Technology
Control Your iPhone or iPad Using Your Eyes!
- iOS 18/iPadOS 18 brings eye tracking technology powered by AI, enabling device control through eye movements without additional hardware.
- Enhanced accessibility features include Apple Music Haptics, Vehicle Motion Cues, Voice Control in CarPlay, and Sound Recognition for alerts, catering to diverse user needs.
Apple announced on Wednesday a raft of accessibility features set to arrive later this year on iPhones and iPads; likely part of iOS 18/iPadOS 18 which are due for public release next month.
Eye tracking technology will soon be supported on both iPhones and iPads, providing control of devices through eye movements alone – just as its name suggests!
Eye tracking will be powered by AI (since everything must now). An initial seconds-long calibration phase through your front-facing camera should complete setup; thereafter all data remains securely within your device thanks to on-device machine learning technology.
Eye tracking works seamlessly across any app and doesn’t require additional hardware or accessories – all that’s necessary to navigate between its elements with Dwell Control is your eyes and Dwell Mode! No additional devices or peripherals necessary!
Your iPhone features an innovative Taptic Engine which creates taps, textures and refined vibrations tailored to whatever music is playing – similar to Sony’s similar feature released many years ago; however Apple Music Haptics will initially only support Apple Music but could potentially become available as an API so developers could integrate music more into their applications if desired.
Apple recently unveiled Vehicle Motion Cues, which aim to reduce motion sickness for passengers who use iPhone or iPad while traveling in moving vehicles.
It will add animated dots along the edge of the screen which represent changes in vehicle motion, helping alleviate motion sickness in some way that’s yet unknown; we look forward to exploring this feature further!
CarPlay now comes equipped with Voice Control – which does exactly what its name implies by letting you navigate and control apps with just voice, Voice Recognition for those with deaf or hard of hearing to notify of car horns/sirens, Sound Recognition to notify people who may not hear certain sounds as easily, Sound Recognition of car sirens/horns to provide notification when driving and Color Filters designed specifically to assist colorblind customers.