Allison McDaniel
Apple is once again experimenting with ways to integrate a camera into the
Apple Watch.
According to Patently Apple, the company's latest idea is to put a camera
into the digital crown. With this, users can snap a photo on their wrist by
pointing the digital crown toward the subject.
Today's patent shows the user being able to remove the watch if needed,
since some users wear the digital crown pointing inward on their wrist. It
shows a release mechanism within an attachment interface so a user can
easily remove the watch from the band to take a picture. Patently Apple
states there are other implementations where the watch can be removed from
the wrist along with the band.
The patent also highlights a feature where the digital crown camera would
have a light emitter to illuminate a scene while capturing the photo. It
would work for both physiological sensing and as a camera flash so the user
will have better lighting for their images.
If the digital crown does become a camera, it seems unlikely then it will
have FaceTime support. It seems that the camera would be purely for photos
or videos. With FaceTime support, that would be one less reason to use our
iPhones.
The idea isn't new. Apple has already looked into putting a camera on the
watch before. Back in 2019, the tech giant patented a watch band to
integrate the camera into there versus the watch. The idea of putting the
camera on the band improves the issue of properly angling the frame of the
photo from your wrist.
While we've yet to have a camera on the Apple Watch, other companies like
Wristcam have made their own solutions. Instead of a camera on the digital
crown, Wristcam has front- and back-facing cameras featured on the band. The
band lets you record video messages and snap photos and videos from your
watch. However, it's an expensive solution at $299, and not for the average
user.
9to5Mac's Take
Overall, it doesn't seem like there will ever be a simple way to take a
photo from our wrist. There will always be those awkward wrist turns while
trying to view your subject on a tiny screen. As a device that's meant to
keep us away from our iPhones, the one thing that's missing on it is a
camera. While privacy concerns could be raised, I feel that Apple would
still make a camera on the watch work.
As Apple files patents all the time with many ideas not coming to fruition,
there is no sure evidence this will become a real thing.
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