Apple is considering adding a small display to the Apple Vision Pro headband

Apple has been researching how to work a display into the headband of the Apple Vision Pro, maybe to save users having to put it on to see if updates are done or perhaps give info to outside observers.

The headband on an Apple Vision Pro is of course used to keep the device on a user's head, but Apple has long been rumored to want more from it, such as charging. Now a newly-granted patent shows that Apple has worked extensively on adding a display to the headband, to benefit both the wearer and people around them.

"Notifications in headbands" also considers how a display could personalize an Apple Vision Pro. You know, for those times dozens of Apple Vision Pro users get together in person.

"[Also] obtaining status information about the HMD can be burdensome when not wearing the HMD, as it often requires a user to put on or don the HMD to view status information via the primary display," says the patent. "Additionally, it can be difficult for an outside observer to obtain information regarding the HMD or the user without disturbing the user to inquire of the status."

So right now, if you are an Apple Vision Pro user, you have to put it on just to see whether a software update has completed. You have to put it on to see a more usefully precise power charge indicator than the light on the external battery.

Then while Apple has made a big deal of the Apple Vision Pro external display showing what appears to be the wearer's eyes, it's not enough. Someone trying to attract the user's attention can't currently know what that user is doing.

So Apple's proposed solution is to fit another external display, this time onto either the headband proper, or the retention arms that hold the band in place. If it's a screen on the retention arms, it's a comparatively simple display.

Currently the only way to see the precise battery level of an Apple Vision Pro is to put it on

But if it's to be inside the headband, then this is yet another example of Apple looking to make displays within fabric. In this case, that would mean the fabric presumably being quite rigid, but definitely also have perforations for the screen to show through.

"[For example,] the perforations have a density of about 2,500 to about 102,400 perforations per square inch," says the patent. "In some examples, the natural weave of the fabric allows for light to pass through without the need for any additional modification."

What the display could show

Ordinarily, Apple patents concentrate practically exclusively on how something could work, rather than what it would be useful for. In this case, though, the patent's roughly 10,000 words and a dozen illustrations are replete with use cases.

The most often referred to is one concerning battery charge. With such a display, a user could see the charge remaining without putting on the headset.

Or, similarly, there could be a progress bar showing an update being completed.

More extensively, though, Apple offers suggestions for how such a display could help tell everyone else what the wearer wants them to know. The little screen could show the words "Do Not Disturb," for example.

Apple also offers that it might show the icon of a phone call. That's in case the wearer speaking into the air isn't enough of a clue.

The extra Apple Vision Pro display could show messages, GIFs, logos, or icons

Or the display could show a highly amusing GIF. For some reason, Apple suggests that the display could show an envelope icon, presumably meaning the wearer is reading or writing email.

If the headset does have a GIF display, it's easy to see how millions of Apple Vision Pro owners could all customize their headsets to make them identifiable.

But Apple does have one more specific suggestion for that GIF. It could display a company logo.

This patent is credited to Ivan S. Marie, who does not appear to have previous Apple patents, and the extremely prolific Paul X. Wang, who certainly does.