Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Touchscreens
Raised as a usability problem by 449 people on Hacker News over 20 years (2007–2026), in 338 threads.
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- 8Games are hard to play on touch screensUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Touchscreens are inaccurate and slow, with no tactile feedbackUnreviewed
20072026- Touch input is imprecise and tiring, hurting dense UI use2026-05-10
- Touchscreen UX is a regression from single-purpose analog devices, slow to boot2026-01-24
- Touch screens cannot be precise enough because fingers are too big for pixel-level targets2025-07-31
Touchscreens respond unreliably to calloused, dry, or gloved fingersUnreviewed
20072026- Accidental touches click things when resting fingers on screen2026-10-29
- Older people struggle to hit small buttons precisely and confirm that a tap registered2026-07-05
- Touch input often fails to register unless the fingertip is moistened2026-05-03
Holding an arm up to use a touchscreen laptop all day is tiringUnreviewed
20072026- Reaching over the keyboard and trackpad to touch the screen is uncomfortable and inconvenient2026-03-31
- Screen is too close to reach for touch without straining the eyes or keyboard2023-08-26
- Arm fatigue from reaching up to operate a large touch wall screen2023-06-07
Touch controls need eyes on the screen, distracting driversUnreviewed
20072026- Touch-controlled center console is awful to use, distracting during driving2025-07-06
- Non-physical controls are a safety nightmare while driving2025-01-24
- Touchscreens demand visual attention, so drivers can't operate them without looking away from the road2024-11-04
Gestures beyond taps and drags are hard to discoverUnreviewed
20072026- No visible indication that swipes or gestures can perform actions, so users must search to discover them2026-07-26
- Gestures like swipes and pinches only work some of the time2024-09-05
- Hidden gestures and no hover tooltips make features hard to discover2021-08-14
Touchscreens are hard to use in turbulence and error-proneUnreviewed
20072026- Touchscreens and touchpads are infuriatingly hard to use in a moving, bouncing vehicle2026-08-08
- Touch input is unreliable when the device bounces in a moving vehicle2026-07-19
- Touchscreens and trackpads are nearly unusable while the vehicle is bouncing2026-01-16
Lack of tactile feedback makes touchscreens hard to useUnreviewed
20072026- Touchscreen is uncomfortable to use, so the commenter avoids it and touches it only by accident2026-01-13
- Flat smooth screens give no tactile cue for control edges or pressure2023-04-30
- Commenter is uncomfortable typing on touch screen keyboards2022-08-17
Games are hard to play on touch screensUnreviewed
20072026- Selecting spreadsheet cells and aiming in FPS games is harder with touch than a mouse2023-06-20
- Fast-paced games like Tetris are almost unplayable on touch screens2021-02-05
- Touchscreen fails miserably for most games and drawing with a finger2019-10-01
Accidental presses on touch-only machine controls cause mistakesUnreviewed
20072026- Controls only work if you slide the finger just right, so presses often fail2024-11-04
- Needed substantial pressure to register touch and was imprecise with a finger2024-09-28
- Touch-only controls are dangerous for machine operation; accidental presses cause mistakes and failures2019-10-11
Touch interfaces lack hover tooltips, so icons are hard to identifyUnreviewed
20072026- Touch interfaces lack hover tooltips, so icons are hard to identify2021-04-20
- Tooltips appear on hover but can't be triggered by touch, causing ambiguity in the UI2017-05-20
- No way to show icon help or explanations on touchscreens, since hover does not work2016-07-26
Touchscreen gets in the way of keyboard workflows, so users disable itUnreviewed
20072026- Touchscreen gets in the way of keyboard-driven workflow, so the user disables it2025-12-07
- Can't hide the touch keyboard, with no DONE or HIDE button to dismiss it2024-11-03
- Navigating with the touchscreen forces hands off the home row, breaking keyboard workflow2019-08-06
Operators can't tell from touchscreen controls that steering is lockedUnreviewed
20072026- Crew unaware steering was locked; control state not obvious to operators2024-08-20
- Operators can't tell they lack control, so their steering input silently fails2019-08-12
- Crew confused about which steering controls were active, leading to panic2017-11-03
