<p>Haptic technology reproduces the human sense of touch, playing a critical role in enhancing immersions in virtual and augmented reality, medical training and human–machine interface. With the rapid development of these fields, haptic devices are transitioning from rigid, bulky systems to flexible, wearable formats that are lightweight, stretchable and skin conforming, greatly improving user comfort and tactile fidelity. The ultimate goal of next-generation haptic interface is to achieve precise, high-resolution tactile feedback that closely mimics natural skin sensations through direct mechanical interaction. However, current technologies remain limited in delivering diverse feedback modalities and fine spatial resolution, mainly owing to the underexplored potential of deformable materials and adaptive structural designs. This Review highlights recent progress in deformable materials and structural innovations for wearable haptic feedback. Systematic evaluation metrics are proposed based on key haptic perception mechanisms to assess performance across multiple indicators, including amplitude, frequency, spatial resolution and energy efficiency. Key achievements in material science, structural engineering and system integration are analysed, along with discussion of current challenges and future research directions of next-generation flexible and wearable haptic interfaces. With these proposed metrics, we aim to guide researchers in selecting appropriate materials and design strategies for future haptic systems.</p>