Google is developing an Android accessibility feature that lets users control their phone using facial expressions.
An updated version of the Android Accessibility Suite app, released last week alongside the operating system’s latest beta, includes a “Camera Switches” function, as reported by XDA Developers.
Housed in the Switch Access setup guide—where people with disabilities can connect external accessories via USB or Bluetooth—Camera Switches lets you use one or more gestures to complete on-screen tasks. Assign silent signals like smiling, raising your eyebrows, looking left, looking right, looking up, or opening your mouth to open the notification panel, launch quick settings, scroll forward or backward, or return to the phone’s home screen, among other actions.
Additional settings include the ability to show a visual indication of how long you held a gesture, play a sound when something on screen changes in response, and keep the screen on when Camera Switches is enabled (the feature cannot unlock the screen if it turns off).
Camera Switches relies on the smartphone or tablet’s front-facing camera to know when you’re looking at the screen and recognize facial gestures. A persistent notification icon lets you know when the camera is actively in use, according to XDA Developers; images are not stored or sent to Google. The function does, however, use additional battery, and folks are encouraged to keep their device plugged in and charging when possible.
Though not yet available on Google Play, interested users can sideload the APK. XDA even managed to add it to a device running Android 11, suggesting the feature may not be exclusive to Android 12.
