When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works

Home / News / Apple patent reveals Peek Mode for Smart Cover

Apple patent reveals Peek Mode for Smart Cover

Could this power-saving peeping patent find its way into the iPad Mini?

Want to take a sneaky peek at your iPad screen? Apple has a patent for Peek Mode, a Smart Cover feature that’ll tease out your iPad’s display.

Peek Mode lets you get a glimpse of the iPad’s screen by partially lifting the cover – by using the magnets in the edge of the Smart Cover, it activates a small section of the iPad’s screen – so you can see part of the display while saving battery. The patent also proposes that the second flap section can be lifted to – using the front-facing camera sensor – light some more of the screen, which can activate whatever the user needs.

We love the idea of glancing at a small chunk of the screen to check out essential info – like the time, weather, and our news feeds. Or perhaps your latest email could be shown on a larger section upon opening two sections of the Smart Cover.

The bad news? This patent has been gathering dust in a Cupertino vault. So, Apple – any chance you could plan ahead of the iPhone 5 launch and unveil Peek Mode at the iPad Mini event in October?

UPDATE: Read our iPhone 5 review

[Via AppleInsider]

You may also like

13.3in MacBook Retina Pro coming with iPhone 5?

iPhone 5 will be 4G, says EE*

EE to launch 4G in 16 cities by Christmas

Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home