A patent filed by Apple in 2016 and published recently by the USPTO reveals that the Apple Watch could soon get more health-related capabilities, in addition to the ECG and fall detection feature added in recent models.
Series 6 of the popular wearable is already expected to bring improved water resistance and could also feature a host of new sensors for monitoring swimmers’ perspiration and sweat pH levels, as described in the patent.
According to the patent, this is achieved by using sensors that are able to detect what kind of environment that the wearer is in. For example, if it detects fresh water, then maybe worrying about sharks isn’t a big deal. However, if it detects that the device is submerged in salt water, like the ocean, then it might start looking out for signs or reports if sharks might be in the area.
It will also be able to warn users of events like rip tides or even dangerous chemicals or pathogens that might be present in said water. That being said, given that this is a patent, there’s no telling if Apple will make it a reality, but hey, shark detection is pretty cool and we wouldn’t mind seeing it in a future Apple Watch update.
