What is Apple's 'Taptic Engine' and 'Force Touch'?

Apple unveiled a new MacBook this week with a “Force Touch” trackpad that uses the same “Taptic Engine” as the Watch. Rumours suggest they'll also make their way into the new iPhone.

But what do they do?

Those of you who have been using laptops for a while may remember the tiny joysticks that were commonplace before touchpads emerged. They were serviceable after a bit of practice, but you wouldn’t want to go back to one.

Similarly, the first touchpads felt great, but you had to use separate mouse buttons as they couldn’t register clicks. They were a step forward at the time but I’m glad that I’m not still using one.

Apple’s Force Touch is just the latest attempt to make touchpads a little less awkward. Laptops can already register taps, and even detect multiple fingers at once, but now they’ve learned to measure how hard you press, which enables some new user interface tricks.

The name makes it sound more complicated than it really is. Apple does love to give names to features which probably don't need names.

In truth, you don’t really “click” the Force Touch at all as the trackpad is solid and doesn’t actually depress. Instead you just get the sensation of a click provided by the “Taptic Engine”.

This name is a portmanteau of “tap” and "haptic feedback", a technology which imparts forces or vibrations to the user to convey information. Think of a game controller which shudders when your character is shot: that’s haptic feedback.

The Watch has the same thing built-in. It even creates a tiny noise to go with the vibration, making the illusion of a mechanical click even more realistic. The same device also vibrates to alert you when notifications are received.

Underneath the Force Touch pad are sensors which detect how hard you press, which is key to the new MacBook interface.

Press on a file icon and it will be selected, just as on the current MacBooks, but keep pressing harder and it will open. Press the fast-forward button in a video player and you can vary the speed at which it skips by pressing lighter or harder.

All of the Multi-Touch features you already use – such as pinch-to-zoom and scrolling with two fingers – will remain. But these new features will give you an extra bit of control.

Both the Watch and the new MacBook have Force Touch and the Taptic Engine, and rumours suggest that the next iPhone will also have them. If so, we’d be likely to see a host of new apps – particularly games – spring up to take advantage of them.