You know when you’re really stressed, and it feels like the world is collapsing around you, and then someone around you asks you if you’re ok? And then how annoying it is when they say something like ‘you just need to calm down’.
Yes, thank you Jan, I know I need to calm down, I am simply stressed enough that calming down feels like an impossibility right now. If I wasn’t stressed, I would be calm, you see, but right now…
Well… good news!
Your iPad will be able to have this very conversation with you, as it looks like Apple has plans to give its best iPads the ability to read your mood level — and if you’re stressed, tell you how to calm down.
Excellent.
A death stare might not work with an iPad
There’s more to it than that, of course. According to a recent patent filing, the iPad will use a series of different sensors like a heart rate monitor, the front camera, and more, to work out just how stressed you are. If you are suitably stressed, it will ping you a notification saying something along the lines of “You are stressed! Here is how to calm down, and not be stressed anymore.”
From there, the iPad will give you different apps and options to alleviate your stress so that you can feel better — because what could be better than your iPad leading you in stress-relieving breathing exercises?
If you’re anything like me, this sounds like an actual, genuine nightmare, where your iPad has come to life and gained HAL-like sentience. Do you want to know the worst bit? While all the images in the patent appear to show an iPad, there are parts of the patent that suggest this could go on any Apple device. One line in the patent even suggests that ‘The device is a head-mounted device (HMD) and the environment includes an extended reality environment.”
Apple Vision Pro, therefore it seems, could do it. Or your iPhone. Or your Apple Watch. Maybe even your AirPods.
The horror. The well-meaning, ill-judged horror. As ever, patent applications are only ever the protection of an idea, and not necessarily a statement of intent for a future product. But this is a very achievable idea, should Apple ever want to pursue it. Personally, I’m hoping it’s something it doesn’t move forward with, if that wasn’t already obvious.
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