One of the most popular uses for Apple's Vision Pro headset is to enjoy movies and TV shows on its enormous virtual screen, but not all streamers are on board. Netflix in particular caused some disappointment when it said it had no plans to make a native Vision Pro app for its service.
Not to worry. Independent developer Christian Privitelli has stepped in to deliver what some streamers won't. His app, Supercut, lets you stream Netflix and Prime Video, and is designed specifically for Apple's virtual viewer.
The app works much like Apple's own TV Plus app, but instead of Apple content it offers Netflix and Prime Video without the letterboxing you get when viewing shows and movies from the headset's web browser. It's not packed with gimmicks and doesn't have the pleasant virtual theater of the Disney Plus app, but it's cheap and effective, and that's good enough for me.
Say hello to Supercut.🎬🍿My Netflix and Prime Video app for Vision Pro is now available to download on the App Store. pic.twitter.com/V9wKLnCSPyApril 6, 2024
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What Redditors are saying about Supercut for Vision Pro
If you want to know the ups and downs of any AV app, Reddit's always a good place to look – and the reaction to Supercut in r/visionpro has been positive, no doubt partly because Privitelli, the developer, has been cheerfully chatting with the other redditors in the subreddit and talking about what the app can do, can't do and what he hopes to do next. Future versions are likely to include some virtual viewing environments too.
At just $ 4.99 for the app – roughly 1/700th of the cost of your Vision Pro – it's extremely affordable, and that means you'll happily forgive its shortcomings – such as the fairly basic Prime Video implementation. It delivers 4K, Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision if your Netflix subscription includes them, and it supports multiple profiles for easy account switching. It'll also tell you what resolution you're getting and whether Dolby Atmos or Dolby Vision are happening.
While the initial hype over Apple Vision Pro may have died down, Apple is still busy developing and rolling out fresh updates, including a new one that lets multiple Personas work and play together.
Apple briefly demonstrated this capability when it introduced the Vision Pro and gave me my first test-drive last year but now spatial Personas is live on Vision Pro mixed-reality headsets.
To understand “spatial Personas” you need to start with the Personas part. You capture these somewhat uncanny valley 3D representations of yourself using Vision Pro's spatial (or 3D) cameras. The headset uses that data to skin a 3D representation of you that can mimic your face, head, upper torso, and hand movements and be used in FaceTime and other video calls (if supported).
Spatial Personas does two key things: it gives you the ability to put two (or more) avatars in one space and lets them interact with either different screens or the same one and does so in a spatially aware space. This is all still happening within the confines of a FaceTime call where Vision Pro users will see a new “spatial Persona” button.
To enable this feature, you'll need the visionOS 1.1 update and may need to reboot the mixed reality headset. After that you can at any time during a FaceTime Persona call tap on the spatial icon to enable the featue.
Almost together
(Image credit: Apple)
Spatial Personas support collaborative work and communal viewing experiences by combining the feature with Apple's SharePlay.
This will let you “sit side-by-side” (Personas don't have butts, legs or feet, so “sitting” is an assumed experience) to watch the same movie or TV show. In an Environment (you spin the Vision Pro's digital crown until your real world disappears in favor of a selected environment like Yosemite”) you can also play multi-player games. Most Vision Pro owners might choose “Game Room”, which positions the spatial avatars around a game table. A spatial Persona call can become a real group activity with up with five spatial Personas participating at once.
Vision Pro also supports spatial audio which means the audio for the Persona on the right will sound like it's coming from the right. Working in this fashion could end up feeling like everyone is in the room with you, even though they're obviously not.
Currently, any app that supports SharePlay can work with spatial Personas but not every app will allow for single-screen collaboration. If you use window share or share the app, other personas will be able to see but not interact with your app window.
Being there
Freeform lets multiple Vision Pro spatial Personas work on the same app. (Image credit: Apple)
While your spatial Personas will appear in other people's spaces during the FaceTime call, you'll remain in control of your viewing experience and can still move your windows and Persona to suit your needs, while not messing up what people see in the shared experience.
