Apple's iOS 17 Features Provide Various Benefits, Including Eye Health

Apple's new iOS 17 update has a variety of features that provide benefits to its users, including protecting their eye health as long-term exposure to bright screens could be damaging.

Having screens too close to our faces can cause eye strain and for children, prolonged periods where the screen is too close can increase the risk of myopia, also known as short-sightedness. The tech company added a new feature to its iOS 17 called Screen Distance.

Apple's iOS 17 Features New Health Benefits

The idea of the feature is to help people keep their devices at a healthy distance when they, or their children, are using them. The new feature on the iPhone works by using the mobile device's TrueDepth camera, which is also available on iPads, and is otherwise used for Face ID.

It would detect when a person is holding their device closer than 12 inches from their face for an extended period of time. If Screen Distance detects that this is something that is happening frequently, it will encourage users to move their faces farther away from their devices, as per ZDNet.

Users who want to turn on the new iPhone feature can go to their devices' settings, tap on Screen Time, and then select Screen Distance. This would prompt them with a series of explanations that detail how the feature works.

After enabling the Screen Distance feature, the device's TrueDepth camera will periodically measure the distance between users' eyes and their screens. If it finds that the distance is too close for too long, a pop-up will show saying, "iPhone May Be Too Close."

This was designed to hopefully encourage users to adjust the distance that they hold their devices and move them farther away. Once they do so, a checkmark will appear on the iPhone's screen and they can simply tap the screen to go back to whatever they were doing.

Addressing an Array of Issues

On top of the eye health feature, the iOS 17 added new features to the iPhone's Health app, including a mood logging function and several others. The tech giant's new "State of Mind" feature is designed to allow users to track their emotions on a daily basis and get an overall picture of their mental well-being, according to Mac Rumors.

Users can log their mood at different times throughout the day and input an overall mood for the day through Health app notifications or the Apple Watch. When a mood is logged, a slider bar is presented showing different options that range from Very Unpleasant to Neutral to Pleasant.

The options are also color-coded, with very unpleasant being purple, neutral being blue, and very pleasant being orange. The idea of the feature is for users to drag the slider to the closest representation of their current mood.

The new features come after Apple was forced to release an emergency update to the new iPhone 15 after reports of quick overheating issues. It also addressed other issues, such as a kernel issue and the second was a vulnerability in open source web technology WebRTC, said Forbes.