Touch Button

Mobile-friendly UI button with press, release, and hold events plus visual feedback. Includes configurable cooldown and hold duration tracking for responsive touch controls.

Unity 2022.3+ · 3.1 KB · TouchButton.cs

How to Use

Create a UI Button inside a Canvas with an EventSystem in the scene

Attach the TouchButton script to the Button GameObject

Configure cooldown time and hold threshold in the inspector

Wire up onPressed, onReleased, or onHoldStart events to your game actions

Adjust pressedScale for visual press feedback

Features

Press and release events
Hold detection with duration
Visual press feedback (scale)
Configurable cooldown
Works with Unity UI system

When to Use This

Use for mobile game action buttons — shoot, jump, interact, or any button that needs hold-to-charge mechanics. Great for hyper-casual games with single-button controls and mobile RPGs with ability buttons that distinguish between tap and hold.

Common Mistakes

An EventSystem must exist in the scene or IPointerDown/Up events won't fire at all. The pressedScale multiplies the original scale, so if your button is already scaled to 0.5, a pressedScale of 0.9 results in 0.45 — not 0.9. The cooldownTime prevents rapid re-presses, but setting it too high makes the button feel unresponsive in fast-paced games.

Source Code

  
 TouchButton.cs
C# 
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.Events;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;
using UnityEngine.UI;

public class TouchButton : MonoBehaviour, IPointerDownHandler, IPointerUpHandler
{
    [Header("Button Settings")]
    [SerializeField] private float cooldownTime = 0.1f;
    [SerializeField] private float holdThreshold = 0.4f;

    [Header("Visual Feedback")]
    [SerializeField] private float pressedScale = 0.9f;
    [SerializeField] private float scaleSpeed = 10f;

    [Header("Events")]
    public UnityEvent onPressed;
    public UnityEvent onReleased;
    public UnityEvent onHoldStart;
    public UnityEvent<float> onHolding;

    public bool IsPressed { get; private set; }
    public bool IsHolding { get; private set; }
    public float HoldDuration { get; private set; }

    private RectTransform rectTransform;
    private Vector3 originalScale;
    private Vector3 targetScale;
    private float cooldownTimer;
    private bool holdFired;

    private void Awake()
    {
        rectTransform = GetComponent<RectTransform>();
        originalScale = rectTransform.localScale;
        targetScale = originalScale;
    }

    private void Update()
    {
        // Scale animation
        rectTransform.localScale = Vector3.Lerp(
            rectTransform.localScale, targetScale, Time.deltaTime * scaleSpeed);

        // Cooldown
        if (cooldownTimer > 0f)
            cooldownTimer -= Time.deltaTime;

        // Hold tracking
        if (IsPressed)
        {
            HoldDuration += Time.deltaTime;

            if (!holdFired && HoldDuration >= holdThreshold)
            {
                holdFired = true;
                IsHolding = true;
                onHoldStart?.Invoke();
            }

            if (IsHolding)
            {
                onHolding?.Invoke(HoldDuration);
            }
        }
    }

    public void OnPointerDown(PointerEventData eventData)
    {
        if (cooldownTimer > 0f) return;

        IsPressed = true;
        HoldDuration = 0f;
        holdFired = false;
        IsHolding = false;
        targetScale = originalScale * pressedScale;

        onPressed?.Invoke();
    }

    public void OnPointerUp(PointerEventData eventData)
    {
        if (!IsPressed) return;

        IsPressed = false;
        IsHolding = false;
        targetScale = originalScale;
        cooldownTimer = cooldownTime;

        onReleased?.Invoke();
    }

    public void SetInteractable(bool interactable)
    {
        enabled = interactable;

        Image img = GetComponent<Image>();
        if (img != null)
        {
            Color c = img.color;
            c.a = interactable ? 1f : 0.5f;
            img.color = c;
        }

        if (!interactable && IsPressed)
        {
            IsPressed = false;
            IsHolding = false;
            targetScale = originalScale;
        }
    }

    public void ResetButton()
    {
        IsPressed = false;
        IsHolding = false;
        HoldDuration = 0f;
        holdFired = false;
        cooldownTimer = 0f;
        targetScale = originalScale;
        rectTransform.localScale = originalScale;
    }

    private void OnDisable()
    {
        ResetButton();
    }
}
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