Control iPad with the movement of your eyes

With Eye Tracking, you can control iPad using just your eyes. An onscreen pointer follows the movement of your eyes, and when you look at an item and hold your gaze steady or dwell, you perform an action, such as a tap. All data used to set up and control Eye Tracking is processed on device.

Before you begin

Eye Tracking uses the built-in, front-facing camera on iPad. For best results, make sure that the camera has a clear view of your face and that your face is adequately lit. iPad should be on a stable surface about a foot and a half away from your face.

Eye Tracking is available with supported iPad models.

Turn on Eye Tracking

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Eye Tracking, then turn on Eye Tracking.
Follow the onscreen instructions to calibrate Eye Tracking. As a dot appears in different locations around the screen, follow its movement with your eyes.
Note: You need to calibrate Eye Tracking every time you turn it on.

Use Eye Tracking

After you turn on and calibrate Eye Tracking, an onscreen pointer follows the movement of your eyes. When you’re looking at an item on the screen, an outline appears around the item.

When you hold your gaze steady at a location on the screen, the dwell pointer appears where you’re looking and the dwell timer begins (the dwell pointer circle starts to fill). When the dwell timer finishes, an action—tap, by default—is performed.

To perform additional onscreen gestures or physical button presses, use the AssistiveTouch menu . See Use AssistiveTouch.

Recalibrate Eye Tracking

If you change the position of your face or your iPad, Eye Tracking calibration automatically starts if recalibration is needed. You can also manually start Eye Tracking calibration.

Look at the top-left corner of your screen and hold your gaze steady.
The dwell pointer appears and the dwell timer begins (the dwell pointer circle starts to fill). When the dwell timer finishes, Eye Tracking calibration starts.
Follow the onscreen instructions to calibrate Eye Tracking. As a dot appears in different locations around the screen, follow its movement with your eyes.

You can change which corner of the screen you need to look at to start recalibration or assign actions to other corners. See Set up Dwell Control.

Set options for Eye Tracking

You can set options for how the Eye Tracking pointer responds to your gaze.

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Eye Tracking, then adjust any of the following:
- Smoothing: Increase this value to make the movement of the pointer smoother. Or decrease this value to make the pointer more responsive.
- Snap to Item: Have the Eye Tracking pointer automatically move to the item on the screen that’s closest to where you’re looking.
- Zoom on Keyboard Keys: When you dwell on the keyboard, zoom in on the section of the keyboard you’re looking at. Dwell again on a key to tap it.
- Auto-Hide: Show the Eye Tracking pointer when you hold your gaze steady for the amount of time specified. When your eyes are moving, the pointer automatically fades.
- Dwell Control: Turn Dwell Control on or off. To adjust settings for Dwell Control, such as the default dwell action and the duration of the dwell timer, see Set up Dwell Control.

To change the size or color of the Eye Tracking pointer, go to Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control. See Make the pointer easier to see.

Use an external eye-tracking device with iPad

You can also use a Made for iPhone (MFi) eye-tracking device to control iPad.

Follow the eye-tracking device manufacturer’s instructions to connect your device to iPad with a Lightning or USB-C connector (depending on your iPad model).
Set up your eye-tracking device using the device’s companion app.
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch, then turn on AssistiveTouch.
If you want to be able to interact with an item on the screen when you hold your gaze steady on the item, turn on Dwell Control.
To adjust settings for Dwell Control, such as the default dwell action and the duration of the dwell timer, see Set up Dwell Control.
To set additional options for your eye-tracking device, tap Devices (below Pointer Devices), tap the name of the device, then adjust any of the following:
- Customize Additional Buttons: Perform actions using a physical switch (if supported by your eye-tracking device).
- Snap to Item: Have the pointer automatically move to the item on the screen that’s closest to where you’re looking.
- Auto-Hide: Show the pointer when you hold your gaze steady for the amount of time specified. When your eyes are moving, the pointer automatically fades.

To change the color and size of the pointer, go to Settings > Accessibility > Pointer Control. See Make the pointer easier to see when using a mouse or trackpad with iPad.

Helpful?

iPad User Guide