In a video Apple shared, it shows two spatial Personas positioned on either side of a Freeform app window, which is, in and of itself somewhat remarkable. But things take a surprising turn when each of them can reach out with their Persona hands to control the app with gestures. That feels like a game-changer to me.
In some ways, this seems like a much more limited form of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse ideal, where we live work and play together in virtual reality. In this case, we collaborate and play in mixed reality while using still somewhat uncanny valley avatars. To be fair, Apple has already vastly improved the look of these things. They're still a bit jarring but less so than when I first set mine up in February.
I haven't had a chance to try the new feature, but seeing those two floating Personas reaching out and controlling an app floating a single Vision Pro space is impressive. It's also a reminder that it's still early days for Vision Pro and Apple's vision of our spatial computing future. When it comes to utility, the pricey hardware clearly has quite a bit of road ahead of it.
Meta’s Quest 3 may be less than a year old, but Meta appears to be working on a few follow-ups. Leaks and rumors point to the existence of a Meta Quest 3 Lite – a cheaper version of the Meta Quest 3 – and a Meta Quest Pro 2 – a follow-up to the high-end Meta Quest Pro.
The original Meta Quest Pro doesn’t seem to have been all that popular – evidenced by the fact its price was permanently cut by a third less than six months after its launch – but the Apple Vision Pro seems to have fueled a renaissance of high-end standalone VR hardware. This means we’re getting a Samsung XR headset (developed in partnership with Google), and mostly likely a Meta Quest Pro 2 of some kind.
While one leak suggested the Meta Quest Pro 2 had been delayed – after Meta cancelled a project that the leak suggested was set to be the next Quest Pro – there’s more than a little evidence that the device is on the way. Here’s all of the evidence, as well as everything you need to know about the Meta Quest Pro 2 – including some of our insight, and the features we’d most like to see it get.
Meta Quest Pro 2: Price
Because the Meta Quest Pro 2 hasn’t been announced we don’t know exactly how much it’ll cost, but we expect it’ll be at least as pricey as the original which launched at $ 1,499.99 / £1,499.99 / AU$ 2,449.99.
(Image credit: Meta)
The Meta Quest Pro was permanently discounted to $ 999.99 / £999.99 / AU$ 1729.99 five months after it launched, but we expect this was Meta attempting to give the Quest Pro a much-needed sales boost rather than an indication of the headsets actual cost. So we expect this is much cheaper than Quest Pro 2 will be.
What’s more, given that the device is expected to be more of an Apple Vision Pro competitor — which costs $ 3,500 or around £2,800 / AU$ 5,350 – with powerful specs, LG-made OLED panels, and could boast next-gen mixed reality capabilities there’s a good chance it could cost more than its predecessor.
As such we’re expecting it to come in at nearer $ 2,000 / £2,000 / AU$ 3,000. Over time, and as more leaks about the hardware come out, we should start to get a better idea of its price – though as always we won’t know for certain how much it’ll cost until Meta says something officially.
Meta Quest Pro 2: Release date
The Meta Quest 3 (Image credit: Meta)
Meta hasn’t announced the Quest Pro 2 yet – or even teased it. Given its usual release schedule this means the earliest we’re likely to see a Pro model is October 2025; that’s because it would tease the device at this year’s Meta Connect in September/October 2024, and then launch it the following year’s event as it did with the original Quest Pro and Quest 3.
But there are a few reasons we could see it launch sooner or later. On the later release date side of things we have the rumored Meta Quest 3 Lite – a cheaper version of the Meta Quest 3. Meta may want to push this affordable model out the gate sooner rather than later, meaning that it might need to take a release slot that could have been used by the Quest Pro 2.
Alternatively, Meta may want to push a high-end model out ASAP so as to not let the Apple Vision Pro and others like the Samsung XR headset corner the high-end VR market. If this is the case it could forgo its usual tease then release strategy and just release the headset later this year – or tease it at Connect 2024 then launch it in early 2025 rather than a year later in late 2025 as it usually would.
This speculation all assumes a Meta Quest Pro 2 is even on the way – though Meta has strongly suggested that another Pro model would come in the future; we’ll just have to wait and see what’s up its sleeve.
