How to control Apple Vision Pro by making sounds

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in Apple Vision Pro

One of Apple's Accessibility features for Apple Vision Pro lets users make simple sounds to trigger events. Here's how to get it set up.

A menu showing the practice screen for Sound Actions. Sounds like cluck and oo are visible.
Sound Actions for Apple Vision Pro



Apple Vision Pro can be controlled by looking at something then tapping your thumb and forefinger. Users can expand on this by adding a trackpad or keyboard, but these won't be useful for everyone.



An Accessibility feature called Sound Actions lets users trigger different features in visionOS or even run a Shortcut. There are fourteen sounds the user can make to trigger a near-infinite set of actions.

For example, accessing the Control Center by looking up isn't the most consistent gesture. We can open the elusive menu with Sound Actions by making an "ooo" sound.

Setting up Sound Actions



First, navigate to the Sound Actions menu:

  • Open the Settings app

  • Select "Accessibility"

  • Select "Interaction" under the "Physical and Motor" menu

  • Select "Sound Actions," then select a sound to assign an action



Apple even provides a practice section at the top of the menu to let users try making the sounds. Selecting a sound in the practice section plays an example, while successfully making the sound makes it light up.

You'll want to practice and learn the difference between a cluck and a click.

A menu showing the list of available sounds that trigger sound actions like eh, la, and much.
There are plenty of sounds that can be used to trigger actions

Available actions



Thanks to Shortcuts integration, users can configure anything they'd like to happen when a Sound Action is performed. Outside of that, there are plenty of options built into visionOS.

  • Run the Accessibility Shortcut

  • Pinch, as in replicating the selection gesture

  • Recenter apps

  • Access Control Center

  • Take a screenshot

  • Activate Siri

  • Activate an Accessibility action like toggling AssistiveTouch or Smart Invert



These are just a few examples of what's available. There are 24 built-in actions, and the entire list of available Shortcuts appears below that.

Like many accessibility features, Sound Actions are quite helpful to everyone regardless of ability. Shortcuts users could easily take advantage of the feature to trigger actions anywhere within the operating system.



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