In a press release this morning, Apple announced its suite of new accessibility features coming to the iPhone later this year. This includes Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store, a new Magnifier app for Mac, and more.
A new report from The Wall Street Journal (Apple News+ link) today dives deeper into another accessibility breakthrough Apple is developing: the ability to control your iPhone with your brain.
According to the report, Apple is teaming up with Synchron, a company developing a device called the Stentrode. The Stentrode is a “stent-like device that is implanted in a vein atop the brain’s motor cortex” with electrodes that read brain signals.
Through its partnership with Synchron, Apple is developing ways for Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) to translate those brain signals into the ability to select, control, and manipulate iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro interfaces. The Synchron BCI is implanted in the brain’s motor cortex, specifically on the surface of the blood vessel, using a minimally invasive endovascular procedure that involves inserting a catheter through the jugular vein.
Researchers believe that Brain Computer Interfaces, such as the Strenode and Neuralink, will revolutionize the ability of people with diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, to interact with their devices.
The Wall Street Journal’s report highlights Mark Jackson, an ALS patient based in Pittsburgh who is an early tester of the Stentrode implant:
Mark Jackson, an early tester of the Stentrode implant, was able to peer over the ledge of a mountain in the Swiss Alps and feel his legs shake. Jackson can’t stand up, and he wasn’t in Switzerland. He was wearing an Apple virtual-reality headset, which was connected to his implant.
Jackson can’t travel from his home outside Pittsburgh because he has ALS. Still, he is learning how to control his iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro headset thanks to a connection between his Stentrode implant and Apple’s various operating systems.
According to Jackson, Synchron’s technology “is still early in its development” and is missing key features. For example, there’s no support for mimicking moving a cursor, a limitation that makes navigation significantly slower.
Still, Apple’s partnership with Synchron is a major step forward for the development of Brain Computer Interfaces. As part of iOS 19 and visionOS 3 coming this fall, Apple will add broader support for BCIs with a new protocol to support Switch Control. This will let users with BCIs control their devices without physical movement.
iOS 19 will include another major update for people with ALS, who are at risk of losing their ability to speak. As part of iOS 17 in 2023, Apple debuted its revolutionary Personal Voice feature to let users create and save a voice that sounds like them. The first version of Personal Voice required that users say 150 different phrases to train Apple’s machine learning model. The voice was then processed overnight.
With iOS 19, Apple is significantly streamlining that process. Now, users will only need to record 10 different phrases and process them in under a minute rather than in multiple hours overnight. Apple says the result is also smoother and more natural-sounding.
Learn more about Apple’s latest accessibility announcements in our full coverage.
My favorite iPhone accessories:
Follow Chance: Threads, Bluesky, Instagram, and Mastodon.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
