The next few months will be freezing cold for many of us, but we’ll resist wearing gloves because it means we won’t be able to use our iPhones while we’re out and about. Fortunately, this may not be a problem with future Apple devices.

A new Apple patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reveals the company has been working to make the iPhone’s display compatible with gloves. In a filing titled “Glove Touch Detection,” Apple describes a display that can detect touch input through certain barriers.

“In addition to using a signal density make threshold to identify an input patch as touching the surface, a signal density stability threshold can be used to identify the input patch as touching the surface,” Apple explains.

This means you won’t have to pull off your glove to reply to text messages, snap a picture, or answer a call on your iPhone — or buy special touchscreen gloves. It would also allow you to use your device with bandages or plasters on your fingertips.

Apple wouldn’t be the first company to do this, of course. In fact, the Cupertino company is pretty late to the party, with rivals like Samsung already offering features that allow their devices to be used with gloves on. Hopefully it won’t take Apple too long to catch up.