Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Wear your keyboard like a pair of brass knuckles with Tap Strap

In the near future, you may not need to touch your phone, tablet, or keyboard when you want to type. That’s the concept behind the Tap Strap, a wearable Bluetooth keyboard that converts finger movements into keypresses, so you can tap out messages using any surface as a virtual keyboard.

Don’t expect a visual prompt, or some laser-projected keyboard to guide you. It’s all done using gestures. You start by putting on the Tap Strap. It slides over your fingers like a glove and is made from a soft smart-fabric that has sensors inside to analyze finger movements. It can go on either hand, or you can wear two for faster two-handed typing.

Tapping with each finger will see a character or number appear on the screen, and it’s possible to punctuate and insert special characters using different gestures. While Tap Systems, the company behind the Tap Strap, hasn’t said exactly how it works, a Bloomberg report says a single tap from each of your five fingers translates into a vowel, and combinations add consonants.

Tap Strap
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There are apparently 31 possible finger taps, and although an accuracy of 99 percent is promised, we expect a strong predictive text element to play a part of the Tap Strap’s typing skills. Most people struggle to remember more than a handful of gestures, let alone 31. Tap Systems sees the Tap Strap as an alternative to voice control, emphasizing the privacy aspect of using gestures to type messages as one of its major benefits.

Bluetooth connectivity

The Tap Strap connects using Bluetooth and therefore should operate with almost any mobile device, but the real advantage here could be for use with VR headsets. Anyone who has tried typing on the Gear VR — where you must look at each individual character on the screen — will know how laborious the process can be. Wear the Tap Strap, and you could tap out commands on your leg. It also negates the problem of how to type on a smartwatch’s small screen and is already compatible with smart TVs, Windows and Mac OS X, plus Android and iOS devices.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Its use goes beyond virtual keyboard control, and Tap Systems founder Ran Poliakine envisages it being used for playing music on digital devices and being incorporated into mixed reality hardware such as Microsoft’s HoloLens headset. To promote the Tap Strap’s multiple uses, a development kit and a reference design will be available to developers and hardware manufacturers.

If you’ve heard Poliakine’s name before, it’s because he also founded Powermat Technologies, one of the companies still battling for wireless charging supremacy.

Tap Strap is now shipping to those that pre-ordered it. Those that didn’t can get it for themselves for $150 at the Tap Strap website.

Updated February 21: The Tap Strap is now shipping to pre-orders and available for purchase.

Editors' Recommendations

Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Buying an iPad Mini today? You need to know about this deal
The Apple Pencil attaches to the iPad mini magnetically.

If you've had an eye on iPad deals for the latest model of the Apple iPad Mini for a while now, this may be the offer that you've been waiting for -- a $100 discount from Best Buy on the tablet's Wi-Fi, 64GB model, slashing its price to $400 from $500. It's still pretty popular years after its release, so we don't expect stocks of the device for this sale to last long. If you're thinking about taking advantage of this bargain, you better push through with your purchase as soon as possible to make sure that you don't miss out on the savings.

Why you should buy the Apple iPad Mini 2021
The latest generation of the Apple iPad Mini was released in 2021, but it's still featured in our roundup of the best iPads because it's the model that you should buy if you want a smaller and more compact version of Apple's tablets. Its 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display is smaller than the screens of its peers, but it's still big enough to enjoy watching streaming shows and browsing websites, while allowing you to use the device with one hand. Unlike its predecessor, there's no Home button, so the Touch ID sensor is instead built into the power button at the side of the Apple iPad Mini 2021.

Read more
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9 heavily discounted today
The Surface Pro 9 in laptop mode on a table.

Microsoft's Surface devices are well known for their versatility and performance, but they command premium prices. That's why there's always high demand for Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals, as who doesn't want to enjoy a discount when making a huge investment? If you're interested, Best Buy is offering the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 at $300 off, which brings its price down to $1,000 from $1,300, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 at $540 off, which lowers its price also to $1,000 from $1,540, ahead of the arrival of the consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10. You need to push through with your transaction as soon as possible if either of these bargains caught your attention, as we're not sure how much time is remaining before they disappear.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 -- $1,000, was $1,300

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is a traditional Windows 11 laptop that's powered by the 12th-generation Intel Core i5 Evo processor, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, and 8GB of RAM. It won't match up to the performance of the best laptops, but it's going to be more than enough to handle daily tasks for work or school. The laptop features a 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen with vibrant colors and sharp details, a battery that can last up to 18 hours on a single charge, and a 512GB SSD that provides ample storage space for your files. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 also comes with a 720p webcam and dual far-field Studio Mics for clear video calls.

Read more
We have some bad news about the Google Pixel 9
A render of the Google Pixel 9 smartphone in black.

When the first wave of Google Pixel 9 series leaks arrived on the scene a few weeks ago, what really got us excited was the camera upgrade for the entry-level model. The leaked renders envisioned a triple-lens rear camera setup for the Pixel 9 that added a periscope-style telephoto snapper at the back alongside a radical design change.

Well, it seems those changes will remain a pipe dream, at least in 2024. OnLeaks, in collaboration with 91Mobiles, has shared alleged renders of the Pixel 9, claiming that the triple-camera devices in those leaked renders actually depicted the pricier Pixel 9 Pro and a new Pixel 9 Pro XL variant.

Read more