Apple Concept | John Lloyd

Cross-Platform Interlopability

This series of concepts demonstrates how intuitive UI design could be used to enhance Apple’s existing and growing ecosystems, under current (Bluetooth, Infrared, etc.) and developing technologies (5G). I believe in the future, apps we use on our iPhones, Macbooks, and AR glasses should all be perfectly interoperable, allowing for total flexibility as devices instantly hand-off apps on command. Users should be able to walk away from a Word document on their Macbook and instantly continue working from their phone natively. Users could be watching a movie in their living room using Apple TV and instantly resume watching the movie in another room on another device after 1 or 2 gestures on an Apple device.

Detect

The first step in Cross-Platform Interoperability would require the Apple products to detect other products in the immediate vicinity and to infer whether or not A) the user can see the product and B) the likelihood that the user would want to interact with that specific app on that specific piece of hardware. This inference can be aided by gestures by the users. One example of a user gesture that would help the ecosystem make inferences is hand gestures while using a MacBook or hand gestures while using AR glasses. Other gestures could include swiping up and to the right on iPhone apps or by simply pointing the iPhone to apps running on other devices.

Transmit

Once an intention or a command is established by the user, the primary hardware needs to instantly communicate to the secondary hardware what the target app is, and the exact location / time that the app should be opened at. For example, if a user wants to continue watching a movie from their mobile device, the Apple TV should communicate to the iPhone the movie title and exact time frame the movie should be resumed from. Another example is if a user is on the Profile Settings screen of the Amazon app on their phone, but are having difficulty finding the setting they want to change, they can instantly open their Amazon account from their PC.

Playback

Once a connection and an intention is established the devices can work in tandem to allow for a continuous and uninterrupted playback of whatever application is in focus.

Method 1: Pull

Users should be able to pull applications being used on other devices onto their current device.

Method 2: Push

Users should be able to push applications being used on their current device to other devices.