Why Most Gloves Won't Work With Capacitance Touchscreens Capacitance touchscreens do have one drawback compared to resistive and surface acoustic wave screens, however: They won't work if you are wearing gloves. A surface acoustic wave touchscreen is a little bit like the safety lens feature on your garage door opener: No matter what blocks the signal between the two transducers, the device will respond. Because a resistive screen changes its electrical field when the two metallic layers touch each other, it also doesn't matter whether you're wearing gloves; the pressure from your finger is what triggers the device, sort of like a keyboard. But capacitive touchscreens are similar to the touch-activated reading lamp you might have on your bedside table. When you touch the surface of the screen or the metal part of the lamp, a small part of the electrical charge is conducted into your finger, which changes the electrical fiend and triggers the device. Human skin is a pretty good conductor of electricity, but the fabric that most gloves are made of is not. This is why the capacitive touchscreen on your smartphone doesn`t work when you`re wearing your winter gloves. What Makes Touchscreen-Compatible Gloves Different Most materials are either conductors, which means that electricity will flow through them easily, or insulators, which means that it is difficult for electricity to flow through them. Some common conductors are metal, tap water, and human skin; some common insulators are air, wood, and cotton. Even an insulator can conduct electricity if the current is powerful enough, such as lightning traveling through air, but the tiny charge that your smartphone's touchscreen uses needs a good conductor to make contact with its metallic layer in order for it to respond. Cotton, wool and other popular glove fabrics are insulators, and they will not affect the electrical field of a capacitance touchscreen. Touchscreen-compatible gloves are made from traditional fabrics with conductive materials added. Some gloves have small patches of conductive material on the tips of the fingers, while others have conductive material woven throughout the glove, such as silver-plated nylon thread. A good touchscreen-compatible glove will conduct electricity as well as your skin does, and makes you able to keep your fingers warm and still use your smartphone. And touchscreen-compatible gloves are just the beginning: As of 2013, scientists are developing more sophisticated conductive textiles that may be able to turn your clothing into a functional circuit board.