Features
Head tracking in Speech Assistant: hands-free AAC explained
The Speech Assistant Team
June 2026 · 3 min read
Head tracking lets you use Speech Assistant without touching the screen: small head movements move a cursor, and holding still on a tile selects it.
What do I need?
- An iPhone or iPad with a TrueDepth front camera. Without one, Settings shows Head Tracking Unavailable.
- Camera permission for Speech Assistant.
- A stand or mount at eye level, about an arm's length away.
How do I turn it on?
- Home: tap the face icon in the toolbar, then Enable.
- Or Settings ▸ Head Tracking (Caretaker mode): switch on Head Tracking.
How does selecting work?
- The head position when tracking starts is the centre.
- Cyan cursor: tracking. Orange: looking for a face.
- Rest on a tile and a ring fills. When it's full, the tile is spoken.
- The same tile won't repeat until the cursor leaves it.
- Layout adapts: bigger tabs, a category strip, a paged grid.
Which settings should I adjust?
- Sensitivity (Low / Medium / High): start on Medium. Big tiring turns? Go High. Overshooting? Go Low.
- Dwell Duration (0.5–3.0 s, default 1.0): shorter is faster but picks tiles by accident; longer is calmer.
Tips
- Re-centre: turn head tracking off and on from the Home toolbar.
- Light the face, not the background.
- Fewer columns, bigger tiles: easier to dwell on (editing layouts is Premium).
- Caretaker mode pauses tracking, so setup isn't interrupted.
Questions people ask
Which devices support head tracking?
iPhone and iPad with a TrueDepth front camera, the one used for Face ID.
Is my face recorded or uploaded?
No. The camera follows head movement on the device in real time. Nothing is recorded or sent.
Is head tracking part of Premium?
No. It's free for everyone.