Are you an owner of multiple Apple Watches (and Apple hopes you are)? The tech giant wants you to be able to switch between them with ease when it comes to syncing with an iPhone (or iPhones). Patent number 20180103140 joins a previous patent (number 20170201612) for “switching between watches or other accessories.”
Systems, methods and non-transitory computer readable media for allowing a user to switch between watches that have been paired with a device such as a smartphone are described. In one embodiment, the watches automatically detect a removal of a first watch from a user’s wrist and an attachment of a second watch to the user’s wrist.
Messages from the watches are transmitted to the device to allow the device to switch the active watch from the first watch to the second watch. The switch can occur while the device is in a locked state, and the device can synchronize the second watch with data received from the first watch. Other embodiments are also described.
Of course, Apple files for — and is granted — lots of patents by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Many are for inventions that never see the light of day. However, you never can tell which ones will materialize in a real product.