Meta Quest Pro 2: Specs
Based on LG and Meta’s announcement of their official partnership to bring OLED displays to Meta VR headsets in the future, it’s likely that the Meta Quest Pro 2 would feature OLED screens. While these kind of displays are typically pricey, the Quest Pro 2 is expected to be a high-end model (with a high price tag), and boasting OLED panels would put it on par with other high-end XR products like the Apple Vision Pro.
(Image credit: Qualcomm)
It also seems likely the Meta Quest Pro 2 will boast a Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 chipset – the successor to the Gen 1 used by the Quest Pro. If it launches further in the future than we expect it would instead boast a currently unannounced Gen 3 model.
While rumors haven’t teased any other specs, we also assume the device would feature full-color mixed reality like Meta’s Quest 3 and Quest Pro – though ideally the passthrough would be higher quality than either of these devices (or at least, better than the Quest Pro’s rather poor mixed reality).
Beyond this, we predict the device would have specs at least as good as its predecessor. By that we mean we expect the base Quest Pro 2 would come with 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a two-hour minimum battery life.
Meta Quest Pro 2: What we want to see
We’ve already highlighted in depth what we want to see from the Meta Quest Pro 2 – namely it should ditch eye-tracking and replace it with four different features. But we’ll recap some of those points here, and make a few new ones of things we want to see from the Quest Pro 2.
Vastly better mixed-reality passthrough, more entertainment apps and, 4K OLED displays would go a long way to making the Meta Quest Pro 2 feel a lot more like a Vision Pro competitor – so we hope to see them on the Quest Pro 2.
Eye-tracking could also help, but Meta really needs to prove it’s worthwhile. So far every instance of the tech feels like an expensive tech demo for a feature that’s neat, but not all that useful.
What we want from the next Quest Pro (Image credit: Meta)
Ignoring specs and design for a second, our most important hope is that the Quest Pro 2 isn’t as prohibitively expensive as the Apple Vision Pro. While the Vision Pro is great, $ 3,500 is too much even for a high-end VR headset when you consider the realities of how and how often the device will be used. Ideally the Quest Pro 2 would be at most $ 2,000 / £2,000 / AU$ 3,000, though until we know more about its specs we won’t know how realistic our request is.
Lastly we hope the device is light, perhaps with a removable battery pack like the one seen in the HTC Vive XR Elite. This would allow someone who wants to work at their desk or sit back and watch a film in VR wear a much lighter device for the extended period of time (provided their near a power source). Alternatively they can plug the battery in and enjoy a typical standalone VR experience – to us this would be a win-win.
Apple Vision Pro excels at something few other devices can do: deep immersion and hyper-realistic experiences that make you question your reality.
I've been using Vision Pro on and off for almost a year. First in a series of all-too-brief demos, but since February I've had one to keep and I use it often, sometimes for hours.
I've worked in it. I've watched 3D movies. I've tried drawing with it. I've played games, taken photos, conducted eerie Persona-powered FaceTime calls, and rewatched moments in spatial videography. Last night, Vision Pro took me, for just five minutes, onto a professional football pitch (or soccer field for my fellow US fans).
This is not just virtual reality, it's Apple Immersive Video. It's 8K, 3D, 180-degree video, according to Apple, taking the mixed reality headset to the limits of its visual capabilities. In reality, Apple may shoot the video at 8K, but the maximum resolution of the headset is approximately 4K per eye.
Even so, it's a breathtaking, one-of-a-kind experience. Apple's first Immersive Video sports film.
I’d show you more, but you can’t screen capture any of the video. (Image credit: Future)
Over the years, I've worn multiple VR headsets, including Meta Quest Pro and HTC Vive, and I've watched immersive video shot with specialized 360-degree cameras. It's always good, but usually lacks the visual clarity to make the video feel real.
Apple Immersive Video promises something more. When the company told me they were sharing a short, five-minute video (2023 MLS Cup Highlights) featuring moments from the 2023 Major League Soccer Cup playoffs, I put on the headset at precisely 9 PM ET and launched Apple TV in the headset to be among the first to experience it.
In 2023, Apple partnered with the soccer league to offer MLS Pass on Apple TV, but this video is free on Apple TV and through the Vision Pro.
