Is it possible to enable Dwell Control on Vision OS within your app?

Question

Shawn-merton OP

Created May ’24

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Hi everyone,

I'm currently developing an application for VisionOS and I'm interested in implementing Dwell Control to improve accessibility for users with limited mobility. Specifically, I would like to include a toggle within my app's interface that allows users to enable or disable Dwell Control at the app level.

I've gone through the VisionOS documentation and the general accessibility guidelines, but I couldn't find detailed information on how to programmatically enable or disable Dwell Control within an app.

Here are my main questions:

Is it possible to programmatically enable or disable Dwell Control from within a VisionOS app?
If so, what are the specific API calls or methods needed to achieve this functionality?
Are there any best practices or additional resources for implementing Dwell Control in VisionOS that you could point me to?

Thanks!

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Answer 1

Frameworks Engineer OP

Apple

May ’24

Hello there, great question!

It is not possible to toggle the Dwell Control accessibility setting from within your app. The user needs to enable it in Settings > Accessibility. This way, the user gets to understand the context of this preference within Accessibility, can read the footer text to learn about the feature if they haven't used it before, and see additional settings for Dwell Control to customize it for their needs. This is the best experience for enabling the feature.

To make a great Dwell Control experience in your app, make sure that all of the functionality can be performed with at least one of the following gestures: tap, scroll, long press, or drag. These are the four gestures that Dwell Control makes it easy to perform. If you require additional complex gestures, your app may be hard to use for people with Dwell Control, but they may also be using other features like Assistive Touch to make it possible. You don't need to populate any APIs or watch out for any notifications specifically for Dwell Control users, just focus on the interaction experience like I mentioned above.

You may have already seen it, but feel free to check out this WWDC talk about making your apps accessible on visionOS, where Dwell Control is mentioned: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10034

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