Apple patent for 'synthetic selfies' suggests iPhones could create group pictures even while social distancing

Technology was proposed long before new coronavirus was discovered – but has been approved just as it looks more prescient

A Sri Lankan man takes a selfie on the beach in the capital Colombo on December 6, 2016 (LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP via Getty Images)

Apple has been granted a patent for a technology that would allow for "synthetic group selfies".

The feature would let people stitch together various images so that it looks like people were all together, even if they were actually apart.

The patent was filed long before the new coronavirus was ever discovered. But it was not granted to Apple until last week, when it looked very prescient.

The feature would allow people to stitch together an image of a group even if they could not stand close to each other or even in the same place because of social distancing rules, for instance.

The patent describes a feature for the iPhone or other Apple products taht would allow people to take various pictures – everything from still images to live video – and arrange those individual selfies into one much larger, "synthetic group selfie".

The selfies could then be stored as a file that would allow people to re-arrange the people in the picture or change the look of it, for instance.

Apple already has features in its iPhone that can understand the difference between a person in the front of the image and the background, and separate the two. The new feature would presumably rely on similar technologies, but choose a new background and place various people in front of it.

The documents in particular note the use of Lidar sensors, which are not available in any iPhones but arrived in the iPad earlier this year. It also notes that a device could use its camera to store audio from the time the selfie was captured.

The patent, filed in 2018, notes that it is often difficult to arrange people in front of a camera to take a group selfie, since the field of view in the camera is limited. "Thus, an easier mechanism for capturing a group selfie would be advantageous," the patent, first spotted by website Patently Apple, reads.

But various people have noted that a more current challenge to taking such selfies are social distancing rules, which encourage people to stay separated to stop the spread of coronavirus. As such, any such "synthetic group selfie" feature could have new utility.