Apple Introduces New Accessibility Feature That Includes Eye Tracking

Apple has officially announced new accessibility features and this time, it includes the ability to control either your iPhone or iPad with your eyes.

As a part of the company’s newly debuted iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 that is set to arrive later this year, the accessibility features include eye tracking. Apple says that with the help of artificial intelligence, those with physical disabilities will still be able to navigate the phone or iPad with the new feature. According to the press release, Apple states that “Eye Tracking uses the front-facing camera to set up and calibrate in seconds, and with on-device machine learning, all data used to set up and control this feature is kept securely on device, and isn’t shared with Apple.” With no additional hardware or accessories, Eye Tracking also allows users to “navigate through the elements of an app and use Dwell Control to activate each element, accessing additional functions such as physical buttons, swipes and other gestures solely with their eyes.”

Another feature is Music Haptics. Designed for deaf or hard of hearing users to experience music on the iPhone, the accessibility feature can be turned on, “the Taptic Engine in iPhone plays taps, textures and refined vibrations to the audio of the music.” Working across millions of songs in Apple Music’s catalogue, Music Haptics will also be available as an API for developers to make their music more accessible. Vocal Shortcuts provide a wider range of speech so iPhone and iPad users can assign customised utterances that Siri can understand to launch shortcuts and complete complex tasks. Another new features is the Listen for Atypical Speech, which gives users the ability to use the speech recognition software. It is designed for those with acquired or progressive conditions that affect speech, such as cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or stroke.