Eye tracking hardware always on

Even if you don’t enroll in Face ID, the TrueDepth camera intelligently activates to support attention aware features, like dimming the display if you aren't looking at your iPhone or lowering the volume of alerts if you're looking at your device. For example, when using Safari, your device will check to determine if you're looking at your device and turns the screen off if you aren’t. If you don’t want to use these features, you can open Settings > Face ID & Passcode and disable Attention Aware Features.

[Edited by Moderator]

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250733991

check this out. And if you want to try, disable your Face ID or use an older generation iPhone without faceid and look through another camera at the front of the iPhone in a dark setting.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250733991

every iPhone even before Face ID was a thing strobes IR LEDs while in use.

Hi KiltedTim (great username by the way)

I’m sorry that the discussion has gone on a tangent. My original question was if there was a way to deactivate or opt out of what I presumed was an eye tracking feature using the iPhone flood illuminator. I discovered this accidentally while using an oculus vr headset near my iPhone.

Anyone can see for themselves that there is a strobing light emanating from the notch of their iPhone using another camera in a dimly lit setting. This illuminator is always on although it’s purpose is for Face ID authentication.

why is the led always strobing?

im going to tie in a few other social media platforms to this thread and see if we can diversify the already exceptional responses I’ve been getting.

Thank you for your response. If I were to capture a video of multiple iPhones constantly strobing LEDs from the flood Illuminator (while unlocked at the Home Screen) with my oculus rift, would you reconsider your position?

Also I don’t assume eye tracking is this evil conspiracy, when I was in school there were a lot of tech companies interested in it for VR and for selling user information to advertisers.

You told me matter of factly that the ir illuminators are not always on then proceeded to back track up to your last response “IR sensor is always on”

I’m asking about the IR flood illuminator located NEXT to the IR sensor.

My question remains unanswered, if you don’t have a good understanding of sensors and detectors please allow for others to respond.

Is the IR flood Illuminator always on? ( it is and I will upload proof of this later). Can I opt out of this. Is the IR sensor always collecting information?