I've watched my share of sports season highlights reels, but this one hits different. The image quality is so real you want to touch and smell it. Your point of view as players walk onto the pitch feels like walking among them. When confetti blasts into the air after a goal, it rains down upon you.
You might think the 180-degree nature of the film cuts down on reality, but you have to strain to see the blackness beyond the edges of the immersive film.
Everything about the video is so real and unexpected, like being surprised by a woman clapping her hands right next to my right ear, or finding myself standing just behind the net as Columbus Crew and LAFC players scored a goal.
It's also, at its core, still a sports highlight reel, complete with MLS Season Pass broadcasters Taylor Twellman and Jake Zivin offering play-by-play. If there is one criticism, I didn’t always know where to look. Unlike a televised match where the camera follows the ball, I had to look around to find the action. It was a lot more like being at a real game and sitting in the stands or standing on the field.
The immersion is fairly complete and if you stand up and move around, the video instantly drops away so you can see your real world. (Image credit: Future)
The video also takes you inside the locker room celebration where I swear I was sprayed with champagne. At least, like the players, I was wearing protective eye gear, except mine cost $ 3,499.
I know Apple posted this video to attract new MLS Season Pass subscribers ($ 14.99 per month in the US, £14.99 in the UK) but I think this is much more than a sports video service commercial.
I saw it as an all-too-brief taste of the potential of Apple Immersive Video. I want to see an entire MLS game, or watch live baseball games from the vantage of first base and behind home plate. I would love to virtually sit in the audience at the next Oscars Telecast. Strap me to a skydiver, put me in the Tour de France, take me on a tour of the Colosseum in Rome.
For now, though, there are only a handful of Apple Immersive Video experiences, and none are longer than the 20-minute Alicia Keyes rehearsal experience. I'm not sure why there are still so few or what Apple is waiting for, but more videos like this will be sure to create the intense kind of FOMO Apple needs to inspire new Apple Vision Pro customers.
If there is a reason to spend almost $ 4,000 for a mixed-reality headset, this might be it, at least for experience junkies.
A rumor claims the Apple Vision Pro headset will one day support a future model of the Apple Pencil. This news comes from MacRumors, who got their information from an anonymous “source familiar with the matter,” so we'll take it with a grain of salt. Details on the update are scarce as you can imagine, but if it is indeed real, it could quite literally turn the world into your personal canvas.
The report states the upcoming Apple Pencil could be used on flat surfaces, like a desk, “complete with pressure and tilt sensitivity” to accurately display your artistic vision on one of the headset’s illustration apps. Support for a stylus would require a software upgrade, “but it is unclear which version” of visionOS will see the patch. MacRumors points out the first beta for visionOS 1.2 could come out this week with the Apple Pencil support. However, nothing can be said with total confidence. We can only surmise that testing is currently ongoing internally.
No word on when the update will roll out, if at all, and it’s entirely possible this will never see the light of day. However, MacRumors seems to believe we could see something during the expected reveal of visionOS 2 at WWDC 2024 this June.
It is worth mentioning an Apple Pencil refresh is supposed to come out alongside new iPads models very soon. Whether or not this refresh and a Vision Pro update are one and the same remains to be seen.
Analysis: Picking up the digital pen
Assuming this is all true (and fingers crossed that it is), an Apple Pencil on the Vision Pro would do wonders for achieving precise control. The hands-free control scheme is one of the main selling points for the headset. You don’t need special controllers to navigate the user interface. Thanks to an array of cameras and sensors, owners can simply use their eyes and hands to command the software. This method of navigation is fine for most things, but when it comes to drawing, it turns into a nightmare.
TechRadar’s Editor At Large Lance Ulanoff dealt with this first hand when he tried to illustrate on the Vision Pro. He ended up calling the whole experience “insanely frustrating and difficult.” The main problem is that the gaze controls clash with the hand gestures. If your eyes move between a reference image and the digital canvas, the art piece falls apart because the headset prioritizes what you’re looking at. Then there are other problems, like the numerous bugs affecting the current slate of art apps.
The hope with the future Apple Pencil is it’ll help keep the canvas steady. That way, there isn’t this weird back and forth between the two methods of controls.
