Apple will make Spatial Personas, a more lifelike enhancement of the Persona feature for the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, available in the visionOS 1.1 update coming Tuesday.
In beta test versions of the software, Spatial Personas allow Vision Pro users to create and interact with customizable, free-floating 3D digital avatars in virtual spaces. They enhance collaboration via SharePlay while going beyond the limits of a little box on a FaceTime call.
Apple made the visionOS App Store available for anyone to look through. The change will give anyone thinking about buying the Vision Pro AR headset a preview at what software is available.
Previously, the list of available app was only viewable by those who already owned the cutting-edge computer that launched in the United States in February.
Vision Pro is years ahead of its time. Apple’s AR headset lets us see today what using an average computer a decade in the future will be like.
In 2034, being surrounded by physical screens will seem charmingly obsolete. Virtual displays of any size generated by an AR headset from Apple (or its rivals) will take the place of displays connected to our computers, phones, watches, etc. And that’s only the start.
You can experience the coming revolution now because Vision Pro is another example of Apple giving us a glimpse of the future.
You’d think readers of a website called Cult of Mac would be into Apple products. But a straw poll of Cult of Mac Today readers found a whopping 76% of respondents plan to return their Vision Pro to Apple.
The eye-popping number comes as droves of Vision Pro early adopters say they plan to take advantage of Apple’s generous return policy. Discomfort, the headset’s high price and the lack of a clear use case for the isolating device top the list of reasons cited by disaffected Vision Pro owners.
Control Center in Vision Pro works very differently than on iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. But as with Apple’s other platforms, you can customize the Vision Pro Control Center to make it far more useful.
The first few days after I got my Vision Pro, I found Control Center to be intensely irritating. It constantly appeared in my field of view, bugging me like a hair in my mouth or a piece of popcorn in my teeth.
Luckily, with just a few changes, you can make Control Center way less annoying.
TikTok just outraced some of its biggest rivals by releasing a native Vision Pro application. The short video service that’s become a global phenomenon can now be enjoyed on Apple’s AR headset thanks to the TikTok Vision Pro app.
The head of development for the new app says the company “redesigned the entire TikTok experience.”
The Vision Pro’s virtual, floating-in-the-air keyboard has been nearly universally condemned. There’s no way around it: Typing on Vision Pro sucks.
But people said the same thing about the original iPhone, which ditched a physical keyboard compared to the BlackBerry. And these days, physical keyboards for your iPhone are more of a novelty than a standard accessory that everybody buys.
So to get to the bottom of exactly how bad the Vision Pro keyboard is, I took a bunch of different typing tests across a bunch of different keyboards. And the results I found were incredibly surprising. I accidentally discovered the best way to input text in Vision Pro.
Check out our latest YouTube video or keep reading to see what happened.
Many early adopters seem set on returning their Apple Vision Pro headsets. As the 14-day return window approaches for people who bought the device on launch day, an avalanche of posts on X and other social media channels point to a wave of Vision Pro returns.
Apparently, it’s not just Mark Zuckerberg who thinks Apple’s expensive headset isn’t worth the money. There appears to be a mass exodus of early adopters who ponied up the cash for Apple’s pricey headset. They cite three main reasons for returning Vision Pro. But is the situation really as bad as it seems?
It’s possible to share your screen in your Vision Pro so that other people can see what you’re seeing, too. This is especially helpful in Vision Pro Guest Mode, to help you guide newbies through the unfamiliar headset.
Vision Pro is an exciting new product, but it can be isolating. The incredible experiences it enables aren’t social. However, you can AirPlay your screen to a nearby Apple TV, iPad, Mac or iPhone.
Here’s how.
You can easily fix Apple Vision Pro eye tracking and hand tracking if your headset starts to act up. You’ll want to follow the steps below if the device stops accurately tracking your gaze or your hand gestures.
As you probably know, hand tracking and eye tracking are essential to using Vision Pro. When they don’t work as well as possible, it’s incredibly frustrating. I know, because sometimes the headset’s sensors have a hard time tracking my eyes up and down. It’s like using an iPad stylus on a touchscreen that’s slightly uncalibrated.
The quick methods below can fix some Vision Pro eye- and hand-tracking problems for you. You can approach trigger a reset three different ways — by pressing a button on the headset, going into Settings or asking Siri for help — all with the same ultimate result. (In my experience, this is one situation in which Siri excels.)
Whether to add new features or squash bugs, Apple releases Vision Pro updates from time to time. (The latest one, visionOS 1.0.3, arrived Monday. It eliminates a major headache that plagued Vision Pro owners who forgot their devices’ passcodes.) Luckily, downloading and installing visionOS updates is easy once you know how.
In fact, installing Vision Pro software updates proves very similar to the process for updating an iPhone, iPad or Mac. We’ll show you how it’s done — and also how to get visionOS beta updates. If you want to take a chance on betas, you can test upcoming Vision Pro features before they officially arrive.
Apple released visionOS 1.0.3 to users of the Vision Pro on Monday. It’s the first to go out since the launch, and is primarily a bug-fix patch.
That said, the new version deals with a problem that previously sent some users to an Apple retail store looking for technical assistance.
