Apple’s next big breakthrough is mind control. In a press release published by Apple yesterday, the Silicon Valley tech giant introduced a plethora of upcoming iOS accessibility features catering towards users with disabilities, prime amongst them being a “new protocol to support Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces.”

How we interact with our devices might change forever. Apple is currently in the early stages of developing a way for users to interact with their iPhones — and other Apple devices — without physical means, using neural signals captured by “a new generation of brain implants,” the Wall Street Journal reports. This would essentially make Apple devices accessible to a staggering number of individuals with disabilities — particularly individuals suffering from ALS, severe spinal cord injuries, and other nerve-damaging disabilities — that prevent them from physically utilising a phone.

To make this happen, Apple partnered with Synchron — a brain computer interface (BCI) company and the first to have its permanent implant studies approved by the FDA. Users implanted with Synchron’s BCI will be able to control iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro devices with no physical or vocal input required. This makes Synchron the very first BCI company to have native integration with the new Human Interface Device Profile announced by Apple, according to BusinessWire.

Controlled rollouts for the new technology might start this year. BCI integration with Apple products will be offered to patients currently undergoing Synchron’s clinical trials. The device — implanted in a vein on the surface of the motor cortex of the brain — and its subsequent uses is expected to revolutionize standards of living within the disabled community, and pave the way for the rise of other revolutionary tech. “This marks a defining moment for human-device interaction. BCI is more than an accessibility tool, it’s a next-generation interface layer,” Tom Oxley, CEO and Co-Founder of Synchron told BW.

Tech like this might be mainstream by 2030, according to US investment banking company Morgan Stanley, which predicts that commercial approvals for BCI devices are likely to happen within the near future. Synchron isn’t the only horse in this race. One key player is Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which has received over USD 373 mn in funding since its founding in 2016… and killed 1.5k test animals. Neuralink has been successfully implanted in three patients as of January 2025, according to MIT Technology Review, with Musk hoping to add “20 to 30” patients to the trial throughout 2025.

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