Eye Tracking Programming Help

Question

Created Jul ’24

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Hello, I've downloaded the iOS 18 Beta on my iPhone 13 to be able to test the functionality of Eye Tracking. As far as I can tell, I and others are having an issue with its functionality. It's glitchy and doesn't react correctly to eye position. Example: I'm looking at the "Dwell Control" selection in the settings and my phone thinks that I'm looking at "Snap to Item" or "Auto-Hide." I've watched others testing this and they also say that it's still glitchy to the point of being unusable. On top of that, I also wanted to test its functionality within one of our apps and none of the buttons are recognized as "Snap to." The only apps that recognize it are Apple apps. Is this expected? In short, how are we as programmers supposed to be able to test with this iOS version and this specific functionality if it still isn't working properly? And, will it even work for our own apps?

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Answer 1

Engineer OP

Apple

Jul ’24

Hi JTAguinaga,

Thanks for trying out Eye Tracking on iPhone. I had a few questions about how you're using it:

Is your iPhone mounted/on a stable surface while using Eye Tracking, or is it being held?
How far away is your face from your iPhone?
Do you have a sense of how much your head moves while using it?

For best results, iPhone should be on a stable surface (or mounted using a stand/support), about 1.5 feet away from your face.

Snap to Item should work with all apps—not just Apple's. Snap to Item should recognise any UIKit or SwiftUI buttons, as well as anything that is an accessibility element (this includes things marked explicitly with isAccessibilityElement for UIView subclasses as well as certain SwiftUI Views, plus SwiftUI Views with the accessibilityElement() modifier).

If your app already has these and Snap to Item is still not focusing on elements in your app, this seems like a bug, and is not expected, in which case I'd recommend filing a bug with Feedback Assistant.

Hope this helps!

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Answer 2

EnjoyingtheRide OP

Jul ’24

Hello. I am a quadriplegic who uses voice control to control my iPhone. That's all well and good until I find myself in a loud room, or I find myself in a space where I can't speak freely. So I've been looking forward to eye tracking. I am sorely disappointed. I have my iPhone mounted firmly on my wheelchair, about 12 inches away. I find that it's tracking accuracy is very poor. Question — I can move my head a little. Should I be moving my head to change my focus or should I keep my head perfectly still and move only my eyes?

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