PinchType: Text Entry for Virtual and Augmented Reality Using Comfortable Thumb to Fingertip Pinches

Text entry is an integral component to many use cases in virtual and augmented reality. We present PinchType: A new method of virtual text entry that combines users' existing knowledge of the QWERTY keyboard layout with simple thumb and finger interactions. Users pinch with the thumb and fingertip to select from the same group of letters the finger would press on a QWERTY keyboard; a language model disambiguates. In a preliminary study with 14 participants, we investigated PinchType's speed and accuracy on initial use, as well as its physical comfort relative to a mid-air keyboard. After entering 40 phrases, most people reported that PinchType was more comfortable than the mid-air keyboard. Most participants reached a mean speed of 12.54 WPM, or 20.07 WPM without the time spent correcting errors. This compares favorably to other thumb-to-finger virtual text entry methods.