The Apple Watch Digital Crown 2.0 will move like a joystick. There is a revolution underway for Apple’s Digital Crown: this control tool, launched for the first time with Apple Watch and then also used on AirPods Max headphones, is destined to end up on all the company’s devices through its new and performing version completely revisited to do much more.
Apple’s Developer app updated for WWDC
Apple talks about it through a new patent, number 20230162929, of which Patently Apple shows some technical diagrams and provides some information on the technologies used. The company presents it as an Input Devices with Multi-Directional Input Capabilities, a multi-directional input device that will have different functions depending on the device it is in.
The Digital Crown today
As we were already saying, today’s version of the Digital Crown has shown us its mutable nature: on the first Apple Watches, in fact, it allows you to move easily within the interface and on the latest models, thanks to the use of an electrode, it also acts as a control of ECG function. And then we also find it on the AirPods Max, where if necessary it lets you control the volume, skip between tracks, offers management control of phone calls and more.
Future jobs
Then last year, in August, the hypothesis of its possible integration in the upcoming Apple viewer arose, news which was then reiterated in April by the Bloomberg journalist, Mark Gurman, who anticipated its use on the elusive XR viewer. And we come to the present day, which sees an Apple in the process of adding the Digital Crown on the iPad.
But its destiny could extend much further, because in the patent just filed the company speaks of its possible application on Apple Watch, but also more generally for “head-mounted devices”, therefore not only headphones but also viewers. And then tablets, devices for games, keyboards, controllers and even iPhones, as well as integration “as part of a vehicle”.
There are still many secrets
The documentation only describes the mechanics of this new multidirectional form but does not explain, for example, what it will do in a vehicle, i.e. if it will be relegated to CarPlay only or if it will have other purposes. There’s also no mention of how it might work in a game controller or keyboard.
Clearly Apple is keeping most of its features secret for the moment, but the road has now been traced and it seems that the Digital Crown can really become a faithful companion of Apple users.
If you are passionate about new technologies, you can find a long trace of those Apple is working on in the Patents section of our website.