Swype Vape With Touchscreen

Submission 4,566

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About

Swype Vape With Touchscreen refers to a vaporizer or electronic cigarette (e-cig) device that has Bluetooth connectivity and a small touchscreen. In mid-2024, images and memes about the product spread online as users joked about activities that could be done via the touchscreen vape and questioned the necessity of a vape device that doubled as a portable touchscreen computer. Users also criticized the environmental impact of the vape with its screen and battery, which is sold as a disposable product, that contributes to electronic waste in landfills.

Origin

In early 2024, a number of disposable vapes incorporating a digital display or screen, Bluetooth pairing ability and other features typically associated with phones hit the market, manufactured by brands such as Swipe, GeekVape and Puffpaw.^[2] At their most basic, these vapes included a display indicating how many puffs were left in the product, but others incorporated even more advanced electronic components.

According to the FDA's list of approved and legal nicotine products from 2023, none of these vapes were technically legal in the United States.^[3]

The Swype vape, released in the summer of 2024, was described in marketing copy as "innovative."^[1] The vape pairs with a smartphone via Bluetooth, offering a range of functionalities on the touchscreen including gameplay, receiving notifications and, supposedly, browsing the internet (example image shown below).

Discussions in online forums, including one in Reddit's /r/electronics subreddit, discussed the expense and ecological impact of the electronic components in these disposable vapes, which are intended to be thrown away after use.^[4]

Spread

On July 5th, 2024, a user on Twitter / X, @jimfredette32, posted a photo of a Swype vape with a touchscreen and its interface, receiving over 110,000 likes in the course of three days, leading to much viral discussion (seen below).^[5]

Response to the idea of disposable smart vapes was broadly negative online, with posters upset by the environmental and human impacts of the e-waste. For example, X user @falastinerkive posted on July 6th that children in Congo died to make the vapes, possibly referencing the exploitation of the Congo for minerals used in the making of electronics and batteries, and earned over 282,000 likes in the course of two days (seen below).^[7]

Others imagined the kinds of activities papers might engage in using their disposable touchscreen devices. On July 7th, 2024, X user @bootleghinata posted an image of a vape being used to coordinate a drone strike (seen below), earning over 57,000 likes in a day.^[8]

The picture was also crossposted to Reddit's /r/boringdystopia on July 8th, where it received over 170 upvotes in four hours.^[6]