For some years, Apple has the presence of the Taptic Engine on its iPhone, one of the best vibration motors available on the market. However, this feature has never been exploited as regards the onscreen virtual keyboard, which does not offer any vibration at the pressure of individual keys, nor is it exploited by many third-party keyboards. Adding the feature is now Gboard, the iOS version of the Google Keyboard.
Gboard 1.40 has just introduced a new option that enables "aptic feedback" on all iPhones from 7 onwards. By activating it, each pressure is accompanied by a slight vibration as opposed to the cold passive contact with the glass that would be obtained with the default setting. As we said, neither the native iOS keyboard, nor many third-party versions, offer this feature well-exploited on Android.
Vibration naturally emulates the physical approach with a real button, while at the same time providing feedback to the user to inform him of the pressure. Not everyone, however, prefer this by referring to the real world, and this is why the option is disabled by default and can only be activated at the discretion of the user, who may find it - depending on the tastes - useful or annoying. What's more, this is a new feature on iOS, and is not officially scheduled.
How to activate aptic feedback in the iOS keyboard with Gboard
To activate, simply access the Gboard App settings on iPhone and then activate the "Key Aptic Keypress" entry. Unfortunately iOS does not have the same possibilities of customizing vibration (such as the duration of the same), but it is still a step forward. Until now, other iOS keyboards have offered almost always paid, while SwiftKey only has support limited to aptic feedback.
Gboard is completely free and in addition to having just added aptic feedback, it is one of the best keyboards available on smartphones.
The app can be downloaded here. https://itunes.apple.com/app/gboard-the-google-keyboard/id1091700242?mt=8
