Your dream of being a spy since childhood could come true if a patent granted to Apple is to be believed for the Apple Watch.
According to Patently Apple (opens in new tab), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has approved patent ‘US 11571048 B1’, a method of a camera being attached to an Apple Watch band  This would allow the Apple Watch to be rotated to take a photo while you’re running, for example.
Looking at the patent, it seems you can wear the Apple Watch on top of this strap, which can be detachable. It almost looks similar to a Hermès Double Tour band, but here, the Watch is placed on top, and you can still use the camera remotely.
Having a camera on a Watch isn’t new – Samsung infamously brought one out for its Galaxy Gear Watch in 2013, but it wasn’t well received. Yet Apple may have already solved how a camera can work on a wearable without having it on the Watch itself.
iMore’s take: Having it as a band could be a smart move
I remember trying out the Galaxy Gear Watch, thinking it wouldn’t take off, as the camera was placed towards the top of the strap. You had to angle your wrist a certain way to get a half-decent shot of anything.
However, having a camera that can be rotated, detached, and be part of a Watch band could work well. With it also being able to work on its own, according to this patent, it could charge the Apple Watch as well.
Fitness and accessibility are two categories that could work well here. You may be swimming or biking and you want to have a record of how you swam, and want to improve upon it. Or with accessibility, gestures could be more accurately recorded for someone to better use their Watch or iPhone for example.
With the Apple Watch Ultra having been released back in 2022, it could be the start of seeing smart accessories for this model. This could further expand its uses in extreme weather with a camera, for example, further honing on its extreme uses for the Ultra.
Whatever the use case may be, it could be an interesting time for where bands are heading for the Apple Watch. If it’s announced for a future model sooner rather than later, I’ll be a customer.
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