The Apple Vision Pro VR headset has wowed many of those who have given it a whirl, but one major issue keeping the device out of people’s hands is availability – if you live outside the US and want to buy one, you’re out of luck. That’s set to change, though, with Tim Cook confirming that the headset will launch in at least one other country this year: China.
Apple has previously hinted at a wider Apple Vision Pro release coming in 2024, and while speaking at the China Development Forum in Beijing over the weekend Tim Cook specifically mentioned China as one of the lucky countries that's set to get the headset before the end of the year.
Beyond confirming that a China release is on the cards, Cook didn’t reveal a specific release date or pricing: however, a Vision Pro release outside the US before June 2024 was hinted at by analysts earlier this year, and it's unlikely that China will be the only country where it's released.
Is a worldwide Vision Pro release coming soon?
China, Japan, Canada, Australia, and the UK, among a few others, are regions where Apple is looking to hire a 'Briefing Experience Specialist' for the Vision Pro. When the job postings were spotted it was believed they hinted at where the wider Vision Pro release would begin, and Cook’s China confirmation suggests that this may indeed be the case.
As such, we wouldn’t be surprised if the UK and Australia (and the rest) saw an Apple Vision Pro release around the same time as China. As mentioned above, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously suggested Apple is likely to launch the Vision Pro outside of the US before WWDC – which is due in June – so we might only be a month or two away from seeing the Vision Pro in more people’s hands.
If you're interested in picking up the Apple headset, we'd suggest first reading our Apple Vision Pro review to help you decide if the $ 3,500 device (around £2,800 / AU$ 5,350) is worth it for you.
You no longer need an Apple Vision Pro to look at Vision Pro apps, because the visionOS App Store is now available for browsing on the web – just like the equivalent App Stores for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS.
Head to the Vision Pro App Store in your browser (as spotted by 9to5Mac), and you're able to browse through categories including business, entertainment, and education. You can also find iPhone and iPad apps and games that'll run on the Vision Pro.
You can read our Apple Vision Pro review to get an idea of how much we love the mixed reality headset – and it's now even more appealing, because you don't have to don the device to check out new apps you might be interested in.
What's more, it gives people who don't own one of the headsets a chance to see the apps that are available for it. When you're spending $ 3,499 (about £2,750 / AU$ 5,330) and up on a piece of hardware, maybe you want to see what you'll be able to do on it before buying.
A wider roll out
See anything you like? The Apple Vision Pro App Store (Image credit: Future)
The experience of browsing through the visionOS App Store is very similar to what you may already be familiar with when you browse for apps for other devices – and some app listings have simply had an extra Apple Vision tab added to them.
You can check out screenshots, see descriptions of the apps and reviews that have been left by other users, and get information about the data collected by each app. Details of app prices and in-app purchase prices are also shown.
It's possible that the launch of the Vision Pro App Store on the web is something to do with the headset's rumored international launch. At the moment, you can only buy the device in the US, but that could be changing in the near future.
There's also been talk that a cheaper version of the Vision Pro could be in the pipeline – though it might not break cover until 2026. It may not be selling in massive numbers yet, but there's no doubting Apple's commitment to the Vision Pro.
In a fascinating adoption of technology, a surgical team in the UK recently used Apple’s Vision Pro to help with a medical procedure.
It wasn’t a surgeon who donned the headset, but Suvi Verho, the lead scrub nurse (also known as a theater nurse) at the Cromwell Hospital in London. Scrub nurses help surgeons by providing them with all the equipment and support they need to complete an operation – in this case, it was a spinal surgery.
Verho told The Daily Mail that the Vision Pro used an app made by software developer eXeX to float “superimposed virtual screens in front of [her displaying] vital information”. The report adds that the mixed reality headset was used to help her prepare, keep track of the surgery, and choose which tools to hand to the surgeon. There’s even a photograph of the operation itself in the publication.
(Image credit: Cromwell Hospital/The Daily Mail)
Verho sounds like a big fan of the Vision Pro stating, perhaps somewhat hyperbolically, “It eliminates human error… [and] guesswork”. Even so, anything that ensures operations go as smoothly as possible is A-OK in our books.
