Apple patent application explores simplification of device connectivity, including generating a mesh network in an emergency

“Wearable devices like the Apple Watch and Internet of Things hardware could have an easier time connecting to iPhones and other devices in the future, with Apple coming up with multiple ways to deal with inter-device connectivity, including the ability to make a wide-area network where Internet access isn’t available,” Malcolm Owen reports for AppleInsider.
“The increase in the number of devices in the world is producing new challenges relating to connectivity,” Owen reports. “As part of a solution to this, Apple has filed three patent applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office suggesting slightly different ways to establish and operate a connection between pieces of hardware.”
“One extreme example could be a natural disaster that knocks out or overloads cellular networks in an area,” Owen reports. “By being able to establish connections between mobile phones without relying on the cellular network, this could allow there to be a mesh-style network running between all of the devices, allowing some level of communications through.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As anyone who’s unfortunately been involved in an emergency and/or disaster knows very well, those are precisely the times when connectivity is most needed, yet also the most elusive. Hopefully, Apple’s work on these inventions can help in such situations.