The present disclosure describes apparatuses and techniques for programmatic sensing of capacitive sensors. In some aspects, a first set of instructions are executed that drive an output to a predetermined state for a duration of time effective to charge a capacitive sense element, a second set of instructions are executed that monitor a voltage level of the capacitive sense element, the second set of instructions executed for a number of iterations until the voltage level of the capacitive sense element crosses a predefined threshold, and user interaction with the capacitive sense element is determined based on the number of iterations that the second set of instructions execute.