Hello, I work in ophthalmology at Stanford and I am hoping to develop a tool for monitoring vision health using Apple Vision Pro. However, I am worried that my goal will not be possible due to Apple privacy concerns. I want to develop an app that can gauge eye performance, but to do so I would need precise details about the users eye movements and eye position. Is this feasible? Also, I am eager to learn more about the specifics of the eye-tracking set up, like the accuracy and the sampling rate. If you have any useful information or suggestions, I would really appreciate it, thank you!
Apple Vision Pro for Medical Purposes
I do not see issues with Apple privacy, as long as you get user consent for tracking.
You should check guideline 1.4.1:
1.4.1 Medical apps that could provide inaccurate data or information, or that could be used for diagnosing or treating patients may be reviewed with greater scrutiny.
Apps must clearly disclose data and methodology to support accuracy claims relating to health measurements, and if the level of accuracy or methodology cannot be validated, we will reject your app. For example, apps that claim to take x-rays, measure blood pressure, body temperature, blood glucose levels, or blood oxygen levels using only the sensors on the device are not permitted.
Apps should remind users to check with a doctor in addition to using the app and before making medical decisions.
If your medical app has received regulatory clearance, please submit a link to that documentation with your app.
If you're proposing to make an app for internal use within your lab, then it doesn't need to go through App Review.
As @KTRosenberg points out, Apple have said that they are not exposing eye tracking information. But clearly the device does track eyes and some levels of the software have access to that. It may be that access to the eye tracking data is controlled by an "entitlement". It's possible that you may be able to enable this entitlement for your own not-app-reviewed apps. It may even be that they will have a system where you can apply to enable this entitlement for reviewed apps. Or not.
If I were you, I'd file a bug asking for access to eye tracking data enabled by an entitlement that you can enable for your own devices.
In the WWDC Slack, an Apple employee answered this question: Apps do not get access to eye tracking data. No exceptions, including for medical research purposes.
I am working in an exact similar project, is this statement confirmed (Apps do not get access to eye tracking data. No exceptions, including for medical research purposes.) for Apple Pro?