Future Apple Watches may offer more movement-oriented tasks

Future Apple Watches may offer more movement-oriented tasks than waking up. Apple has applied for a patent (number 20200159349) for “interacting with an electronic device through physical movement” via the position and orientation of your hand.

The company says that reduced-size electronic devices (e.g., devices that are smaller than typical cellular phones such as smart watches) that are configured to be worn by a user can allow a user to view and respond to various types of alerts, such as text messages, emails, voicemails, and calendar alerts. User interfaces that enable a reduced-size electronic device to be efficiently used for viewing and responding to alerts are desirable. However, Apple says that many such techniques for interacting with electronic devices, “are generally cumbersome and inefficient.”

Apple’s idea includes, among other things, scrolling through the onscreen options of an Apple Watch by tilting your wrist right or left, wriggling your hand up or down, or moving your arm closer to or further from your body.