Apple previews iOS 18 accessibility features including eye tracking and music haptics

Apple today announced new accessibility features that will debut later this year in iOS 18 and its other operating systems (although as usual, Apple does not specifically refer to ‘iOS 18’ prematurely).

The headline addition is Eye Tracking, which will allow iPhone and iPad users with physical disabilities to control their devices just by looking at it with their eyes, with a new iOS gaze system somewhat similar to Vision Pro. Other new features include music haptics, Vehicle Motion Cues, and more …

As is tradition, Apple previews its upcoming accessibility features before the full unveiling of the new operating systems at WWDC in June.

The big new feature this year is Eye Tracking, which uses the front-facing camera to determine what element the user is looking at on screen, allowing them to navigate their device just with their eye gaze, no touch input required. Users can look at a button to highlight it, and hold their gaze for a few seconds to select it.

Music Haptics are designed to help the deaf or hard of hearing enjoy music like everyone else. The iPhone will use its haptic engine to play taps and refined vibrations that synchronize with the music being played audibly.

Vehicle Motion Cues aims to assist iOS users who suffer from motion sickness, when using their iPhone or iPad as a passenger in a moving vehicle. When Motion Cues are enabled, the device overlays a pattern of animated dots that follow the direction of the vehicle’s motion. Apple says this reduces sensory conflict in the brain, and can reduce the intensity of motion sickness sensations.

Also new is something called Vocal Shortcuts, which lets users assign custom action phrases to launch shortcuts and perform complicated multi-step actions when those phrases are spoken aloud. Apple is also adding a new “Listen for Atypical Speech” mode that helps improve dictation and speech recognition accuracy for users that suffer from conditions like cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or stroke.

CarPlay is also getting attention as far as accessibility is concerned in this software update cycle. Apple says that existing iOS features like Voice Control, Color Filters and Sound Recognition will now also be available through the CarPlay interface.

Apple also announced a flurry of smaller accessibility enhancements coming later this year, including new voices for VoiceOver narration, a new Hover Typing option that enlarges the current text field content during editing, access to the Magnifier app’s Detection Mode with the iPhone 15 action button, and improvements to Braille input.

You can see more details in Apple’s press release.