Apple has filed for a patent (number 20220135001) for “mobile key user interfaces.” It involves enhanced capabilities for using your iPhone and/or Apple Watch as a “mobile key” for Apple Pay transactions, as well as unlocking your car.
About the patent filing
The patent filing relates generally to computer user interfaces, and more specifically to techniques for managing and using a mobile key (e.g., a form of secure credential). However, Apple says that some techniques for managing and using a mobile key using electronic devices are “generally cumbersome and inefficient.”
For example, some existing techniques use a complex and time-consuming user interface, which may include multiple key presses or keystrokes. Some existing techniques don’t provide users with options for restricting use of a mobile key. Existing techniques require more time than necessary, wasting user time and device energy.
Apple was to provide a technique that provides electronic devices with faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for managing and using a mobile key.
Summary of the patent filing
Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “The present disclosure generally relates to user interfaces for managing and using a mobile key. In some embodiments, while displaying a representation of a mobile car key on a multifunction device, the device receives a request to restrict use of the mobile car key for a predetermined time period, and in response, restricts at least one function of the mobile car key for the time period.”
