App blurs video if you hold the smartphone too close to your face
But does Tencent’s “eye protection” feature guard against myopia or is it just to appease President Xi Jinping?
Conventional wisdom is that holding a smartphone too close to your face can cause myopia, or nearsightedness. It’s something you may have heard your parents or grandparents warn you about. Now you’ll get a warning from a very different source: Tencent’s video app.
The app will now blur images when kids get their face within 16 inches of the screen, and warns them to move away. For now it’s only available on the iPhone X and newer models, which are equipped with Apple’s TrueDepth cameras -- the same technology that allows Face ID to work.
Why is Tencent doing it now? Last month its shares dived after President Xi Jinping complained about the eye health of Chinese youth.
Tencent’s new protective feature might seem like an easy way to appease authorities and parents. But whether it actually helps kids is questionable.