Your iPhone can record 3D spatial video and photos, effectively future-proofing the images you capture. And the results are stunning.
The stereoscopic 3D video and photos captured with the iPhone can be viewed on an Apple Vision Pro headset as an immersive way to relive memories.
Here’s how it works.
The iPhone App Store is now accessible on a Mac. And iPad users can research what macOS applications are available. Anyone can see what Apple Watch apps are available. All of these are possible now that Apple finally put the App Store on the web Monday.
It’s long overdue, and still missing a feature many users would like.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The latest rumor about the 20th anniversary iPhone whets our appetite for this glorious device. It’s just over the horizon, and it sounds like an absolute stunner.
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The internet is going crazy over the Apple Vision Pro’s new Dual Knit Band, with AI users creating increasingly fantastical mutant versions of the distinctive-looking strap.
The craze started with people turning the white knit headband into a head-covering hat, but kicked into overdrive after X.com user John Dagdelen posted an image Sunday of a samurai warrior dressed head-to-toe in Vision Pro-inspired armor.
“We are not thinking big enough,” Dagdelen said in his X.com post. Dagdelen, founder of the Fluid operating system for VR headsets, who said he used ChatGPT to create the Vision Pro samurai image.
His AI creation clearly inspired others to think bigger … or at least weirder.
A wild array of AI creations followed, including some that animated Dagdelen’s samurai. The jokesters envisioned all sorts of bizarre designs and uses, from Star Wars characters to high-fashion gowns and handbags. There’s even an automotive design where the lenses make up a car’s front grill and headlights.
“There are some pretty creative ones,” Dagdelen told Cult of Mac.
★★★★☆
The new M5 Vision Pro brings a huge leap in compute power and graphics performance to Apple’s novel mixed-reality platform. The tweaks to the formula deliver better graphics and passthrough video, and longer battery life — plus a more comfortable head band in the box. Unfortunately, it doesn’t include more storage or a lower price.
Apple doesn’t appear to be pushing M2 Vision Pro owners to upgrade. I wouldn’t, either. Rather, if you’re still Vision Pro-curious — and you’ve been pinching your pennies for the past year and a half — the Vision Pro you buy today will be a bit better.
I quickly fell in love with the original Vision Pro. Here’s what I think of the new one.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Griffin gets his hands on the new M5 Vision Pro, and he’s all too happy to share his first impressions about the upgraded headset.
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Apple’s new M5-powered MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and Vision Pro hit store shelves Wednesday, and shoppers who preordered the devices began receiving them as well.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: With the M5 chip, Apple silicon blows our minds once again with its insane combination of performance and efficiency. How does Apple keep pulling this off?
We discuss all the lustworthy new hardware that the M5 powers: MacBook Pro, iPad Pro and Vision Pro.
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The Dual Knit Band introduced Wednesday with the new M5-powered Vision Pro is compatible with Apple’s original headset, too. You don’t need to shell out another $3,499 — the extra comfort can be had for a fraction of the price.
Other improvements to the new headset are somewhat minor, with nothing else standing out as a must-have for current Vision Pro owners (all 12 of them lol). The Dual Knit Band might be all you need to spice up life in your spatial computer.
Apple launched the M5 Vision Pro on Wednesday, bumping the impressive headset up from the years-old M2 processor. The punchier M5 processor boosts the headset’s video resolution and refresh rate for a clearer, sharper image.
The updated Vision Pro is “setting a new standard for what’s possible in spatial computing,” said Apple Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Bob Borchers in Apple’s press release. “Spatial computing is even more capable, entertaining, and magical with the new Vision Pro.”
The M5 isn’t the only upgrade, either. A new Dual Knit Band elegantly adds comfort and style to the headset. And as icing on the cake, the M5 Vision Pro boasts noticeably improved battery life.
The M5 Vision Pro starts at the same high price of $3,499 with 256GB of storage. It’s available for preorder today, with deliveries and in-store availability beginning on October 22.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: The Federal Communications Commission leaks secret Apple info and Russian YouTubers get their hands on unreleased iPad Pros.
What’s going on with these crazy Apple leaks? We have a theory about why at least some of them are happening.
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That cheaper Vision Pro you were waiting for? Don’t hold your breath. Apple reportedly shelved the project to redirect its focus on creating smart glasses to compete with Meta’s popular products.
Previous rumors indicated Apple would release a stripped-down version of its $3,499 Vision Pro headset by 2027. But Apple execs reportedly told employees last week that it’s putting the lighter, cheaper headset on the back burner.
The Federal Communications Commission accidentally exposed Apple’s plans for several unreleased products, including an updated Vision Pro headset, new MacBook Pro models and refreshed iPad Pro tablets, on Tuesday. The FCC leaks of Apple products mark the latest in a series of premature disclosures from the regulatory agency that have frustrated Apple’s typically secretive product launch strategy.