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Accidental touches click things when resting fingers on screen2026-10-29
- Touch-friendly targets and padding make mouse-based interface worse on same screen2026-10-28
- Finger is a terrible pointing device, obstructs the screen, awkward to use2026-10-28
- Apps steer users into flows they cannot click out of on touch2026-10-28
- Touch experience suffers on laptops because they are designed for keyboard and mouse first2026-10-28
- Touchscreen interaction is poor, and battery drains so fast the device must stay near a charger2026-09-02
- Touchscreens and touchpads are infuriatingly hard to use in a moving, bouncing vehicle2026-08-08
- Overloaded gestures are ambiguous and trigger infuriating behaviors users cannot disable2026-08-07
- No visible indication that swipes or gestures can perform actions, so users must search to discover them2026-07-26
- Touch input is unreliable when the device bounces in a moving vehicle2026-07-19
- Older people struggle to hit small buttons precisely and confirm that a tap registered2026-07-05
- Must wait for the UI to render before each next step2026-06-14
- People without prior exposure can't navigate touch menus or tell interactive elements from non-interactive ones2026-05-28
- Long-press gesture is annoying and hard to use for selecting modes2026-05-12
- Controls disappear until swiped or touched in just the right way, confusing novice users2026-05-12
- Touch input is imprecise and tiring, hurting dense UI use2026-05-10
- Touch input often fails to register unless the fingertip is moistened2026-05-03
- Touch interface is unwieldy because you must lift fingers to reach it, adding delay2026-04-23
- Fingers are too crude to point accurately and hands block the view while touching2026-04-01
- Touchscreen laptops feel awful to use despite latest technology2026-03-31
- Reaching over the keyboard and trackpad to touch the screen is uncomfortable and inconvenient2026-03-31
- Cheap resistive touchscreen phones with stylus input were really bad compared to modern phones2026-03-31
- Touchscreen gets triggered accidentally, leaving the user annoyed2026-03-31
- Touchscreen accidentally moves the cursor when sleeve brushes it2026-03-06
- Ordering on the CRT touch screen was quirky and took about five minutes2026-01-27
- Touchscreen UX is a regression from single-purpose analog devices, slow to boot2026-01-24
- Touchscreens and trackpads are nearly unusable while the vehicle is bouncing2026-01-16
- Touchscreen is uncomfortable to use, so the commenter avoids it and touches it only by accident2026-01-13
- Touch interfaces on laptops need oversized controls and get blocked by the user's hand and arm2026-01-09
- Touchscreen input requires looking at the screen, even while driving2025-12-23
- Touchscreen gets in the way of keyboard-driven workflow, so the user disables it2025-12-07
- Unlabeled cryptic buttons, one may ruin work with no way to undo2025-11-05
- Resistive touchscreens required an annoying stylus for precise input2025-10-31
- Touchscreen controls must be looked at to find, with no tactile feel for location2025-10-26
- Desktop apps feel cobbled together for touch; tablet-to-laptop transitions are clunky2025-10-02
- Touch doorbells trigger accidentally and give no tactile feedback when pressed2025-09-12
- Touchscreen controls in cars and industrial software are hard to use safely2025-08-27
- Touch screens cannot be precise enough because fingers are too big for pixel-level targets2025-07-31
- Touch-controlled center console is awful to use, distracting during driving2025-07-06
- Can't tell which unlabeled touch controls do what without looking2025-07-06
- Touch interfaces are slower than keyboards, so tasks get abandoned midway2025-06-10
- Can't operate the phone while riding because heavy gloves make it impossible to use2025-05-08
- Accidentally taps a notification that slides in under the finger, losing it2025-05-06
- Resistive touchscreens required finger pressure instead of swipes, making the interface less intuitive2025-05-02
- Resting hand on screen edge triggers unintended touches, ignoring intended taps2025-05-01
- Touchscreens are hard to use reliably while a train is moving fast2025-04-23
- Touchscreen takes about 30 seconds to wake up before use2025-04-23
- No reliable way to tell a tap-to-point from a drag on touchscreens2025-04-22
- Touchscreens are slow and dumb compared with efficient keyboard input and shortcuts2025-03-30
- Interfaces change too much to learn, so users must keep looking at the screen2025-03-19