Mobile devices have imbued asynchronous messaging with rich media content. Images, video, and audio can now be sent at a moment’s notice, but this excludes the sense of touch. We introduce Feel Messenger, a messaging app for commercial smartphones that supports customized vibrotactile sensations. Feel Messenger employs Feel Effects, parameterized sensations that afford expressive, succinct communication. With Feel Messenger, users combine and fine-tune Feel Effects to send messages with a more personal touch.

• Ali Israr, Siyan Zhao, Oliver Schneider. 2015. Exploring Embedded Haptics for Social Networking and Interactions. CHI 2015 Works-in-Progress. Seoul, South Korea. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2732814

Our demo at World Haptics 2015 connects two phones with two-way messaging, no extra hardware required. Photos taken by Jan Anlauff.