iOS 16 now allows iPhones to physically feel keyboard tap. Here’s how to enable the new haptic feedback feature for iPhone keyboards.

There’s a new hidden feature in iOS 16 that has many users excited. It’s a haptic setting for the iPhone’s keyboard. What that means is the setting allows users to “feel” each individual key press on the iPhone’s built-in keyboard.

Haptic keyboards are nothing new. Android phones have had haptic keyboards for years and even third-party iOS keyboards have had haptic support for just as long. But now that the iPhone finally has haptic keyboard ability in the default iOS keyboard, millions of people are set to discover the feature – and benefits – for the first time.

What Is Haptic Keyboard On iPhone?

The first thing to understand is what haptics is. Haptic isn’t just a digital or technological feature. The term simply refers to the sense of touch. Any physical keyboard you’ve ever used has had haptics built right in – that is, you could feel each individual key press thanks to the mechanics of the keyboard and the touch sensors built into your fingertips.

But when the iPhone came out – and the world was now introduced to entirely software-based keyboards, we lost that haptic touch. You could press a key on your flat screen, but couldn’t feel any vibration as the key activated and there were zero physical movements with the key.

But with iOS 16, Apple has now added the sense of physical touch when you press a key on the iPhone keyboard. How Apple has done this is thanks to something iPhones have had for a long time, called the Taptic Engine.

What Is The iPhone Taptic Engine?

Apple has a little component in the iPhone called the Taptic Engine. It’s essentially a small vibration device that vibrates in response to some action on the iPhone.

The Taptic Engine has actually been in every iPhone since the iPhone 6s series, which is why all iPhones going back to the iPhone 8 now support haptic keyboard feedback provided they have iOS 16 installed (the iPhone 6s series and iPhone 7 series cannot run iOS 16, thus don’t have haptic keyboard support).

If you’ve ever tapped a button in an app and felt your iPhone vibrate a little, that’s because that button tap activated the Taptic Engine. While vibration isn’t necessary for the button press to work, it gives the user a nice way to tell an action has been performed.

What’s really great about iPhone keyboard haptics support in iOS 16 is that Apple has found a way to narrow the vibration from the Taptic Engine down to focus on just the key being pressed. That means you can really feel each key press with you turn haptics support on.

How To Enable Haptic Feedback For iPhone Keyboard

Apple has made enabling haptic keyboard support very easy in iOS 16. Just do the following:

Open the Settings app.
Tap Sounds & Haptics.
Tap Keyboard Feedback.
Toggle the switch next to “Haptic” ON (green).

Once you’ve done this, haptic feedback will be enabled for the iPhone’s default keyboard in iOS 16.

Also, note that haptic feedback will be enabled even if you mute your phone.

And check out:

Michael Grothaus

Apple expert and novelist, Michael Grothaus has been covering tech on KnowYourMobile for the best part of 10 years. Prior to this, he worked at Apple. And before that, he was a film journalist. Michael is a published author; his book Epiphany Jones was voted as one of the best novels about Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly. Michael is also a writer at other publications including VICE and Fast Company.

0 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

How To Enable Haptic Feedback For iPhone Keyboard

What Is Haptic Keyboard On iPhone?

What Is The iPhone Taptic Engine?

How To Enable Haptic Feedback For iPhone Keyboard

Michael Grothaus

Most Read