Software
Apple has granted software patents to allow you to take distant social group autos
Apple has recently received a software patent that would generate "synthetic group selfies," which can be the means for taking group selfies for the social media even if you want to stay socially away from your friends, as the Protocol points out.
According to the patent application (first discovered by Patently Apple), a user of the Apple device can invite others to participate in a group selfie and the software can organize them together in a single image. This functionality (it is not clear whether it is available on iPads , iPhones or both). Still photos, stored videos or live stream images can be included in the selfie.
Users may keep both the group and the original selfie and the original users and the group image recipients may modify the selfie for example by placing themselves in another position in the group.
According to the patent application, what it would look like is:
Although for a moment when a global pandemic has limited social rallies, the idea of a socially-distance selfie seems ideal, it's safe to bet that the concept wasn't specifically developed with the current situation in mind. Apple first filed for the patent in 2018 and it was just granted on June 2.
Of course, the standard warnings apply, as is always the case with patents: there are no indications of how or when Apple may decide to use the software or if synthetic selfies will ever be.
