Tap it · see it decoded
Tap Morse code on the pad below or hold the Space bar: a short press is a dot, a longer hold is a dash, and the letters appear as you go. This Morse code tapper learns your dot length from your own presses, so you set the pace rather than matching a fixed clock. Under the text you get a timing score against a perfect copy, a replay at your speed, and a WAV or JSON file of every press.
Or hold the Space bar on a keyboard.
Learning your speed · about 12 WPM
What you sent
Your message appears here
Tap a letter to begin.
Tap something to get a timing score.
Pause 3 units between letters, 7 between words. Nothing you tap leaves this page.
Every Morse character is built from two press lengths and three silences: a dash lasts three dots, letters are separated by three dots of silence, and words by seven. Which surface you use matters less than keeping those ratios steady. The three cases below cover a table, a hand and a light; the pad above is the same idea with a screen.
A knock cannot be held, so a dash has to become a different sound rather than a longer one. Agree on a short signal and a long signal with the other person first, for example a knuckle for a dot and a flat palm for a dash. Timed Morse and the 5×5 tap code used between cells are different systems; see the comparison further down.
Press and release for a dot, press and hold for a dash, and lift fully between symbols so the gap is felt. Keep the pressure light; duration carries the signal, not force. Pause three times longer between letters than between dots.
Cover and uncover the lens, holding the light open three times as long for a dash as for a dot. Keep the lens fully dark during gaps. Flash a message with the light tool →
SOS breaks the letter rule: ...---... is sent as one sign with no gaps between the S, O and S. The pad shows it as SOS when you keep the nine presses inside a single letter gap. For the full signal, its light timing and how it is used, see SOS in Morse code.
The one to know
Three short, three long, three short, sent as one sign with no letter gaps. Then a long pause.
...---...
9 signals · 23 units · 2.8 s at 10 WPM
The score under "Your timing vs perfect" is the average distance of every press and gap from the ideal lengths at your dot speed; 100% means each dot, dash and pause matched. The feedback names the one element that is furthest off, so fix that first and re-tap the word.
| Feedback | What happened | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| steady | Everything is within 10% of ideal | Raise the fixed speed in Advanced to push yourself |
| dots a bit long | Short presses are drifting toward dashes | Release sooner; your dot length re-learns from the last six dots |
| dashes a bit short | Holds are under three dot lengths, close to the 1.8-dot cutoff | Hold through a count of three |
| gaps inside letters a bit long | Pauses between the symbols of one letter are stretching | Keep symbols of a letter flowing; only pause at the letter end |
| gaps between letters a bit short | Letters are running together and may merge | Wait three dot lengths, or press Enter to close a letter |
| gaps between words a bit short | Word breaks are not reaching seven units | Count to seven before the next word, or tap in shorter bursts |
The bars show only the latest letter group, so a bad letter is easy to spot. Play back replays the exact code at your learned speed, which is a quicker check than reading dots.
An online Morse key needs one thing a text box cannot give: a press that lasts as long as you hold it. The Space bar does that here, Z and X send exact dots and dashes once paddles are on in Advanced, and the 600 Hz sidetone confirms every press. The shortcuts below work while the page has focus and no text field is active.
| Key | What it does | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Press and hold the key | Short = dot, long = dash. Same as the pad. |
| Z / X | Dot / dash paddle | Enable paddles in Advanced. |
| Enter | Close the letter now | Instead of waiting 3 units. |
| Backspace | Clear everything | Your learned speed is kept. |
Tap code and Morse code tapping are different systems: tap code counts taps on a 5×5 grid, while Morse tapping uses short and long signals with timed gaps. If you came here for the knock code used between prison cells, the table shows the difference so you can pick the right one.
| Tap code | Morse code tapping | |
|---|---|---|
| Signal | Taps only, all the same length | Short and long signals |
| How a letter is sent | Row number, pause, column number on a 5×5 grid | Pattern of dots and dashes |
| Alphabet | 25 letters; C and K share a cell | 26 letters, digits and punctuation |
| Example | H = 2 taps, pause, 3 taps | H = four short signals (....) |
| Fits | Walls and hard surfaces where a hold cannot be heard | Keys, light, sound, radio and any surface where length can be shown |
Verdict: use tap code when every signal has to be an identical knock, since it needs no sense of duration. Use Morse when you can show length, because it covers more characters, carries over light and radio, and is what this tapper and the rest of this site read. A Morse message tapped as equal-length knocks will decode as all dots, which is why the table-or-wall method above asks you to agree on two sounds.
Check your copied code in the decoder →
Yes. Morse code can be tapped on any surface as long as the listener can tell a short signal from a long one and hear the pauses. On a wall, agree on two different sounds; on a screen or key, hold longer for a dash.
Speed is measured in words per minute, where one dot lasts 1200 ÷ WPM milliseconds, so 12 WPM is a 100 ms dot and 25 WPM is 48 ms. The pad learns speeds from 4 to 30 WPM, and the fixed-speed slider in Advanced runs from 5 to 25 WPM.
It starts at a 100 ms dot (12 WPM). Presses shorter than 1.8 dots count as dots, and the median of your last six dots becomes the new dot length, held between 40 and 300 ms. Three dots of silence closes a letter and seven adds a word gap. Set a fixed speed in Advanced to turn learning off.
A key interface that acts as a keyboard can send Space presses to the focused pad, and the tapper will time them like any other hold. Whether yours does depends on the interface; no specific adapter has been tested here.
A dash should be three dots long, and any press under 1.8 dots is read as a dot. If your dots have been getting longer, the learned dot length rises with them and your dashes fall under the cutoff. Hold through a count of three, or set a fixed speed in Advanced.
Yes. Tap and hold the pad with a thumb; the pad blocks scrolling and the long-press menu while you hold it. If the browser cancels a touch, the press is dropped rather than counted, and if sound is blocked the timing and text still work.
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