Hi everyone,
Would love to share a few thoughts on haptics. Ever noticed how some apps like Duolingo or Wealthsimple have haptic feedback on buttons to switch between screens in the bottom navigation bar? On the other hand, there is no haptic feedback for that on Instagram or LinkedIn. I find it fascinating how very popular apps make different design decisions on whether to enable haptic feedback, and where to use it if they decide to use it.
When it comes to Canadian banking apps, I noticed that RBC doesn’t use haptics in the bottom nav bar or anywhere else I know, and CIBC doesn’t have a nav bar. TD app does have a nav bar, but I can’t check if it has haptics because I can’t login.
Neo doesn’t seem to use haptics anywhere. From the user’s perspective, the difference between “we haven’t thought about it”, “we are working on it”, and “we have thought about it and decided against it” is never clear, but these are the things that come to mind when I use the app.
I know that haptics can be a powerful tool to enhance user experience, but some people hate it so much they make explainer videos on YouTube on how to turn it off. Too much haptics can be a problem for some users just like others would like to see haptics where it’s not available.
My view is that it’s better to have haptics where it makes sense with an ability to turn it off rather than not to have it at all. But I can see how people who find haptics annoying would be reluctant to turn it off unless they find it extremely annoying.
Simply having choices is not enough – the default setting matters a lot.
It also must be one of those things that are hard to test. If a small set of users got access to haptics, what can be measured to tell that this is better than no haptics? Most users will probably not notice any difference at all and won’t be able to pick up on it.
With a feature like this, I don’t think that user error can be effectively measured, unless people are missing buttons or something, which is unlikely for a nav bar with four buttons and generous space between them given the size of average fingers and the size of most smartphones today.
Personally, I love nav bar haptics for its meaningless hedonism. It doesn’t solve any pain points for the user, and it doesn’t make the company money. There is no ROI, and I can’t think of any metric it could be tied to. The only reason it exists is to make users feel good. No purpose but to make the button push feel more enjoyable and juicy for the user. It’s like that pleasing sound that your iPhone makes when you lock the screen. Is it a small and inconsequential detail? Absolutely. But when enough of these details are perfected in one product, the whole thing feels like magic.
) to the experience, but it’s also a fine balance. I love your suggestion of having the choice with default settings in mind. I’ll bring this up with our design team—thanks for sparking the convo!