Apple wants to make it easier to share location information among its iOS and watchOS devices. The company has been granted a patent (number 20180091951) for the aptly-named “sharing location among devices” and refers to the “Find My Friend” feature on iPhones and iPads.
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Per the invention, devices such as smartphones can execute location applications that provide information about a location of the device. For example, the iPhone could have a location system that determines a current position of the device and displays the position on a user interface of the device. The location application may also track the location of the device over time and display a path representing motion of the device.
Here’s Apple’s summary of the patent: “Methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program products that include, on a first device executing a first instance of a location application, receiving an indication to begin sharing data describing a path traveled by the first device, receiving location data describing the path traveled by the first device, the location data received from a location system of the first device, and the location data including a plurality of locations of the first device, and transmitting the location data in a form usable to enable a user interface of a second instance of a location application executing on a second device to indicate the path traveled by the first device.”
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.