Short press = dot (·). Long press = dash (−). Pause between letters, a longer pause between words.
Flashing-light warning. Flashing screens can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. Do not use this near anyone who may be affected.
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A Morse code tapper reads the length of your taps. A short tap is a dot, a long tap is a dash, and the pauses between taps separate letters and words. Press the pad (or the Space bar) and the letters appear as you go. The same rhythm works for knocking on a wall or flashing a light.
How to tap Morse code
- Pick a speed. Start with 10 words per minute. At that speed a dot is a tap of about an eighth of a second and a dash about a third.
- Tap the pad or press the Space bar. Short is a dot. Hold about three times as long for a dash.
- Pause between letters. Wait about as long as one dash before the next letter. Wait about twice that between words.
- Read the letters as they appear. Use Delete last letter to fix a mistake, Copy text to keep the message, and Clear to start again.
If your own rhythm is faster or slower than the speed you chose, switch Timing to Learn my speed. It measures your taps after the first few and adapts. Fixed speed is steadier when you are just starting.
The timing rules
All Morse code timing is built from one unit, the length of a dot:
| Part | Length |
|---|---|
| Dot | 1 unit |
| Dash | 3 units |
| Gap inside a letter | 1 unit |
| Gap between letters | 3 units |
| Gap between words | 7 units |
The tapper uses these ratios. It treats a tap shorter than two units as a dot, a longer one as a dash, a pause of two units or more as the end of a letter and a pause of five units or more as the end of a word. That leaves room for ordinary human unevenness.
Tap, knock and key: the same code
Morse code does not depend on the medium. The same pattern works for:
- Tapping on a table or phone screen, as in this tool.
- Knocking on a door, wall or pipe. People call this a knock code. Knock short for a dot and give a slower, heavier knock for a dash. A tap on a pipe carries a long way.
- Clicking a mouse, a switch or a game controller button.
- Flashing a light, which is the other half of this page.
This page cannot hear knocks through your microphone. If you hear knocks, tap along on the pad as you listen, or record them and try the audio decoder. Knocks are clicks, not steady tones, so the decoder is not built for them.
Flash a message in light
Switch to Flash a message to send Morse code with your screen:
- Type a message. The default is SOS.
- Choose the speed. Slow is easier to read from a distance. Six words per minute is a good start.
- Choose the style. Soft lamp on a dark screen shows a glowing circle, which is gentler on the eyes and is the default. Whole screen flashes fills the screen with light and needs you to confirm a safety warning.
- Press Start flashing, then Stop or press Esc when you are done.
On phones that support it, Vibrate it sends the same pattern as buzzes you can feel in your pocket.
Safety: flashing screens can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. Do not flash a screen at anyone, and do not use the full-screen style near people who might be affected.
Real signalling lamps
Ships and armed forces have signalled with Morse code by light for well over a century. A shuttered handheld lamp, often called an Aldis lamp, flashes dots and dashes by opening and closing a shutter in front of a bright bulb. A torch or a phone flashlight works on the same idea over a shorter distance, as do mirrors in daylight. Our guide to how to blink Morse code covers eyes, torches and what to send.
To read a light someone else is flashing, film it and use the image and light reader.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tap Morse code?
Press the pad for a short time for a dot and about three times longer for a dash. Pause between letters and for longer between words. The tool reads the taps as you make them.
How long is a dash compared with a dot?
Three times as long. The gap between letters is also three dots long, and the gap between words is seven.
Can this translate a knock code?
It reads taps you make yourself. For knocks you hear, tap along on the pad as you listen. The tool cannot pick up knocks through the microphone.
What speed should I start at?
Ten words per minute is comfortable for beginners. Go lower if letters come out wrong, because even timing matters more than speed.
Is flashing the screen safe?
Not for everyone. People with photosensitive epilepsy can have seizures triggered by flashing light. The default soft-lamp style is gentler, but you should still avoid pointing it at other people. You can stop at any time.
Vibration, LED and flashlight Morse code
Morse code can be sent by touch and light as well as sound. On a phone that supports it, the flasher can vibrate the message as a pattern of short and long buzzes. It can also flash the screen like a lamp. LED projects on microcontrollers (for example with MATLAB or Arduino) work on the same idea: switch a light on for one unit for a dot and three units for a dash. See Morse code in code for the Arduino example.