touchend

Touchend is a DOM event in the Touch Events API that fires when one or more touch points are removed from the touch surface, typically signaling the end of a touch sequence. It is delivered to the element that received the corresponding touchstart or to its ancestors if the event bubbles.

The event object for a touchend is a TouchEvent. For touchend, the changedTouches list contains the touch points that have just ended, while the touches list contains any remaining touch points still in contact, and targetTouches contains touch points that started on the same target element. In a multi‑touch interaction, a separate touchend event may fire for each finger as it is lifted, and the sequence generally ends when the last finger is lifted.

Common usage involves recognizing taps, swipes, or other gestures by examining the coordinates and timing of the ending touch. For example, you can read the clientX and clientY properties from a touch in e.changedTouches to determine where the touch ended, and use it in combination with the starting touch to infer a gesture.

Compatibility and alternatives: touchend is part of the legacy Touch Events API and is widely supported on mobile browsers. Modern web development often uses the Pointer Events API, which unifies mouse, touch, and pen input and can simplify gesture handling. Developers should consider progressive enhancement and provide fallbacks for environments without touch support. When using touch events, be mindful of default scrolling behavior and related event handling, such as preventing unwanted gestures where appropriate.