iOS 17 brings screen distance feature to reduce eye strain
Apple has introduced a new health feature known as “Distance iPhone screen” for iPhone and iPad with iOS 17. This feature is designed to help reduction of overall eye strain for people of all ages, as well as reducing the risk of nearsightedness (myopia) in younger children.
iOS 17 brings screen distance feature to reduce eye strain
The giant from Cupertino recommends keep your iPhone and iPad at least 12 inches away from your eyes. With the Screen Distance feature, Apple encourages users to maintain a healthy viewing distance while using their iPhones and iPads.
HOW DOES THE SCREEN DISTANCE FEATURE WORK?
The Screen Distance feature uses the TrueDepth front camera system on iPhones and iPads to measure the space between your eyes and the screen. It urges users to keep their devices more than a foot away.
The moment the distance between the device and the user’s eyes is less than 12 inches, the Screen Distance feature instantly sends them a full-screen alert, asking them to move their devices further away after being closer than 12 inches to their eyes for an extended period of time.
It is important to note that privacy and data security are guaranteed during this process as the camera does not capture any photos or videos. The collected data is kept exclusively on the user’s device and is not shared with Apple or other third parties.
HOW TO USE THE IOS 17 SCREEN DISTANCE FEATURE
Please note that the Screen Distance feature is only available on iPad and iPhone models with FaceID. This feature is not enabled by default and must be enabled manually in the Settings app.
Apple released the first public beta of iOS 17 on July 12. To try out the Screen Distance feature, you can install the iOS 17 public beta on your iPhone or iPad.
Once the iOS 17 public beta is installed on your device, you need to follow the below to enable the Screen Distance feature:
- Open the Institutions app on your iPhone and iPad.
- Tap on “Screen time.”
- Scroll down and choose the “Screen distance” choice.
- Then select “Get on.”
- On the next page, tap “Enable Screen spacing.”
- Turn on the switch for the “Screen distance” switch.
Once enabled, the Screen Spacing feature will send users an alert saying “iPhone is too closewhen it detects a precarious distance.
Once the device is moved to a safe distance to avoid this warning, a check mark appears on the screen, after which users must tap the “Continue” button to proceed.
If you don’t want to use the Screen Distance feature, you can turn it off by going to Settings > Screen Time > Screen Distance and turning off the Screen Distance switch.
