Apple could be developing tech that let's you control your iPhone just by thinking

Apple is reportedly working on a new technology that will allow users to control their iPhones and other smart devices using their brains. The company is expected to launch this technology in partnership with the neural tech company Synchron.

The technology is designed to help users with disablities, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to control their iPhones and iPads with neural signals captured through brain implants. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is just waiting for Elon Musk's Neuralink and other competitors to receive approval from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

This news follows Apple's recent rollout of accessibility features for iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, and more. Notably, users will now know which accessibility features are supported by the particular app. New accessibility features include the Magnifier app, Braille Experience, Accessibility Reader, Live Captions, and Enhanced View.

As for the new accessibility feature, Apple is working with Synchron’s Stentrode, which has electrodes that read brain signals. Stendrode helps "translate the signals into selecting icons on a screen," using Apple's Switch Control Feature. It is a feature similar to the Bluetooth accessibility feature for hearing aids that allows users to communicate with an iPhone via Bluetooth.

The technology works by implanting Stentrode in a blood vessel near the brain's motor cortex. This interprets neural signals to let users use their device using just their thoughts. One early user, Mark Jackson, who has ALS, was able to control his iPhone and Vision Pro headset using just his brain signals.

Additionally, Jackson was able to virtually "peer over the ledge of a mountain in the Swiss Alps and feel his legs shake," via Apple Vision Pro headset, despite being physically present in Pennsylvania. However, the Synchron’s technology is still in very early stages, and cannot be used to mimic moving a cursor with a mouse or using the touchscreen, so scrolling is much slower than normal.

Synchron Chief Executive Tom Oxley says that Apple plans to release a universal software standard later this year. This will allow more developers to build for brain-controlled interfaces.