Today, Apple was granted several patents. At least one of them may affect future models of one of the best smartwatches, the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch already offers many sensors and health tracking, but one of the granted patents looks like Apple is trying to embed sensors in the strap of future models.

The information on the sensor strap comes from patent 12133743 (discovered by Patently Apple). That patent is titled “Fabric-based item with stretchable band” and describes sensors that can be embedded in a stretchable fabric band. These potential sensors would measure blood pressure, respiratory rate, and electrocardiogram measurements, to name a few.

Apple currently sells a stretchable fabric band for the Apple Watch, and there is no chance that this technology will appear in the next couple of years.

The granted patent also claims that the sensor could be used to “communicate wirelessly with external electronic devices,” which suggests it could be paired with another Apple device such as an iPhone or Macbook. The patent also includes information about a circuit inside the strap that could potentially be used to charge the device. All of this would require Apple to change the way the strap connects to the Watch itself.

The patent itself specifically, or at least legally, relates to a strap with a sensor, but there is also a “headband made of elastic fabric,” much like the Vision Pro headband, although the Vision Pro 2 is likely to be available any day now, There are rumors that Apple is working on a less expensive version, and Apple may weave sensors and circuitry directly into the headset's band.

Apple is not limiting this idea to just the legal aspects. Patently Apple noted that the patent lists Daniel Podhajny as one of the inventors. s Flyknit collection. This hints at a future line of Apple clothing and workout gear that will connect to the Apple Watch and iPhone.

The patent was just granted, suggesting that Apple is working on this idea, but it may be some time before the circuitry and sensors actually make it onto the Apple Watch strap.

In addition to the stretchable fabric patent, Apple has been granted 37 other patents.

One patent (12135855) relates to adding a Touch ID button to the iPad, iPad Air, and iPad mini, a feature rumored to return in the iPhone 17 or iPhone SE 4.

A patent (12137312) on a detailed breakdown of Apple Airpods has also been granted, but this seems to be more in the form of a grant of a provisional patent in 2022.

Perhaps belatedly, the company was also granted a patent (12134308) on “window reflection suppressed systems,” which seems to refer to Apple's cancelled Apple Car project, Project Titan. Perhaps someone somewhere in Cupertino is keeping a small flame burning for a future Apple-based car.