Vision Pro introduced a variety of powerful new Apple technologies, including eye tracking for navigating the OS. Now per a new reportthe forthcoming visionOS 3 update will expand eye tracking support to let you scroll apps using only your eyes.
Mark Gurman writes at Bloomberg:
Apple Inc. is developing a feature for its Vision Pro headset that lets users scroll through software with their eyes, aiming to enhance the device with a novel interface.
The eye-scrolling capability is being tested as part of visionOS 3, an upcoming version of the Vision Pro’s operating system, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Already, the headset lets users navigate the software by looking at objects and then selecting them by pinching their fingers. (…)
The eye-scrolling feature will work across all of Apple’s built-in apps on the Vision Pro, which starts at $3,499, and the company is preparing a way for developers to integrate the technology into their own software.
There are no other details in Gurman’s report, leaving a lot of questions around how exactly this new visionOS 3 capability will work.
On one hand, the prospect of scrolling using only your eyes sounds futuristic and compelling.
But if the experience is inconsistent across apps—as Gurman implies might happen, since developers might need to build special support—that would instantly undercut the feature’s usefulness.
I also hope this means visionOS 3 makes eye tracking in general more reliable.
In my experience, while eye tracking is generally “good enough” in current software, there’s definitely room for improvement. Right now, I don’t feel like I’d be confident in my Vision Pro’s ability to accurately scroll content without hand gestures.
Nonetheless, with visionOS such a young platform, I’m excited to see what other upgrades are in store.
Does this visionOS 3 feature excite you? Let us know in the comments.
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