haptic feedback

Haptic feedback, often referred to as simply "haptics", is the use of the sense of touch in a user interface design to provide information to a end user. When referring to mobile phones and similar devices, this generally means the use of vibrations from the device's vibration alarm to denote that a touchscreen button has been pressed. In this particular example, the phone would vibrate slightly in response to the user's activation of an on-screen control, making up for the lack of a normal tactile response that the user would experience when pressing a physical button. The resistive force that some "force feedback" joysticks and video game steering wheels provide is another form of haptic feedback.
Also known as: "haptics"

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Mobile Tech Glossary