Android will now let you control your phone using facial gestures
TL; DR
- The latest beta version of Android 12 includes a new feature that lets you control your phone with facial gestures.
- You can map a number of gestures to perform various actions on your Android phone.
- The new feature is also available on phones with older versions of Android.
Android has some of the most useful accessibility features to help people with disabilities get the most out of their devices. However, some of these accessibility features can be quite handy on any phone beyond their main purpose. The latest beta of Android 12 comes with such a nifty feature that you can control your Android phone with different facial expressions.
As discovered by people at XDA developer, Beta version 12.0.0 of the Android Accessibility Suite, which is included in Android 12 Beta 4, contains a new “Camera Switch” function. When activated, it uses the front camera to see if you are looking at the screen and to recognize facial gestures.
How to use facial gestures to navigate your Android phone
Different facial expressions can trigger actions on your Android phone. For example, you can open your mouth to go to the notification panel or raise your eyebrows to return to the home screen. The image below shows a list of all of the facial gestures that you can customize to perform various actions.
Actions that you can associate with the above gestures include accessing notifications, scrolling back and forth, touching and holding, navigating to the home screen, selecting, and more.
You can also adjust the size and duration of the facial gesture. While using it, you will see a constant notification icon letting you know that your phone’s camera is in use.
While the new facial gesture tool has hit Android 12, it doesn’t seem to be exclusive to the platform. XDA was able to load the APK of the updated Android Accessibility Suite onto a phone running Android 11 to access the feature. If you want to try it out, you can do the same thing. Alternatively, you can wait for the stable Android 12 release or download the Android 12 beta.
As soon as you have the new version of the Android Accessibility Suite, you can find the function under the Switch Access Tools.
