Upcoming Apple Watch models like the Apple Watch 8 and the alleged Apple Watch 8 Rugged Edition may have bigger screens, body temperature sensors and more, but one thing we don’t currently expect is a fingerprint sensor. However, there is some evidence to suggest that future models may include this feature.
patented apple (opens in new tab) discovered that Apple was recently granted a patent (opens in new tab) for such a sensor. Specifically, the patent details a Touch ID fingerprint sensor built into the side button of the Apple Watch.
This button is currently used for – among other things – Apple Pay, so creating a fingerprint sensor might make sense as it can securely and seamlessly verify your identity without adding extra steps to the Apple Pay process.
The patent highlights all typical fingerprint sensor applications as possible use cases, including unlocking a device, identifying the user, and authorizing transactions or downloading applications.
This seems like an obvious feature to add that would be much easier to use than a password to protect your Apple Watch; however, we wouldn’t expect to see him anytime soon – if we ever see him.
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A fingerprint sensor would be a useful addition to the Apple Watch and probably a lot more viable to add than Face ID, but we’d be surprised if we see one soon.
On the one hand, Apple files a huge number of patents and many never come to anything. In fact, this isn’t the first we’ve seen related to Apple Watch fingerprint sensors – we’ve reported similar patents in 2020 and 2019.
You could argue that having filed numerous patents related to this feature, it’s something Apple could be seriously looking into, but it’s also apparently something the company is in no rush to implement.
So since we haven’t heard of a fingerprint sensor coming to the Apple Watch 8, we almost certainly won’t see one this year; and with patents dating back to at least 2019 but still no sign of the technology, we’d be surprised if the Apple Watch 9 had one too.
Perhaps the Apple Watch 10 will finally get the feature, but don’t count on a fingerprint-sensing wearable joining our list of the best Apple Watches any time soon.
