One of the best features of the Apple Watch, beyond the fact it can detect serious health issues and call for help if you need it, is that you can swap out the bands with ease. You don't have to buy Apple's bands either. But that might be about to change.

Swapping a new band onto your fancy Apple Watch Ultra is dead easy and there are thousands of third-party options available if Apple's designs (and prices) just don't do it for you. But a new patent filing suggests that a future Apple Watch band could tell on you if you aren't using an official one.

The patent, spotted by Patently Apple, considers adding an integrated NFC chip into Apple's first-party watch bands. The idea is that the NFC chip could be used as a way to tell the Apple Watch which band is connected, possibly for personalisation options. But the patent also seems to point to something less exciting.

What if your Apple Watch could know who made the band that's connected to it?

"Upon determination that a band that is coupled to the device is not an authorized band, a warning may be provided using an output component of the device, and/or one or more features of the device may be disabled or otherwise modified," the patent says.

That isn't to say that this is all bad news. The patent goes on to say that "a particular band may be associated with a particular application or service on the wearable electronic device," as well.

The idea of an Apple Watch warning people that its band isn't legit isn't something that we're really sure about, but the second part sounds more promising. Having the Apple Watch respond to a band in a specific way could come in handy in a few ways, like having the watch face change based on the colour of the band for example.

But now is probably a very good time to remember that not all Apple patents turn into Apple products and features. Keep that in mind before getting the pitchforks out.