioned above.
You need to have some way that you can adapt to real-world feedback, so people keep using your app, and haptic feedback adds to it, rather than takes away from it.
Using Haptic Feedback in Your App
Using haptic feedback in your mobile app will improve its user experience, whether you’re creating a simple smartphone app or using complex VR gloves. The uses range from gaming and notifications to training in industries like healthcare.
If you’re looking to build your mobile app, Trio can help you build your MVP or scale your core team with top-tier senior iOS, React Native, or Android developers.
If you’re looking to build the next big mobile game, you can learn more about hiring qualified game developers at Trio! Reach out to us to set up a free consultation and get started!
