The Apple Watch may pack even more workout-related features, especially for multiple activities

Your Apple Watch may soon provide even better workout-tracking features, especially for those tackling multiple activities such as a run followed by a swim. Apple has filed for a patent (number 20190025995) for “displaying a scrollable list of affordances associated with physical activities.”

Per the patent filing, the user interface on the smartwatch displays a scrollable list of “affordances” associated with physical activities. Present affordances already contain physical activity and heart rate information. A user can launch a physical activity tracking function or an interface to change a workout metric using an affordance. 

Users can also control the music that is played in response to selecting a workout. What’s more, the Apple Watch interface may soon be able to be used to compose a reply message to a received message that contains workout information. The interfaces can show a graph that includes heart data when the user’s heart rate meets a heart rate alert criteria.

Apple says the goal is to provide “faster, more efficient methods and interfaces” for workouts and sports activities. Such methods and interfaces reduce the cognitive burden on a user and produce a more efficient human-machine interface, the company adds.

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.