Apple has filed a patent for an Apple Watch with a built-in camera

The US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple a patent titled “Watch with a Camera” (USPTO). In the patent, Apple offers two methods for integrating a camera into the Apple Watch: utilizing a detachable case or inserting the camera lens inside the Apple Watch’s current Digital Crown.

“A watch may contain a housing with a front side, a back side, and an attachment interface designed to couple to a watch band,” according to the patent. A camera may be attached to the housing and set to take pictures of a scene via the rear side. According to the patent, “a display may be seen through the front side of the housing and configured to show the photograph.”

According to Apple’s proposal, you’ll be able to take your watch off and aim it towards a location to snap a picture using the watch’s rear. However, this will be a difficult undertaking, and many people may miss the ideal opportunity to utilize their Apple Watch to capture an image.

In another idea, Apple considers integrating the camera lens inside the Apple Watch’s Digital Crown and using the display as a viewfinder.

Even though the patent does not address any potential design flaws, it focuses only on how to integrate a camera into the Apple Watch.

“A rotational dial, such as a rotatable crown used for digital inputs, may be included in a watch.” The patent says that “a camera may be incorporated in the assembly to enable pictures to be recorded via an aperture extending through the dial.”

According to the patent, the camera flash might also be utilized for “physiological sensing” while the watch is worn on the wrist. Furthermore, Apple claims that the Apple Watch’s image sensor may be used for various tasks, including image processing and detecting “rotation of the dial for perceiving rotational inputs.”

However, given the Digital Crown’s already intricate mechanics, it’s worth mentioning that fitting a camera lens inside the crown may be tricky.

Furthermore, if Apple is contemplating an Apple Watch model with a built-in camera, it must address the technology’s privacy issues.

This is because they might use the Apple Watch camera to collect photographs of people without their knowledge.

However, given that we’re talking about an Apple patent, odds are it won’t see the light of day anytime soon.

Apple might take years to implement the technology into its Apple Watch versions. So, please take this information with a grain of salt and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Suppose you enjoy the concept of an Apple Watch with a camera. In that case, you should know that there is already a camera-integrated Apple Watch band on the market called Wristcam that allows users to shoot images with their Apple Watch. Earlier this year, it received the ability to handle video conversations on the Apple Watch!