A new Apple patent could add a startling amount of functionality to your iMessages.
The tech would let you schedule pre-written texts and even send new ones automatically based on context the app draws from elsewhere on your iPhone.
Apple announced its plans to make Siri a smarter virtual assistant at its Worldwide Developers Conference last week, and this patent could be a big part of that. It’s one thing to ask Siri “Show me all of the pictures I took in Bermuda last August” and another to ask her to show those same pictures to someone else.
But you could also have your iPhone automatically text people to let them know you’re home or send reminders to others that trigger when they reach a certain location. The example in the patent is a grocery store, confirming that geofencing would be an important part of this system. So things like, “The next time you’re at the store, would you pick up some eggs?” could one day become something you tell Siri instead of whoever’s grabbing those eggs.
This is hardly a new idea. Existing apps like IF by IFTTT already let you set up “recipes” that trigger based on conditions that you set up. For example, you could tell your Philips Hue smart lightbulbs to turn blue whenever someone posts a picture on Instagram with an “iloveblue” hashtag. I don’t know why you’d want to do that, but it’s an option available to you.
If Apple incorporates this tech into future hardware, however, it would eliminate the need for third-party apps. Your iPhone would just do that stuff when you asked it to.
Source: USPTO Via: Business Insider
Evan Killham is a freelance writer who lives in Nebraska and isn’t interested in football, so he has plenty of time to play and think about video games. He has written for Bitmob and GamesBeat and sometimes, he even goes outside. But not too often because he’s heard there are bees out there. Occasionally, companies send free units for review. Evan subscribes to Cult of Mac’s Reviews Policy and also does not keep the items he receives for possible coverage.
5 responses to “Apple wants to add a lot more context to iMessage”
Just having bold, italics, and underline would be a nice enhancement.
I would love to be able to schedule a text message to be sent. There are many times I need to send a text to a coworker at 2am but don’t want to send a text at such a time. I wish I could write it at 2am and have it send at 9am or whatever.
Yeah! Also the ability for it to retry until a text gets sent.
When I’m camping I get the occasional signal blip, it would be nice to not have to stare at my phone like a hawk to get a SMS out.
Why not just knock it into Airplane mode? After a few seconds it’ll fail and then give you the option to retry.
That’s what I do currently. The problem is the brief period of available reception might come right now, or at 3am when the sky clears overhead as you sleep. An option for continuous retry would be worthwhile for me, even with the higher battery drain.
I’m sure there’s an “app for that” I just haven’t bothered to look