Taptic Engine

This app adds haptic feedback to your MacBook Pro Touch Bar keys

Haptic Feedback on MacBook Pro Touch Bar

Apple’s latest line of MacBook Pros sports an OLED Touch Bar just above the physical keyboard. The point of the Touch Bar is to offer a dynamic, programmable strip that acts as both an extension of your keyboard and an auxiliary input device for select apps on your Mac.

As incredible as the Touch Bar is, one feature that Apple seemed to skim across when designing it was haptic feedback.

Harp brings haptic feedback to your music controls

The haptic feedback trend continues with the release of a new free jailbreak tweak called Harp by iOS developer candoizo.

This tweak generates a soft 'buzz' in your hand whenever you interact with your iPhone’s music controls from your Now Playing interfaces in Control Center or on the Lock screen.

HapticScroll gives you haptic feedback when you scroll beyond iOS’ scrolling limits

Some of the more visually appealing parts of iOS that I have always liked are those fluid bouncy animations you get when you over-scroll and end up hitting the bottom of a pane. This is particularly noticeable in apps like Safari or Settings, where scrolling too far gives you the bounce effect.

Because haptic feedback jailbreak tweaks are so popular as of late, iOS developer Hrvoje Kostic made yet another addition to the family called HapticScroll, which gives you a little bit of a buzz whenever you happen to over-scroll and hit that bouncy boundary in an app.

HapticKeyboard enables haptic feedback as you type on your iPhone

If you’re into the haptic feedback craze and enjoy feeling the ‘buzz’ in your hand when you perform actions on your iPhone, then you’re going to love a new free jailbreak tweak for called HapticKeyboard by developer Cole Cabral.

As the name suggests, this tweak enables haptic feedback as you type on your keyboard on your iPhone.

TapticPasscodeButtons adds haptic feedback to your passcode buttons

Lots of people are fans of haptic feedback, and now that most of the latest iPhones have that sleek taptic engine instead of a clunky vibration motor, those haptic responses are even better to feel than ever.

A new free jailbreak tweak called TapticPasscodeButtons brings that satisfying haptic feedback to the passcode buttons on your Lock screen, and it taps into the power of the taptic engine we previously mentioned in order to do it.

Alto’s Adventure now supports haptic feedback via iPhone 7’s new Taptic Engine

Developer Snowman pushed a nice little update to Alto's Adventure, its award winning endless snowboard odyssey for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, which implements rich haptic feedback for users with iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus devices. Apple allows developers to create custom vibrations on the iPhone 7's improved Taptic Engine via a Taptic API.

Snowman is among the first developers to have implemented Taptic feedback.

How to disable iPhone 7 force feedback for system controls and interactions

The iPhone 7 packs in a bigger, more sophisticated Taptic Engine that one in the iPhone 6s. Taptic Engine, of course, is Apple's fancy marketing moniker for force feedback. The iPhone 7's enhanced Taptic Engine is capable of reproducing a range of subtle vibrations.

In fact, it's so good that Apple has decided to provide a new API to developers to add custom vibratory feedback to their apps. If you dislike this feature, you can turn off iPhone 7 haptics for things like system controls and other interactions.

iPhone 7 Plus teardown: 3GB of RAM, faux speaker grille, bigger battery & more

Repair wizards over at iFixit flew out to Japan to obtain their iPhone 7 Plus (in Rose Gold), performing their ritual teardown dance which has helped confirm what we've been suspecting all along: that a second grille at the bottom doesn't house a second speaker.

Other interesting observations gleaned from peeking under the hood of the iPhone 7 Plus include a replaceable Home button, a lot bigger Taptic Engine than in the iPhone 6s, a bigger 2,900 mAh battery, dust and water-proofing measures and other tidbits.

New Apple invention would employ multi-axis haptic feedback based on device orientation

A new patent filing by Apple, which surfaced Tuesday in the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) database, provides yet another indication that Apple's engineers continue work on perfecting haptic feedback in its products. According to the filing, the company has invented a multi-axis haptic feedback solution capable of producing vibrations in different directions, based on whether a user holds the device in portrait or landscape orientation.

Notifications not forwarding to Apple Watch? Check these likely causes

It's a nice feeling when software works as it should, but that's not always the case. In the case of the Apple Watch, notifications that are supposed to be tapping on your wrist may not work when you expect them to.

If you're having problems with your Apple Watch not receiving the notifications your iPhone is putting out, then you'll want to follow the steps in this piece to troubleshoot what's going on and fix the problem.

How the iPhone 6s Plus Taptic Engine compares to the vibration motor in the iPhone 6 Plus

If you're rocking a new iPhone 6s, then you've no doubt felt the difference that the new Taptic Engine makes when it comes to vibrations. Vibrations are now audibly quieter on the iPhone 6s, yet still just as strong, if not stronger. If you've ever felt a vibration from the Apple Watch, a device the necessitated the creation of the Taptic Engine, then you already understand the difference.

You'll also notice a new default vibration option for text tones in the Settings app. The new default vibration, called Synchronized, replaces the older Staccato default vibration from older devices. Synchronized allows for the Taptic Engine to sync with the sound of a selected text tone. This provides users with a unique vibration that matches each selected text tone, which is really cool.

We've created a video highlighting some of the differences between iPhone 6s Plus and the iPhone 6 Plus' vibration patterns. It's a change that goes unnoticed to the eye, but you can certainly feel and even hear the differences.