Apple patents AR keyboard that lets you type on your phone through a headset
Apple has filed a patent for a system that lets users type text on a smartphone or tablet while wearing a head-mounted display (HMD). The headset detects the phone's position and adjusts the on-screen keyboard to be larger and clearer, accounting for lens distortion and distance. This allows the virtual keys to appear sharp and easy to tap through the headset's see-through view.
In the filing’s own words
Various implementations disclosed herein include devices, systems, and methods that provide an improved remote device user interface for enabling accurate text input into a user device. For example, a user device (e.g., an HMD) may be enabled to receive touchscreen input via input controls displayed by a remote device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet computer, etc.) using a display mode enhanced for pass-through viewing. For example, an enhanced display mode may enable a larger than normal display to enhance display mode attributes associated with input entry with respect to the user device. In some implementations display mode attributes may be enabled based on context such as distance, lens distortion, lighting, minimum character resolution, etc. Likewise, some implementations may augment input controls (on an HMD) such as 3 dimensional bubbles, auto-correct controls, auto-fill controls, spatialized audio controls, virtual touch/function bar controls, etc.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: at a first electronic device having a processor and a first display device: receiving, from a second electronic device, a notification to display an input interface having one or more input controls; detecting, in response to the notification, that the second electronic device is a first type of device; in response to said detecting, displaying the input interface having a first visual characteristic via the first display device; and in accordance with a determination, based on the notification that the first electronic device is a second type of device differing from the first type of device: transmitting a command instructing the second electronic device to display, via a second display device of the second electronic device, the input interface having one or more input controls in an augmented format having a second visual characteristic differing from the first visual characteristic, wherein the second display device provides a view of a three-dimensional ( 3 D) environment provided based at least in part on pass-through video of a physical environment; receiving an input via the input interface; and transmitting data corresponding to the input, to the second electronic device configured to display the one or more input controls in the augmented format such that the one or more input controls are visible via the passthrough video.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- REMOTE DEVICE INPUT ENTRY
- Publication number
- US20260310330A1
- Application number
- 19709039
- Filed
- Jun 16, 2026
- Published
- Oct 8, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 3/04815 Physics & computingG06F 3/013 Physics & computingG06F 3/0487 Physics & computingG06F 3/1423 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AR, VR & displays
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.