Apple patents eye-tracking method to confirm UI selections
Apple has filed a patent for a system that uses an eye tracker to help users select items on a screen. When you look at a button, a visual marker appears in a fixed spot, and the system tracks your eye movement to ensure you are still focused on the target before you look at the marker to confirm the action.
In the filing’s own words
A method includes displaying a user interface (UI) including a first UI element associated with a first UI operation. The method includes, in response to detecting a first gaze input directed to the first UI element, displaying a visual indicator at a fixed location separate from the first UI element and determining an expected gaze travel path from the first UI element to the visual indicator. The method includes maintaining selection of the first UI element while a gaze travels within a boundary defining the expected gaze travel path. The method further includes, in accordance with a determination that the gaze deviates outside the boundary, deselecting the first UI element and ceasing to display the visual indicator. The method includes, in accordance with a determination that a second gaze input is directed to the visual indicator while selection is maintained, performing the first UI operation.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at an electronic device including a display and an eye tracker: displaying, on the display, a user interface (UI) including a first UI element that is associated with a first UI operation; in response to detecting, via the eye tracker, a first gaze input directed to the first UI element, displaying a visual indicator at a fixed location that is separate from the first UI element and determining an expected gaze travel path from the first UI element to the visual indicator; maintaining selection of the first UI element while a gaze of a user is traveling within a boundary defining the expected gaze travel path; in accordance with a determination that the gaze deviates outside the boundary defining the expected gaze travel path, deselecting the first UI element and ceasing to display the visual indicator; and in accordance with a determination that, via the eye tracker, a second gaze input is directed to the visual indicator while the selection of the first UI element is maintained, performing the first UI operation.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Gaze Target for Activating User Interface Elements
- Publication number
- US20260277410A1
- Application number
- 19670637
- Filed
- May 7, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 5
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 3/04842 Physics & computingG06F 3/013 Physics & computingG06F 3/0483 Physics & computingG06F 3/0487 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.