Apple has a new development framework that can be used to turn your iPhone into an autonomous pet tracking camera. According to documentation on Apple’s websitedevelopers can use pet tracking features with motorized phone stands to catch and track your pet around your house while you are away from home.
As noted by Apple, developers can achieve this using a new framework called DockKit, which can create “photo and video experiences” while an iPhone is mounted on a motorized stand. From there, developers can use the Animal Body Pose API (application programming interface), which can identify and track animals using your phone’s camera. It is also able to identify a pet’s posture, including when your pet is sitting, standing up or begging for food.
Combining DockKit with the Animal Body Pose API, according to Apple, developers can create apps that “automatically track subjects in live video across a 360-degree field of view, take direct control of the stand to adjust composition, directly control the motors, and your own inference model for tracking other objects.” To be clear, pet tracking isn’t an official iOS 17 feature provided by Apple, but the company is giving developers the tools they need to create and launch their own iPhone-powered pet cameras. to go into more detail in a upcoming session at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
