Control Your iPhone hands-free with Eye Tracking Feature

Apple
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Eye Tracking is an innovative accessibility feature that allows you to control your iPhone using only your eyes. If you need to use your phone with dirty hands or if you’re experiencing difficulty with fine motor skills, this feature can be invaluable.

This feature allows for hands-free control of your iPhone. Once Eye Tracking is set up, you can also use the Sound Actions feature to perform tasks by making specific mouth noises.

Table of contents: How to Use Eye Tracking on iPhone

  1. Enable Eye Tracking
  2. How to Use Eye Tracking
  3. Adjust Eye Tracking Settings
  4. Improve Eye Tracking Performance
  5. Set Up Sound Actions
  6. Explore More Accessibility Features

Enable Eye Tracking

Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Eye Tracking in the Physical and Motor section.

Step 2: Calibrate your iPhone by following the dot as it moves across the screen. This process is similar to the calibration on the Vision Pro.

How to Use Eye Tracking

After enabling Eye Tracking, a gray cursor, known as the Dwell Pointer, will appear on the screen, mirroring your eye movements.

  • The cursor will automatically select buttons or toggle switches when your gaze is near them.

  • Holding your gaze on a specific spot will trigger a ring-shaped progress bar around the cursor, indicating that it’s about to tap the element beneath it.

  • Looking at the floating on-screen button will open the Assistive Touch menu. This menu allows you to perform gestures like scrolling, adjusting the volume, and accessing the Home Screen or Control Center without physically touching your phone.

  • You can recalibrate Eye Tracking at any time by looking at the upper-left corner of the screen.

To customize the Dwell Pointer’s appearance, go to Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control. (Eye Tracking must be enabled for this option to be visible.) Here, you can modify the color, contrast, and size of the pointer.

Adjust Eye Tracking Settings

To customize Eye Tracking settings, go to Settings > Accessibility > Eye Tracking. Here, you can adjust the following settings:

  • Smoothing: This adjustable slider controls how closely the on-screen pointer follows your eye movements. Lower smoothing provides faster but potentially less stable tracking.

  • Snap to Item: When enabled, this setting automatically selects buttons, toggles, and other UI elements when your gaze approaches them.

  • Zoom on Keyboard Keys: This magnifies the iPhone’s keyboard keys as you type.

  • Auto-Hide: This determines how long you must look at the screen before the Eye Tracking cursor appears.

  • Dwell Control: This setting activates a tap when you stare at an item for a set duration. You can customize these settings in Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch within the Dwell Control section.

Improve Eye Tracking Performance

For optimal results with Eye Tracking, follow these tips:

Step 1: Place your iPhone on a stable surface approximately one foot away from your face.

Step 2: If you wear glasses, ensure that there are minimal reflections or glare.

Step 3: Enable Dark Mode on your iPhone. This can improve the feature’s performance.

While Eye Tracking works well on newer iPhones with better cameras and processing power, it may not be as precise as on devices like the Vision Pro.

Set Up Sound Actions

Sound Actions allow you to control your phone using voice commands after setting up Eye Tracking.

Step 1: Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch.

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom and tap Sound Actions.

Step 3: Tap Practice to view the available sounds that can trigger Sound Actions.

Step 4: If you are unsure about specific sounds, tap Learn to make these sounds for guidance.

Step 5: Tap Done to return and assign functions to each sound.

Step 6: Tap a sound and select the feature you want to control. You can trigger features such as the flashlight, Control Center, screen rotation lock, Reachability, screenshot, and Spotlight.

Sound Actions are only active when Eye Tracking is enabled.

Explore More Accessibility Features

Check out these additional accessibility settings:

Eye Tracking and Sound Actions offer innovative ways to interact with your iPhone, providing enhanced accessibility for various needs. Experiment with these features to discover how they can improve your iPhone experience.