Android 12 lets you control your phone with facial expressions
What's the story
Soon, you might see some Android users making weird sequences of facial expressions while looking at their phones. They could be clicking selfies (as always), or using the Android Accessibility Suite's latest feature called Camera Switches. This feature can control your smartphone using just the front camera. It will be available with Android 12 but can be sideloaded even now. Here's all about it.
Accessibility
Camera Switches included in Accessibility Suite for Android 12
The new Camera Switches feature is a part of the latest iteration of the Android Accessibility Suite app bearing version number 12.0.0 that rolled out with the fourth Android 12 beta version released a few days ago. The Android Accessibility Suite uses Google's Accessibility API to provide tools so people with various disabilities can use their devices without needing additional assistance.
What changed?
Switch Access tools allow using external devices instead of touchscreen
In the Accessibility Suite app, Google has included a set of tools under the Switch Access section, through which you can interact with your device without using the touchscreen. The Switch Access tools instead allow you to interact with external devices that connect to the phone using USB or Bluetooth. The latest addition to this section is the Camera Switches feature.
How it works
Using Camera Switches, facial expressions can be mapped to actions
Using Camera Switches, the phone's front camera constantly monitors your facial expressions. These expressions of smiling, raising eyebrows, looking left, right, or up, and opening your mouth can be mapped to various actions, namely: Pause Camera Switch, Toggle auto-scan (disabled), reverse auto-scan, Select, Next, Previous, Touch and hold, Scroll Forward, Scroll Backward, Home, Back, Notifications, Quick Settings, and Overview.
Indications
The feature displays a persistent notification when active
XDA-Developers reported that using the feature, one can raise their eyebrows to, say, check notifications or open their mouth to return to the home screen. When the feature is active, Android 12 would display a status bar indicator saying that the camera is in use. Additionally, a persistent notification of the feature's active status is also displayed.
Fine-tuning
Facial expression recognition sensitivity and duration are customizable
Interestingly, the facial expression recognition sensitivity can be adjusted on a scale while the gesture duration can be adjusted as well. For instance, the former defines how high you raise your eyebrows to trigger an action while the latter defines how long the expression must be maintained to trigger the action. These customizations increase ease of use and help avoid accidental triggers, respectively.
Getting started
You can sideload the app on devices running Android 11
If you have a genuine use for the feature or you just want to show it off to your friends, you don't have to join the beta program or wait until Android 12 comes to your device. XDA-Developers noted that you can simply sideload the app on devices running Android 11. The APK file is available on third-party app stores including APKMirror.