Oliver Haslam·

iOS 17’s DockKit Will Allow Tighter Motorized Stand Integration

Apple announced iOS 17 during the WWDC event on June 5 and while it did show off some of the features at the time, we’re still learning about some of the others. One of those new features is something called DockKit, an API that will allow third-party accessory makers to produce a new kind of stand or grip.

The new iOS 17 API was shown during a WWDC 2023 developer session with 9to5Mac reporting on it first.

It’s designed to allow apps to control how a motorized stand or grip will move, giving videographers more ways to set up shots and create new, more artistic movements.

“Your app can automatically track subjects in live video across a 360-degree field of view, take direct control of the stand to customize framing, directly control the motors, and provide your own inference model for tracking other objects,” the company says in the session.

It’s also reported that the Vision framework will be used to help the iPhone detect faces and other things to allow custom behaviors of the stand. That could for example allow the stand to be configured to track faces or objects, it’s said.

The DockKit API will be available as part of the iOS 17 update when it ships to the world this fall. Developers can of course start building their apps based on that API now and then release them once iOS 17 is available for download. We can also expect accessory makers to work on building new stands and more, too.

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