HTML touchend DOM Event: Reference and Examples

When someone interacts with a webpage, the browser sends events to the relevant JavaScript code. The touchend event happens when one or more fingers leave the screen.

When touchend happens

One or more fingers leave the screen.

You can listen for it using addEventListener(). That keeps event handling separate from HTML attributes such as onclick and works well with modern code organization.

A small working example

<div id="demo-target" style="padding: 2rem; border: 1px solid">Touch here on a touchscreen</div>
<p id="event-status" role="status">Waiting for touchend...</p>
<script>
    const eventTarget = document.getElementById("demo-target");
    const eventStatus = document.getElementById("event-status");

    if (eventTarget) {
        eventTarget.addEventListener("touchend", (eventDetails) => {
            eventStatus.textContent = "touchend event received";
            console.log(eventDetails.type, eventDetails.target);
        });
    }
</script>

Reading the code

The browser listens for touchend on the relevant target. When the event occurs, the callback receives eventDetails, updates the status message and logs the event name and target in Developer Tools.

Lift a finger after touching the target.

Pointer events work across several input devices. Touch events are tied to touch-capable platforms; when possible, prefer a pointer-based implementation with accessible keyboard controls.

Try it in your browser

Open the page, show the Console panel, and follow this test: Lift a finger after touching the target. Then change one thing in the example and observe whether the event still fires.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Expecting touchend to fire without its required user action or browser condition.
• Lift a finger after touching the target.
• Adding repeated event listeners without considering cleanup or unwanted side effects.

Key Takeaways

• touchend reports one or more fingers leave the screen.
• addEventListener("touchend", ...) listens for the event on the appropriate target.
• Lift a finger after touching the target.