The US Patent and Trademark Office has officially granted Apple another Apple Watch strap patent for the adjustable Apple Watch strap system. Apparently this is an ongoing Apple project exploring different approaches. At some point, Apple executives will choose one or more of their proprietary technologies and give the green light for the final design.

Watch strap with adjustable fit

The patent granted by Apple relates to watch bands in general and watch bands in particular that can be adjusted to fit the wearer’s wrist.

In many cases, traditional watch straps can catch, pinch or pull the wearer’s hair or skin if too tight during use. In other cases, watch straps may slip along the wearer’s wrist, twist around the wearer’s wrist, or if the band is too loose, it may bother or irritate the wearer. These problems may be exacerbated during periods of increased activity, such as running or playing sports. Additionally, adjusting the size or fit of traditional watch bands often requires multiple steps, specialized tools, and/or technical expertise.

In other cases, the size options available to the user may not be sufficient to obtain a proper fit. In the examples below, compliance may be different and/or perceived differently due to certain environmental (eg temperature, humidity) or biological conditions (eg sweat, inflammation). As a result, users of traditional wristwatches and/or fitness/health trackers can choose an acceptable (though not optimally comfortable) fit, keeping the narrow straps for fitness/health trackers and loose straps for traditional wristwatches.

However, some electronic devices (e.g. smart watches) can be multipurpose devices, for example both fitness/health tracking and timekeeping. Accordingly, the user may prefer the size of the smart watch to change depending on usage. For example, the user may prefer a looser fit in timing mode and a tighter fit in fitness/health monitoring mode.

Accordingly, there may be a current need for systems and methods to dynamically adjust the fit of wearable electronic devices. Some embodiments take the form of methods of adjusting a wearable electronic device that attaches to a wearer. Belt features can provide the ability to automatically adjust belt tension without active user input. For example, the tension member may be provided with the ability to change the fit of the belt in response to the heat emitted by the user wearing the belt.