Hands-free scrolling on iPhone: Head Tracking in iOS 26 and later vs Scroll Feed
Guide · Updated
Short answer
Head Tracking, in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 and later, lets you control your whole iPhone or iPad with your head and assign actions to facial expressions. Scroll Feed does one job: it moves short-video feeds when you tilt your head. Use Head Tracking for hands-free control everywhere. Use Scroll Feed to watch TikTok, Reels or Shorts with a guided setup, on iOS or iPadOS 15.6 or later.
Set up Head Tracking in iOS 26 and later
- Open Settings > Accessibility > Head Tracking and turn it on.
- Under Pointer, pick how the pointer follows you. By default, it follows your head wherever you face.
- Under Actions, assign a facial expression, such as Raise Eyebrows, to Open Menu.
- In a feed, make the expression to open the AssistiveTouch menu, then choose a scroll gesture.
Tips: Dwell Control taps whatever the pointer rests on, so turn it off while you set up if it gets in the way. Put your iPhone on a stable surface about 18 inches (45 cm) from your face, with your face well lit. To scroll without the menu, set a Dwell hot corner to scroll in Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch > Dwell Control, then rest the pointer in that corner.
Set up Scroll Feed
- Install Scroll Feed from the App Store.
- Pick one of seven feeds: TikTok, Instagram Reels, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, YouTube, Facebook or Facebook Reels.
- Prop your iPhone or iPad up and follow the three-step setup. It checks the device's angle and finds your face.
- Look up for the next video. Look down to go back.
Good to know: face tracking runs on your device with Google ML Kit, and each camera frame is discarded as soon as it's processed. Upright, slouched or lying down all work.
Side by side
| Feature | Head Tracking | Scroll Feed |
|---|---|---|
| What it controls | Your whole iPhone or iPad | Seven video feeds inside the app |
| Gesture | Head moves a pointer; facial gestures trigger actions | Look up or down |
| Go back | Depends on the actions you assign | Look down |
| Setup | Several settings to tune | Guided three-step setup |
| Works on | iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 or later | iOS or iPadOS 15.6 or later |
| Cost | Built into iOS and iPadOS | Free, with banner ads |
Which should you use?
- Head Tracking if you want to tap, type and scroll hands-free in any app.
- Scroll Feed if you mainly want to watch short videos hands-free, and skip or go back with a small tilt.
- Scroll Feed also works on iPhones that can't run iOS 26, from iOS 15.6 up.
Scroll Feed
Tilt your head to scroll TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Free for iPhone and iPad.