Apple has highlighted a number of important features in its upcoming iOS 14. That said, a very interesting one has seemingly avoided the spotlight until now. It’s simply called Sound Recognition, which can be a lot more useful than you’d think.
If you have the feature turned on, an iPhone running iOS 14 will continuously listen for sounds. Recognition is done by the onboard AI, and the iPhone will then notify the user of the sound. Recognisable sounds include alarms and sirens, doorbells and knocks, even the sound of animals or babies crying.
iOS 14 comes with support for Sound Recognition in Accessibility. Your phone can now listen for specific sounds – a baby crying, smoke alarm, water running, etc. – and notify you.
Amazing feature for all kinds of users – inclusivity at its best. #WWDC2020 pic.twitter.com/3hIL8JuTyB
— Federico Viticci (@viticci) June 23, 2020
This can be useful for iPhone users running iOS 14 if they have hearing difficulties. Or when they are just unaware of the sounds due to being occupied with other things. Though MacRumors notes that the feature is still in beta, so it may not be fully reliable just yet. And even if it is, Apple says to not rely on Sound Recognition in higher risk situations where you can get hurt as a result.
Getting access to Sound Recognition is as simple as enabling it at the Accessibility menu under Settings. It takes up 5.5MB of space, and once enabled, it can be easily accessed from the Control Centre. Of course, you’ll need iOS 14, which Apple will only release to the public sometime later in fall.
(Source: Federico Viticci / Twitter via MacRumors)
