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Taptic Engine Weak on my Watch Sport?

ideal.dreams

ideal.dreams

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Jul 19, 2010
2,387
1,299
I got my watch yesterday and today was my first "full" day with it. It's incredible.

One thing I noticed is that the "taps" feel somewhat weak to me and at first I was missing many notifications. Just this morning I glanced down at my watch and saw that I missed a text message tap. Now I'll add that I'm coming from a Pebble, wearing one for about a year and a half, at that. The Pebble certainly doesn't "tap" you, it's a rough vibration that you can actually hear from a good distance away. After reading that there were some issues with weak taptic engines, I became concerned that mine may be defective.

At the moment, I don't know anyone who I can compare watches with as none of my friends or family have or received theirs yet. I figured I'd ask around here to see what the general consensus is – is the taptic engine just normally "weak" or is there something wrong with mine?

Thanks :)
 
I notice mine more each day. The taps felt weak at first but as I've learned what to expect I have tuned into the taps.

Not sure if you have a store near but maybe you can try a different watch there for comparison.
 
There's always the "prominent haptic" setting to get an extra strong tap before normal ones. That seems to make it a lot less likely to miss something.
 
I put mine on the stronger tap to try it out, it is stronger but I noticed with it off.
 
ideal.dreams said:
I got my watch yesterday and today was my first "full" day with it. It's incredible.

One thing I noticed is that the "taps" feel somewhat weak to me and at first I was missing many notifications. Just this morning I glanced down at my watch and saw that I missed a text message tap. Now I'll add that I'm coming from a Pebble, wearing one for about a year and a half, at that. The Pebble certainly doesn't "tap" you, it's a rough vibration that you can actually hear from a good distance away. After reading that there were some issues with weak taptic engines, I became concerned that mine may be defective.

At the moment, I don't know anyone who I can compare watches with as none of my friends or family have or received theirs yet. I figured I'd ask around here to see what the general consensus is – is the taptic engine just normally "weak" or is there something wrong with mine?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

I would contact apple about it. There have been reports of faulty taptic engine components made by one of the suppliers. I just got my watch but I can feel the taps pretty well.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-watch-faulty-taptic-engine-slows-roll-out-1430339460
 
It feels strong on my 38mm sport and felt strong on all the demos I tried on. I don't use prominent but do use the strongest setting otherwise.
 
I'm also coming from the Pebble and the haptic feedback feels extremely weak even on prominent and high. I had my Pebble in the living room and could hear it vibrating from the bedroom during my morning alarm. I never missed a notification with that but like you keep noticing that I'm missing things on my watch.

Hopefully this will be addressed. I also don't have a watch to compare to but might go to the store to try a demo model and compare.
 
Mine also feels weak. i know it misses some taps too. For example if I force touch to change watch face, it will not vibrate sometimes (about 50% of the time when woken from sleep). Do others have this issue?
 
Not sure

Hi guys i am not sure if my taptic engine works well. just want to ask maybe you can help me with this.

sometimes the watch just vibrates and sometimes it knocks. i recognized it depends on the notification if it comes from. facebook messenger for example its like knock knock brr brr knock. if i get the stand up notification it is like knock knock.

i like the idea that i get different notification haptics but i always think something is broken. can you guys verify the behavior? Because the recognition of the vibrations is weak, the knock is fine.
 
Newtons Apple said:
It is being reported that many of the tactic engines are defective. I read it in the business news today. Apple is scrambling to decide how to fix. I will go and find the URL and return.


http://www.marketwatch.com/story/faulty-taptic-engine-slows-apple-watch-roll-out-2015-04-29
Click to expand...

According to the WSJ there is no recall planned since Apple caught the issue before the defective part went out (at least en masse). Now it's entirely possible that some did go out or that even the "good" part has some rate of defects (inevitable in any manufactured product), so the OP might check it out at an Apple Store. Perhaps compare it to the tactic feedback on one of the try-on models in demo mode.
 
ideal.dreams said:
I got my watch yesterday and today was my first "full" day with it. It's incredible.

One thing I noticed is that the "taps" feel somewhat weak to me and at first I was missing many notifications. Just this morning I glanced down at my watch and saw that I missed a text message tap. Now I'll add that I'm coming from a Pebble, wearing one for about a year and a half, at that. The Pebble certainly doesn't "tap" you, it's a rough vibration that you can actually hear from a good distance away. After reading that there were some issues with weak taptic engines, I became concerned that mine may be defective.

At the moment, I don't know anyone who I can compare watches with as none of my friends or family have or received theirs yet. I figured I'd ask around here to see what the general consensus is – is the taptic engine just normally "weak" or is there something wrong with mine?

