iOS 13 FaceTime: Look at me when I’m talking to you

It’s been reported by certain users that the third developer beta for iOS 13 brings a new feature to FaceTime calls that uses “FaceTime Attention Correction” that makes it look like you’re staring directly at your front-facing camera during calls. The feature was first spotted by Twitter user Mike Rundle and is only currently available on the iPhone XS and XS Max betas, however. XR and iPad users will have to wait for now.

Normally, FaceTime calls (and other video calls, for that matter) usually end up with users looking at their displays, which gives the appearance that the caller is looking down throughout the conversation. While this isn’t exactly a huge problem, the new feature is a nice touch.

This is made possible by ARKit, software that maps a user’s face and then adjusts the positioning of their eyes. You can view a quick demo of the feature below:

At the moment, we don’t know if this feature will make its way across to more devices, although it’s probable that a successful beta rollout of the feature should mean that all devices that support FaceTime should support this in the future for official updates.

With the trend of recessed webcams in laptops also starting to gain traction (read: awkward viewing angles for calls), I wonder if this feature could also help with Apple’s future laptops as well. We’ll have to see.

[ VIA ]