Syed Aftab, the surgeon who led the procedure, also had several words of praise. He had never worked with Verho before. However, he said the headset turned an unfamiliar scrub nurse “into someone with ten years’ experience” working alongside him.
Mixed reality support
eXeX, as a company, specializes in upgrading hospitals by implementing mixed reality. This isn’t the first time one of their products has been used in an operating room. Last month, American surgeon Dr. Robert Masson used the Vision Pro with eXeX’s app to help him perform a spinal procedure. Again, it doesn’t appear he physically wore the headset, although his assistants did. They used the device to follow procedural guides from inside a sterile environment, something that was previously deemed “impossible.”
Dr. Masson had his own words of praise stating that the combination of the Vision Pro and the eXeX tool enabled an “undistracted workflow” for his team. It’s unknown which software was used. However, if you check the company’s website, it appears both Dr. Masson’s team and Nurse Verho utilized ExperienceX, a mixed reality app giving technicians “a touch-free heads up display”
Apple's future in medicine
The Vision Pro’s future in medicine won’t just be for spinal surgeries. In a recent blog post, Apple highlighted several other medical apps harnessing visionOS Medical corporation Stryker created myMako to help doctors plan for their patients’ joint replacement surgeries. For medical students, Cinematic Reality by Siemens Healthineers offers “interactive holograms of the human body”.
These two and more are available for download off the App Store, although some of the software requires a connection to the developer’s platform to work. You can download if you want to, but keep in mind they're primarily for medical professionals.
If you're looking for a headset with a wider range of usability, check out TechRadar's list of the best VR headsets for 2024.
Porsche has just unveiled its most dynamic Taycan so far – the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT. This takes the Taycan Turbo S, gives it more power, reduces the weight and primes it for the track. There are two versions of the new car, the Taycan Turbo GT and the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package, which loses the backseats and gains a rear wing to make it a record-breaking track car.
The unveiling of any new Porsche model wouldn't be complete without some mention of its performance credentials and a portion of the launch presentation included coverage of a record-breaking lap from the Laguna Seca raceway in California.
It seems that Porsche CEO Oliver Blume couldn't make it to The Golden State himself, so instead, he watched it using Apple Vision Pro. Cut to Tim Cook congratulating Porsche on their record-breaking new car, one of many examples of Porsche and Apple's strong ongoing partnership.
Blume wasn't just watching a video feed on Apple Vision Pro, however. He was in a full-on spatial computing mode, virtual track map, multiple windows of telematics, video feed from the car on the track – even the driver's heart rate was displayed. A celebration of cutting-edge tech at a corporate level? You bet.
(Image credit: Porsche / Chris Hall)
“What an amazing experience it was to join the team virtually along with Apple Vision Pro. Thanks to our custom race engineer cockpit app, it felt like I was right there in Laguna Seca with Lars [Kern, Porsche development driver],” said Blume.
“It has been great to bring the best of German engineering and Apple's inspiring product innovations together.”
Cue Tim Cook's surprise cameo. “Congratulations to you and the Porsche team on the new record you set with this incredible new vehicle. It's these kinds of extraordinary milestones that show the world what can happen when a team of incredibly dedicated people come together to break new ground on a big idea,” said Cook.
“Porsche has always been known for excellence,” continued Cook, “and we're proud to see a number of our products play a role in what you do. And it's so great to see Apple Vision Pro helping reimagine track experiences.”
The mutual backslapping continued for a little longer, before Blume dropped the next nugget: “We appreciate the great partnership we have established over the years, starting with the My Porsche app on Apple CarPlay and now we're taking it one step further with Porsche's Apple Vision Pro race app to bring the best user experience to our employees and customers.”
The appearance of Apple Vision Pro went virtually unnoticed, however. There was no mention of any Apple Vision Pro app in the press materials and when asked at the launch site in Leipzig, there was no more information forthcoming. Porsche it seems, aren't saying any more about it.
Chalk it down as the ultimate tease perhaps: there doesn't seem to be a name for the app that was used – Oliver Blume himself referred to it in two different ways – but it does demonstrate that Porsche and Apple are continuing to work on technologies together beyond Apple CarPlay and the customisation of the Porsche digital displays.