Thanks :)
Click to expand...

You my friend probably have a defective unit. If you are not happy, take it to Apple.
 
SMIDG3T said:
You my friend probably have a defective unit. If you are not happy, take it to Apple.
Click to expand...

This is a complicated issue because what may feel right to us, might not feel right to someone else. His best option is to go into a store and compare it with one of their working display models before jumping to any conclusions.
 
shenfrey said:
This is a complicated issue because what may feel right to us, might not feel right to someone else. His best option is to go into a store and compare it with one of their working display models before jumping to any conclusions.
Click to expand...

That is true. It's just after the news yesterday, I had to raise it. Although a lot of people before me probably raised that issue too.
 
Taptic Engine Weak on my Watch Sport?

SMIDG3T said:
That is true. It's just after the news yesterday, I had to raise it. Although a lot of people before me probably raised that issue too.
Click to expand...


The article on Macrumors stated that they caught the issue before they were shipped out, so any product out there that is defective isn't because of the supply issue. I don't think his product is faulty, he is just use to higher vibration. Coming to an Apple Watch from a Pebble is not an easy transition, especially when your body has become so use to more extreme vibrations.
 
KPOM said:
According to the WSJ there is no recall planned since Apple caught the issue before the defective part went out (at least en masse). Now it's entirely possible that some did go out or that even the "good" part has some rate of defects (inevitable in any manufactured product), so the OP might check it out at an Apple Store. Perhaps compare it to the tactic feedback on one of the try-on models in demo mode.
Click to expand...

Can't believe it, but this just made CNN news as well..... all the defects were scrapped and caught before shipping which is why we had the broad shipping date to begin with. Possible but I think that it is in peoples heads now.

as far as for me, it felt super strong at first then as I got used to it it became less obvious but still noticeable. almost like I got used to the taps quick enough for it to be normal. Hope that makes sense.
 
oftheheavens said:
Can't believe it, but this just made CNN news as well..... all the defects were scrapped and caught before shipping which is why we had the broad shipping date to begin with. Possible but I think that it is in peoples heads now.



as far as for me, it felt super strong at first then as I got used to it it became less obvious but still noticeable. almost like I got used to the taps quick enough for it to be normal. Hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...


It happens to me sometimes, if I am in a busy environment and completely engrossed in what I'm doing, I will miss the vibration. But only occasionally, 9/10 times I do feel it. It's subtle, not aggressive which is why people like it.
 
shenfrey said:
The article on Macrumors stated that they caught the issue before they were shipped out, so any product out there that is defective isn't because of the supply issue. I don't think his product is faulty, he is just use to higher vibration. Coming to an Apple Watch from a Pebble is not an easy transition, especially when your body has become so use to more extreme vibrations.
Click to expand...

Perhaps. I believe Apple designed the tactic feedback deliberately to be subtle.
 
diekehle said:
Hi guys i am not sure if my taptic engine works well. just want to ask maybe you can help me with this.

sometimes the watch just vibrates and sometimes it knocks. i recognized it depends on the notification if it comes from. facebook messenger for example its like knock knock brr brr knock. if i get the stand up notification it is like knock knock.

i like the idea that i get different notification haptics but i always think something is broken. can you guys verify the behavior? Because the recognition of the vibrations is weak, the knock is fine.
Click to expand...

All normal I think. I actually had the same problem as the TO the first one or two days and had the feeling that the taptic engine is to weak. But you really get acustomed to the feeling and I pretty much never miss a notification now.

The different notification types are normal as well. WhatsApp does "brr brrr", stand up notifications tap you twice and so on... I thought my Taptic engine was broken, after I was getting more sensitive for the feeling, but it's not. I think it's actually a good thing, that you can actually feel a difference.
 
The thing is how do you even know something is weak? How do you measure? Unless you can feel it getting weaker from day to day, I don't see how one would know.
 
Yes, my problem is that I have no frame of reference to know if my watch is actually weak. I expected something a bit different from the descriptions I read before getting the watch, but it is certainly still noticeable in most situations.
 
I just got my Stainless Sport Band watch today. The Haptic/Taptic felt much weaker than I recalled when I tried it on, so I had a friend of mine with the sport model try it on. Even at the strongest setting he said mine is 1/2 the strength of his. So, it does sound like there are some watches out there with defects...
 
Coming from a Pebble, I also thought the taps were very weak and easy to miss. After a few days I've turned prominent haptic off though and notice them every time. It takes some getting used to since the Pebble was so aggressive with the notifications.
 
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