Fidgetry: Haptic Fidget Toys

Fidgetry is twelve fidget toys for restless hands. What makes it different is the feel: every toy has its own haptic feedback, matched to what's on screen. Turn the dial on the latch board and you feel sixteen clicks per turn.

I made the sound the same way. None of it is recorded: it's generated as you play, so the spinner's whirr climbs as it speeds up and every drop in the pond plays its own note.

It's closer to a sensory toy box than a game. As with real fidget toys, nothing keeps score and you can stop any time.

Fidgetry is free, with no ads and nothing to buy, and it works offline.

THE TOYS

Air pockets
A sheet of bubble wrap. The satisfying part is the wait: a blister squashes under your thumb for a moment before it gives. Pop them all and the sheet puffs back up, blister by blister.

Soft sand
Pour with one finger and the pile slumps into shape. Two fingers carve through it. The shade drifts as you pour, so the sand settles in layers. Four palettes: desert, clay, sea and ash.

Ripple pond
Still water with four leaves floating on it. Tap for rings and drag for a wake. Lift your finger and it drips, and every so often it rains.

Harmonograph
Two pendulums drawing with a pen on paper. Fling them to set them swinging and tap to lift the pen. Save a figure you like as a framed print, dated on the mat.

Latch board
Brushed metal, covered in things to fiddle with: a dial, a four position selector, two sliding bolts, two toggle switches and a button that lights up while you hold it. None of it does anything, on purpose.

Tone tiles
Felt pads you play like a kalimba. The notes come from scales of five notes, so every pad is in tune with the others. Hold one down and a low drone swells in for you to play over.

Clicky keys
Chunky keycaps on mechanical keyboard switches. Clicky ones click on the way down and again on the way up. Tactile ones give a silent bump, and linear ones drop straight to a deep thock. No two keys sound quite alike.

Spinner
The fidget spinner has three arms and a ball bearing. Slowly, you feel each arm go by; faster, they blur into a hum. A hard flick keeps the brass one going for close to a minute, and you can touch an arm to brake it.

Squishy
Press into a big soft pillow. Foam takes a few seconds to rise back. Mochi springs up and wobbles. Dough keeps every dent until you rub it smooth.

Zipper
Pull the tab down and feel every tooth: slowly it ratchets, fast it turns into a buzz. It stops with a thud at the bottom and a click at the top.

Newton's cradle
Five steel balls on strings. Pull one out and let go: it clacks through the row and the far ball swings out. Pull out two or three and the same number swing out.

Sand cake
Sand cutting without the mess. Drag down through a block of packed sand and a thin slice tips over and crumbles into a heap. Cut it down to crumbs and a fresh block presses in.

ALSO IN THE APP
• A toy of the day when you open the app
• Every toy has a quiet timer: five minutes, then a soft chime instead of an alarm
• Optional tilt: tip the phone and the sand slides downhill or the pond sloshes
• A haptic strength slider and test pad, plus a note on what your phone's motor can do
• The sound mixes with your music or podcast instead of pausing it
• Light and dark themes, reduced motion, large text support and TalkBack actions for every toy

How much you feel depends on the phone. A motor that can vary its strength gives every tick and texture; one that only buzzes at full power gives the pops but not the fine detail. Most phones on Android 13 and newer also get richer visuals, like the pebbles under the pond.

Fidgetry has no internet permission at all, so it can't send anything about you anywhere.

Questions, or an idea for a new fidget toy? Email me at the address under App support. If a toy feels off on your phone, tell me which model you have.