How Multi-Touch Gestures Like Pinch-to-Zoom Work on Smartphones
Apple's patent on using two-finger gestures to manipulate images and objects on a touchscreen, allowing for smooth zooming and rotation even if you lift your fingers briefly.
Original patent title: “Portable electronic device with multi-touch input”
Apple's patent on using two-finger gestures to manipulate images and objects on a touchscreen, allowing for smooth zooming and rotation even if you lift your fingers briefly. Granted to Apple Inc in 2010 with 20 claims and 163 forward citations.
Key facts
Coverage
What does this patent actually cover?
This patent describes how a device tracks two or more fingers on a touchscreen to change a digital object. When you move your fingers apart or together, the device detects this motion and adjusts a parameter, such as the zoom level or orientation of an image. A key feature is the ability to lift your fingers and place them back down within a short time window to continue the same adjustment without the action resetting. It also includes a clever trick where the image resolution is lowered while you are actively moving it to keep the animation smooth, then sharpened once you stop.
The gap
What does this patent NOT cover?
- Does not cover single-finger gestures like simple scrolling or tapping.
- Does not cover gestures that do not involve at least two distinct points of contact.
- Does not cover hardware sensors that are not multi-touch sensitive.
- Does not cover non-graphical operations that do not involve adjusting a parameter of an object.
These exclusions are unique to PatentBrief — derived from the actual claim language, not patent-office boilerplate.
What made this novel
The patent solves the 'finger-runway' problem: it allows you to continue a complex gesture (like zooming in) by letting you lift your fingers and reset their position without losing the progress of the adjustment.
Schematic visualization of the patent's claim structure. Hand-drawn diagrams in progress for each landmark patent.
Where you've seen this
Real-world examples
Pinching two fingers together to zoom out on an iPhone photo
Spreading two fingers apart to zoom in on a map
Rotating two fingers to spin an image on screen
Why it matters
The bigger picture
This patent was a cornerstone of the multi-touch interface that defined the modern smartphone era. It provided the legal foundation for the intuitive 'pinch-to-zoom' and rotation gestures that Apple famously defended in global patent litigationlitigationA lawsuit over patent infringement. Litigated patents often signal commercial importance.Read more → against competitors like Samsung to protect the iPhone's unique user experience.
Filed
December 29, 2006
Granted
October 12, 2010
Market context
Who's building on this
Companies in this space
Apple continues to refine these gestures in iOS. Major competitors like Google (Android) and Samsung have developed their own implementations of multi-touch interaction, often navigating around these specific claimsclaimsThe numbered statements at the end of a patent that legally define what the inventor owns.Read more → through different software architectures.
Market impact
This patent helped establish the standard for how users interact with mobile devices, effectively ending the era of stylus-based or button-heavy navigation. It triggered significant legal battles in the early 2010s that forced manufacturers to rethink how their software handled touch input to avoid infringementinfringementMaking, using, selling, or importing a patented invention without permission from the patent holder.Read more →.
Claim 1 — Plain English
What this patent covers
This patent describes how a device tracks two or more fingers on a touchscreen to change a digital object. When you move your fingers apart or together, the device detects this motion and adjusts a parameter, such as the zoom level or orientation of an image. A key feature is the ability to lift your fingers and place them back down within a short time window to continue the same adjustment without the action resetting. It also includes a clever trick where the image resolution is lowered while you are actively moving it to keep the animation smooth, then sharpened once you stop.
The clever bit
The patent solves the 'finger-runway' problem: it allows you to continue a complex gesture (like zooming in) by letting you lift your fingers and reset their position without losing the progress of the adjustment.
What it does not cover
- Does not cover single-finger gestures like simple scrolling or tapping.
- Does not cover gestures that do not involve at least two distinct points of contact.
- Does not cover hardware sensors that are not multi-touch sensitive.
- Does not cover non-graphical operations that do not involve adjusting a parameter of an object.
Patent timeline
Application submitted to the patent office
Application published, typically 18 months after filing
Patent officially issued
PatentBrief Score
Impact Score
Strong
Citation count
40/40
Highly cited
Claim breadth
13/20
Broad claimsclaimsThe numbered statements at the end of a patent that legally define what the inventor owns.Read more →
Recency
5/20
Granted 10–20 years ago
Assignee scale
20/20
Major company or institution
PatentBrief Impact Score — based on citation count, claim breadth, recency, and assignee scale. Not a legal assessment.
Heuristic Value Estimate
What this patent might be worth
$117K – $374K
Midpoint $234K · expired or expiring · industry ×1.6
Heuristic only — blends forward/backward citation counts, claim scope, time remaining, litigation history, and CPC-derived industry baseline. Real valuations need a professional appraisal.
The original legal language
Original claims
20 claims as filed with the patent office.
Concepts involved
Citations
Patent lineage
Cite this patent
Forstall, S., Ording, B., Chaudhri, I., Christie, G., & Lemay, S. O. (2010). How Multi-Touch Gestures Like Pinch-to-Zoom Work on Smartphones (U.S. Patent No. 7,812,826). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7812826/iphone-software-keyboard
Auto-generated from the patent record. Double-check author order and the issue date against the official USPTO document before submitting.
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Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does How Multi-Touch Gestures Like Pinch-to-Zoom Work on Smartphones cover?
Apple's patent on using two-finger gestures to manipulate images and objects on a touchscreen, allowing for smooth zooming and rotation even if you lift your fingers briefly.
Who owns patent US 7812826?
Apple Inc owns this patent, granted in 2010.
When does this patent expire?
This patent is expected to expire on October 12, 2030, when the invention enters the public domain.
What is patent US 7812826 cited by?
This patent has been cited by 163 later patents that build on its ideas.
What problem does this patent solve?
This patent was a cornerstone of the multi-touch interface that defined the modern smartphone era. It provided the legal foundation for the intuitive 'pinch-to-zoom' and rotation gestures that Apple famously defended in global patent litigation against competitors like Samsung to protect the iPhone's unique user experience.
What does this patent NOT cover?
Does not cover single-finger gestures like simple scrolling or tapping.
Same assignee
More from Apple Inc
Patent monitoring