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Android is well known for some of the most useful accessibility tools meant to help people with disabilities make the most of their devices. Unfortunately, some of these features can prove to be pretty handy on any device beyond their primary purpose. The latest Android 12 beta has now landed with one such effective feature enabling users to control their smartphones using different facial expressions.
This feature was first spotted and reported by XDA Developers in the beta version 12.0.0 of the Android Accessibility Suite. Dubbed “Camera Switches”, the feature will enable the front camera to see if you’re looking at the screen and recognise any facial gestures.
Camera Switches is currently included in Switch Access that contains other tools used to let you interact with your Android device without having to touch the screen. With Switch Access, you can connect an external device via USB or Bluetooth to select items, scroll, type and more. This new feature will now let you make all these commands with nothing but your own face.
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Users will also be able to customise the size and duration of the face gesture. While in use, you’ll see a notification icon informing you that your phone’s camera is being used.
However, the new tool does not seem to be exclusive to the platform yet despite appearing on Android 12. Luckily, XDA was able to load the APK of the updated Android Accessibility Suite on a phone running Android 11 to access the feature. So you will have to do the same if you wish to try it out. The other choice could just be waiting for the full Android 12 release or downloading the beta version if your device is compatible.
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