I finally look slightly less creepy in my Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Oh, no, I don't mean I look less like an oddball when I wear it but if you happen to call me on FaceTime, you'll probably find my custom Persona – digital Lance – a little less weird.
While Apple Vision Pro hasn't been on the market very long and the $ 3,499 headset is not owned in iPhone numbers (think tens of thousands, not millions) this first big visionOS update is important.
I found it under Settings when I donned the headset for the first time in a week (yes, it's true, I don't find myself using the Vision Pro as often as I would my pocketable iPhone) and quickly accepted the update. It took around 15 minutes for the download and installation to complete.
VisionOS 1.1 adds, among other things, enterprise-level Mobile Device Management (MDM) controls, closed captions and virtual keyboard improvements, enhanced Home View control, and the aforementioned Persona improvements.
I didn't test all of these features, but I couldn't wait to try out the updated Personas. Despite the update, Personas remains a “beta” feature. visionOS 1.1 improves the quality of Personas and adds a hands-free creation option.
Before we start, here's a look at my old Vision Pro Persona. Don't look away.
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My original Persona (Image credit: Future)
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My original Persona (Image credit: Future)
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My original Persona (Image credit: Future)
Personas are Vision Pro's digital versions of you that you can use in video conference calls on FaceTime and other supported platforms. The 3D image is not a video feed of your face. Instead, Vision Pro creates this digital simulacrum based on a Spatial Photography capture of your face. Even the glasses I have on my Persona are not real.
During my initial Vision Pro review, I followed Apple's in-headset instructions and held the Vision Pro in front of my face with the shiny glass front facing me. Vision Pro's voice guidance told me to slowly look left, right, up, and down, and to make a few facial expressions. All this lets the stereo cameras capture a 3D image map of my face.
Because there are also cameras inside the headset to track my eyes (and eyebrows) and a pair of cameras on the outside of the headset that points down at my face and hands, the Vision Pro can, based on how I move my face (and hands), manipulate my digital persona like a puppet.
There's some agreement that Apple Vision Pro Personas look a lot like us but also ride the line between reality and the awful, uncanny valley. This update is ostensibly designed to help with that.
Scanning my face for my new Persona using the hands-free mode. (Image credit: Future)
Apple, though, added a new wrinkle to the process. Now I could capture my Persona “hands-free” which sounds great, but means putting Vision Pro on a table or shelf and then positioning yourself in front of the headset. Good luck finding a platform that's at the exact right height. I used a shelf in our home office but had to crouch down to get my face to where Vision Pro could properly read it. On the other hand, I didn't have to hold the 600g headset up in front of my face. Hand capture still happens while you're wearing the headset.
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My new visionOS 1.1 hands-free Persona (Image credit: Future)
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My new visionOS 1.1 hands-free Persona (Image credit: Future)
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My new visionOS 1.1 hands-free Persona (Image credit: Future)
It took a minute or so for Vision Pro to build my new Persona (see above). The result looks a lot like me and is, in my estimation, less creepy. It still matches my expressions and hand movements almost perfectly. Where my original Persona looked like it lacked a soul, this one has more warmth. I also noticed that the capture appears more expansive. My ears and bald head look a little more complete and I can see more of my clothing. I feel like a full-body scan and total Persona won't be far behind.
This by itself makes the visionOS 1.1 update worthwhile.
Apple Vision Pro vision 1.1 remove system apps from Home View (Image credit: Future)
Other useful feature updates include the ability to remove system apps from the Home View. To do so, I looked at an app, in this case, Files, and pinched my thumb and forefinger together until the “Remove App” message appeared.
Apple also says it updated the virtual keyboard. In my initial review, I found this keyboard one of the weakest Vision Pro features. It's really hard to type accurately on this floating screen and you can only use two fingers at a time. My accuracy was terrible. In the update, accuracy and the AI that guesses what you intended to type appears somewhat improved.
Overall, it's nice to see Apple moving quickly to roll out features and updates to its powerful spatial computing platform. I'm not sure hands-free spatial scanning is truly useful, but I can report that my digital persona will no longer send you screaming from the room.
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