Apple insiders think the Vision Pro is at least four generations away from reaching its “ideal form.” Apple still needs to do a lot of work behind the scenes before the headset can potentially become as popular as an iPhone or Mac.
While the first-gen headset has issues, it is an impressive first try from Apple.
People have been spotted wearing Apple’s Vision Pro headset at gyms. I was curious whether they had unlocked a secret killer feature or whether they were bearing through aches and pains just to show off. What’s it really like working out wearing a Vision Pro?
To find out, I hopped on a treadmill, lifted some weights and did some crunches while wearing the headset to discover the pros and cons of wearing a Vision Pro while working out. Check out our latest YouTube video to see what it’s like first-person.
The overall experience proved unsurprisingly mixed — with one very surprising drawback.
You can take a screenshot or a screen recording on Vision Pro, just like on an iPhone or a Mac. The screenshot is saved as an image file, and is easy to view in Photos or share.
Here’s how to take screenshots in Vsion Pro.
Apple Vision Pro is controlled by just five simple gestures you do with your hands. The Vision Pro gestures even work in the dark!
If you’re going to try on someone’s Vision Pro, or you’re lucky enough to buy one yourself, here’s how to use what Apple calls “the most advanced personal electronics device ever.”
While Vision Pro takes a physical form resembling ski goggles, the whole idea is that, unlike with a MacBook or iPhone, you don’t have a screen, keyboard, mouse or trackpad to interact with. It’s an invisible computer. Apple has a bunch of breakthrough gestures to make it work — here’s how to use them.
Can you get real work done inside a Vision Pro? Yes — although it comes with many asterisks.
It’s closely correlated to how much work you can do entirely on the web without specialized apps, although the virtual Mac display can smooth that down a bit. Surprisingly, typing in Vision Pro is great.
Working on Vision Pro has its annoyances, quirks and limitations, but I think Apple has built a very solid foundation here for a version-one product.
Check out our video or keep reading below.
Spatial photos and videos look incredibly lifelike in full 3D while wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset. But how do you take photos with Vision Pro? It might be confusing at first since there’s no Camera app in the headset. Instead, Vision Pro uses a new Capture app.
But don’t worry. Any photos or videos you take with Vision Pro will sync to your Photos library. And they’re fully compatible with your other Apple devices, although you’ll only see them there in a boring two dimensions, like it’s still 2023. Yawn.
Screen sharing from your Mac to Vision Pro is a great way to work inside the headset while using your Mac’s keyboard and trackpad. You can enlarge your Mac’s screen to enormous size, and surround it with apps that work inside Vision Pro.
It’s called Mac Virtual Display. Unfortunately, it’s limited to only one Mac screen. But set up right, it can be the ultimate big screen setup — without the actual big screens.
Here’s how to use your Mac with Vision Pro.
The Vision Pro Persona is a 3D representation of yourself that will appear to others in FaceTime calls. It also fuels the EyeSight feature, which shows a ghostly 3D version of your eyes on the outside of the headset to make the device seem less isolating.
Many people criticize the Personas for looking unnatural, so the feature very much deserves its beta label. However, there are some things you can do to create a better one. If you didn’t create a Vision Pro Persona while setting up your headset, or want to redo it to make yours look a little less uncanny, I’ll show you how to do it at any time.
How do you force restart Apple Vision Pro? All computers lock up from time to time — even spatial computers you wear on your face. You don’t want to keep it on if it’s locking up; that could lead to a nasty head injury!
Here’s how to reboot or restart Vision Pro.
★★★★☆
Apple Vision Pro is the most amazing technology I’ve experienced in my life. Thanks to the headset’s intuitive interface, it’s as close to mind reading as you can get.
It’s given me magical, highly emotive experiences I haven’t felt with any other technology. Immersive 360-degree videos make you feel like you are actually there — it’s a cliche, but it’s true.
I’m absolutely, unabashedly delighted with Vision Pro. But would I recommend you get one?
Hell no!
SAN FRANCISCO — I demoed the Vision Pro at the Apple Store here on Chestnut Street. It’s the most impressive tech product I’ve ever seen. It makes the iPhone seem like a primitive stone tablet. It’s amazingly intuitive, works literally like magic, and is incredibly emotional. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
You don’t have to buy a Vision Pro, but you absolutely must go to a store and get a free demo. We put together a video (below) that will show you what to expect from your Vision Pro demo.
If you’re gonna spend $3,500 on a face-hugging computer, you’ll want to get your money’s worth of mind-blowing experiences. For that, you’ll need the best Vision Pro apps available on day one.
Here are some of the coolest apps, concepts and use cases we’ve seen so far:
A couple of weeks after Vision Pro’s preorders went live, the headset is now available for sale through Apple’s retail stores in the US.
If you could not get your preorder, grab the $3,499 mixed-reality headset from your nearest Apple store today. And if you preordered on time, your unit should arrive later today.
Also, if you didn’t feel comfortable laying down that kind of cash for a face-hugging computer without trying it first, you can book an online demo at an Apple Store — but it’s likely to be difficult to book a session. Apple’s booking system appears to be overwhelmed, and big crowds are mobbing Apple’s stores.