Apple Watch patent, new controls from the movement of the wrist. Since its first version, Apple Watch translates lifting the wrist into activating the screen and, starting with watchOS 5 (it was 2018), to let the user interact with the voice assistant without having to call him. But in the future, wrist movements could also be used to control the interface.
How does it work?
This is discussed in a new patent filed by Apple entitled “Interacting with an electronic device through physical movement”, whose documentation explains how the rotation of the wrist can be translated into selections and actions of what is shown on the screen. To illustrate, imagine you have a list of options: tilting your wrist outwards could move you upwards, turning it towards your body instead could move downwards, and a third movement (it comes to mind) mind the opening and closing of the hand already offered by the Assistive Touch) would give the ok.
Possibility of use
Or with an incoming call: rotation in one direction accepts it, in the other it rejects it. While in the case of a received message, the same system could allow you to reply with one of the pre-packaged replies without having to control the selection and sending with the fingers of the other hand.
The idea is to allow the use of Apple Watch leaving the hands completely free, and if it can be especially useful for people with disabilities, even those who wear gloves or are doing something else (like driving a motorbike) could benefit from it.
In reality, the applications of a technology like this are many and could also extend to other devices. Perhaps, thanks to the sensors integrated in the Apple Watch, the recognition of wrist movements could be used to control the interface of iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV and all the other company products; or we can imagine it in the car, for CarPlay or, looking to a more distant future, for some controls inside the passenger compartment.
It is however a patent
Let’s not forget, however, that it is a patent and as such, although many are granted to Apple every year, it does not mean that its existence is enough to ensure its realization. The technology is there, the hardware to put it into practice as well, but there is still plenty of time to transform it into a feature of the next version of the device.
