Some iPhone users have been surprised by a feature on the iPhone’s Facetime app, called eye contact.
The “unknown” setting uses Apple’s ARkit technology to correct your eyes to make it look like you’re having eye contact with the person you’re talking to, even if you’re looking the other way or in the center of the screen.
ARkit is Apple’s Augmented Reality tool, or augmented reality in Norwegian. It is a technology that combines things from the physical world with technology and virtual elements.
The eye contact feature was introduced along with iOS 13 in 2019, but to this day many are still unaware of the feature.
It’s turned on automatically, and should be turned off if you don’t want it.
based on Daily mail so many reacted when they realized what he was doing.
How FaceTime Attention Correction works iOS 13: it just uses ARKit to take a depth/position map of your face, and adjusts the eyes accordingly.
Notice the curvature of the lines in both the eyes and nose. pic.twitter.com/U7PMa4oNGN
– Dave Schukin @ (@schukin) 3 July 2019
No “focus focus”
Tech expert Eirik Norman Hansen said he didn’t think there was a “focus of focus” on why Apple introduced the feature.
– I think it’s mostly because they can. Apple is investing heavily in AR (augmented reality), and this is another step in trying to deliver better interactions between users. Often we see different paths when we talk over the internet, so that’s to compensate.
He mentioned that this has also become a known issue during the pandemic, where a lot of it happened via the internet.
AR technology is something that is getting more and more common. It was introduced on Apple devices via Memoji, which lets you put an emoji on your face while you talk, and it interacts with you.
EXPERT: Eirik Norman Hansen Photo: Private
– Technology recognizes what the mouth, eyes and face are. This is how things like that can work.
Understand people to be skeptical
Norman Hansen says it’s understandable that people get skeptical when things like that come up.
– Once you realize one thing, you can quickly become skeptical about whether there are other functions active in the background. Many people are afraid of surveillance and eavesdropping. “I’m not really worried about that, but you could tell it’s a manipulation of reality,” he said.
There are many functions that are active without people noticing – including you being able to record ongoing conversations.
Tech experts also believe that it is that particular thing that makes people react.
– The fact that it looks so good, so natural, might astonish a lot of people.
“Music maven. Evil pop culture lover. Unapologetic creator. Friend of animals everywhere.”