Apple expanded its Apple Immersive Video catalog Monday with a slate of new films from major global publishers, broadcasters and brands, marking a major milestone for the Vision Pro platform.
The new content comes from partners including Audi, the BBC, CANAL+, CNN, HYBE, MotoGP and Red Bull. Releases are planned over the coming months.
visionOS 26 is a modest update, but you’ll want to check out the game-changing features it includes. Widgets come to the Vision Pro in a clever way; you can freely arrange them in space or pin them to a wall. Personas are much improved, making your virtual FaceTime calls less creepy. And there are about a dozen other excellent quality-of-life features that’ll draw you back in, like app folders, a Jupiter environment, automatic iPhone unlocking and more.
You may have forgotten about the Vision Pro, but Apple hasn’t. Despite middling sales numbers, Apple is in this for the long haul — with regular software updates, a spec bump update due this year and a whole family of products in the works.
The update is out now; here’s what to expect.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: With Apple’s Awe Dropping event bearing down on us, it’s time to once again put our professional reputations (and our personal dignity) on the line with our traditional predictions game!
Who will win this time? And will a CultCast listener steal the glory once again?!?
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Apple must have heard the complaints about the cost and weight of the Vision Pro AR headset, because it’s reportedly working on a Vision Air that will be half as expensive and almost half the weight. That’s the word coming Tuesday from a source who’s built a reputation by often being accurate in predictions about future Apple products.
It’ll take Apple a while to develop the new product, though.
In a groundbreaking development, a brain-computer interface (BCI) company successfully demonstrated the first-ever use of Apple’s Vision Pro AR/VR headset — and later an iPad — controlled directly by thought, according to Synchron. The innovation opens up exciting possibilities, perhaps even beyond helping individuals with severe mobility limitations engage with cutting-edge technology. Innovations like thought control of Vision Pro and iPad could lead to big things for both hands-free and voice-free use of devices.
August 4 update: In a new video, Synchron released proof of the first-ever public demonstration of an individual using an iPad controlled entirely by thought, leveraging Apple’s built-in accessibility features and new Brain-Computer Interface Human Interface Device (BCI HID) protocol, the company said. Watch the video below.
May 13 update: Synchron said it would be the first brain-computer interface (BCI) company to achieve native integration with a new BCI Human Interface Device (BCI HID) profile Apple just rolled out among various accessibility upgrades.
Apple prepares to launch its first major update to the Vision Pro AR/VR headset as early as this year, featuring a faster M4 processor and a redesigned strap aimed at addressing comfort complaints that have plagued the $3,499 device since its launch, according to a new report.
Despite their sleek designs, Apple products boast impressive durability. And now, for the first time, the company has provided a look into one of its 200 durability labs, where it rigorously torture tests its products.
Apple conducts several types of trials on its devices, including environmental, liquid, drop and vibration stress tests.
Apple accused a former Vision Pro engineer of stealing confidential documents related to the headset. In a lawsuit filed on June 24, Apple alleges Di Liu, a senior design engineer at the company, stole a “massive volume” of trade secrets.
Liu joined Snap soon after leaving Apple in a similar role.
The Vision Air is on the drawing board at Apple, according to a trusted analyst. This more consumer-friendly version of the Vision Pro AR headset reportedly will weigh less and cost less. But it won’t be out soon.
At the same time, Apple is also working on its first foray into smart glasses. These are also supposedly still years away, though.
The new Haven-1 VR app brings the Haven-1 commercial space station directly to Apple Vision Pro headsets, offering users an unprecedented, virtual-reality look inside humanity’s next frontier in space exploration, space technology company Vast said Wednesday.
So users of Vision Pro and other AR/VR headsets can now explore the world’s first commercial space station in VR.
You can download the visionOS 26 developer beta for free — right now. You can get a look at the exciting new spatial widgets coming to the Vision Pro before the update is shipped to everyone. Unlike other platforms, there is no public beta option, only the developer beta.
Of course, there are a few things you should look out for. Beta software can be buggy and can lead to data loss or apps that don’t work.
If you’re still sure you want to try it out, you should make sure you have a backup of your most important data with two copies of your photo library before you try installing. I’ll show you how.
visionOS 26, the next major software release for the Apple Vision Pro, will bring spatial widgets, better Personas, new accessories, more integration with iPhone, more immersive content, Look to Scroll and so much more to the powerful headset.
Apple Vision Pro is “a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the real world,” says Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Vision Products Group. “With brand-new ways for Vision Pro owners to connect, explore, work together, and enjoy content,” visionOS 26 is a huge update.
Announced after iOS 26, watchOS 26 and macOS Tahoe at WWDC25 on Monday, visionOS 26 will be available today as a developer beta and will release publicly for everyone this fall.