How to detect people around you using the Magnifier app in iOS 17 on your iPhone Pro or iPad Pro

When a person is detected, your device will play a sound and give haptic feedback and spoken feedback, depending on your settings. The feedback is more frequent if the person is close to you.

Note: People Mode should not be relied upon in circumstances where you may be harmed or injured.

Note: People Detection is only available on iPhones 12 Pro or newer and iPads Pro from 2020 onwards.

Detection Mode contains several features to help visually impaired users. This guide covers People Detection. The other detection modes are covered in separate guides, listed below.

Door Detection can help users locate doors in their surroundings. Door Detection can estimate how far away a door is and inform users how to open the door.
Image Descriptions gives descriptions of the objects and people detected in a user's surroundings.
Point and Speak can assist visually impaired people by reading aloud labels and text in their surroundings.

For more information on using the Magnifier app, see the article How to use your device to magnify objects in iOS 17 for iPhone or iPad

Short guide:

Open the Magnifier app .
In the Magnifier app, tap the settings button and choose Settings.
In the Other Controls section, tap the + (add) button for Detection Mode to move it to the Secondary Controls section.
Tap Done in the top-right corner.
Tap the Detection Mode button and choose the People icon .
If your device detects a person it will play a sound and give you spoken feedback. Written feedback will appear on the screen.
To customise the settings for People Detection, tap the settings icon .
On the next screen, tap People Detection in the Detection Modes list.

Before and after

This section gives you step-by-step instructions on how to use People Detection in iOS 17, with pictures of the screens to help.

Open the Magnifier app

1. Tap the Magnifier icon on your Home screen.

Note: The Magnifier icon may appear in a different place on your home screen. If the icon doesn’t appear on your home screen at all, you can find the Magnifier app in your App Library – swipe right through your Home pages until you find it, then tap the Magnifier icon in the Utilities folder.

Open Magnifier settings

2. Tap the settings icon on the Magnifier screen and choose Settings.

Add Detection Mode to the Secondary Controls

3. In order to use Door Detection, Detection Mode needs to be one of the secondary controls. Scroll down to the Other Controls section and tap the green + (add) button for Detection Mode to move it to the Secondary Controls section.

4. You can drag Detection Mode to a new position in the Secondary Controls list.

Close Magnifier settings

5. Tap Done in the top-right corner to return to the main Magnifier screen.

Turn on Detection Mode

6. Tap the Detection Mode button .

Start People Detection

7. Tap the People Detection icon .

People Detection mode

8. Your device is now in People Detection mode. When a person is detected, your device will play a sound and/or give haptic feedback. Depending on your settings, you will also receive a spoken and/or written description estimating how far away the person is..

To exit Door Detection, tap End in the top-left.

Customise People Detection

9. To customise People Detection, tap the settings button in the top-left corner.

10. Next, tap Point and Speak in the Detection Modes list.

Choose the measurement unit for estimating how far away a person is

11. The distance of how far a person is away from you can be shown in metres or feet. Tap the option you would like to use.

Choose the distance within which a higher pitch is used when a person is detected

12. A higher pitch sound is used if a person is detected within a set distance. Use the + (plus) and - (minus) buttons for Sound Pitch Distance to set the distance.

Choose which types of feedback you receive when a person is detected

13. Your device can play sounds and give spoken feedback and haptic (vibration) feedback when a person is detected. Turn on the toggle switches for any of the feedback options you would like to receive.

Note: iPhones need to be in ring mode to hear sounds and spoken feedback.

Close Magnifier settings

18. When you are happy with your People Detection settings, tap Back in the top-left corner. Next, tap Done to close settings and return to the Magnifier interface.

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How to detect people around you using the Magnifier app in iOS 17 on your iPhone Pro or iPad Pro

Short guide: