Apple explores allowing people to control iPhones with their brains, the report said.

Apple is working on people with physical disabilities to control devices with their own minds.

On Tuesday, the tech giant announced a partnership with the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) company, which is developing implantable devices with electrodes that read brain signals. According to the press release, the technology enables Apple to convert these signals into actions such as selecting the icon “no physical motion or voice commands required” on iPhone, iPads, and Apple Vision Pro.

Wall Street JournalThe report details Apple and Synchron’s work with early testers to develop this new form of technology exchange. Pittsburgh resident Mark Jackson, who owns ALS, has a synchronous brain implant called Stentrode, which is “a stent-like device that implants into veins on the brain’s motor cortex.” The device “efficiently translates brain waves, allowing users to navigate around the screen and select icons,” he said. Magazine Write.

When connected to Stentrode using Apple Vision Pro, Jackson was actually able to “gaze at the mountain ledges of the Swiss Alps and feel his legs tremble,” despite his limited movement capabilities that prevented him from standing up.

That said, early in this breakthrough technology, Jackson explained that he “can’t use it to mimic a mouse moving the cursor or using his finger’s touch screen, so navigation is much slower than normal interaction with a computer or smartphone.”

But this is the main accessibility development for the disabled community. Synchron claims to be “the first BCI company to implement local integration with the new BCI Human Interface Device (BCI HID) profile”. Elon Musk’s Neuralink is developing neural technologies with similar capabilities. Its N1 chip was first implanted into humans in early 2024, and Musk said the man successfully controlled the cursor.

Apple has also made other accessibility advances recently, including providing personal voices for those who have lost their ability to speak, which will be upgraded with the upcoming release of iOS 19. And Mashable’s Chase Dibenedetto reported that Apple will also improve its faster eyes with MAC and faster eyes this year on its exercise-related accessibility tools and slow down the speed of MAC for Mac. ”