Touch: target property

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

The read-only target property of the Touch interface returns the (EventTarget) on which the touch contact started when it was first placed on the surface, even if the touch point has since moved outside the interactive area of that element or even been removed from the document. Note that if the target element is removed from the document, events will still be targeted at it, and hence won't necessarily bubble up to the window or document anymore. If there is any risk of an element being removed while it is being touched, the best practice is to attach the touch listeners directly to the target.

Value

The EventTarget the Touch object applies to.

Examples

This example illustrates how to access the Touch object's Touch.target property. The Touch.target property is an Element (EventTarget) on which a touch point is started when contact is first placed on the surface.

In following simple code snippet, we assume the user initiates one or more touch contacts on the source element. When the touchstart event handler for this element is invoked, each touch point's Touch.target property is accessed via the event's TouchEvent.targetTouches list.

js
// Register a touchmove listener for the 'source' element
const src = document.getElementById("source");

src.addEventListener("touchstart", (e) => {
  // Iterate through the touch points that were activated
  // for this element.
  for (let i = 0; i < e.targetTouches.length; i++) {
    console.log(`touchpoint[${i}].target = ${e.targetTouches[i].target}`);
  }
});

Specifications

Specification
Touch Events
# dom-touch-target

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
target
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 22 (Release date: 2012-09-25)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 18 (Release date: 2018-10-02)
footnote Full support
Firefox – No support
Firefox 18 – 23 (Release date: 2013-01-08)
footnote Removed in 24 and later
footnote Removed in bug 888304 due to web compatibility issues.
Firefox – Partial support
Firefox 52 (Release date: 2017-03-07)
footnote Partial support
footnote This interface is only exposed if a touch input device is detected.
Opera – Full support
Opera 15 (Release date: 2013-07-02)
footnote Full support
Safari – No support
Safari
footnote No support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 6 (Release date: 2011-08-16)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 14 (Release date: 2013-05-21)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 10 (Release date: 2016-09-13)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 10 (Release date: 2016-09-13)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
Partial support
Partial support
No support
No support
Has more compatibility info.