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.
The Apple Vision Pro’s home 3D movie revival continues with the IMAX streaming app now offering stereoscopic videos for you to rent and enjoy with immersive visuals.
Currently, the selection is just three documentaries – Superpower Dogs, Pandas, and A Beautiful Planet – which you can rent for $ 5 a piece (around £4 / AU$ 7.70). But it’s another sign that 3D movies might be making another comeback outside of the cinema.
They join over 200 other 3D titles available through the Disney Plus and Apple TV apps on the Vision Pro, as well as all the spatial videos you record using your headset or your iPhone 15 Pro if you have one.
It’s yet another sign that VR headsets could pick up the job started by 3D TVs over a decade ago and finally make the 3D home theatre experience mainstream.
(Image credit: Future)
Can VR headsets succeed where 3D TVs couldn’t?
Following the 3D film craze brought about by the wildly successful 2009 film Avatar, it seemed like the next big TV trend would be 3D as well. For a time, this certainly seemed the case.
The first batch of at-home 3D TVs were unveiled at CES 2010, and by 2012 just over a quarter of global TV sales were 3D-capable. Despite predictions that this line would continue to the moon, it instead plateaued before nose-diving in 2015.
Instead, 4K screens became the hot new trend – with 4K QLED, OLED and now QD-OLED displays following after – with a big driving force being the much more widespread availability of 4K content compared to 3D.
Rather than being able to watch the odd 3D film, and having to contend with flat HD-quality visuals for most content, you could enjoy a larger range of movies and shows with crisp 4K visuals – and without the hassle and eye-strain that can come from slipping on a pair of 3D glasses.
This was aided by the arrival of 4K digital content via the then-fledgling best streaming services (ah, the good ol’ days before price hikes and when you only needed one or two subscriptions rather than 20).
This 2023 3D TV almost made us believe they could make a comeback (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Firstly, there’s a much wider pool of accessible 3D content. As we mentioned already, Apple TV lets you buy and rent 3D films on your headset, and Disney Plus on the Apple Vision Pro includes a library of 3D films for free with your subscription.
Then there are the better visuals. For the first time, 3D films are available at home in 4K with Dolby Vision and frame rates up to 48fps. This improved visual fidelity means there's less of a tradeoff when deciding between 3D and 2D flicks.
Thanks to this wider content availability and better video quality – especially in the frame rate department – people are able to expose themselves to more 3D and VR content to get over the disorientation and nausea that can affect first-time and infrequent users.
Lastly, while VR headsets are pricey – especially the $ 3,500 (around £2,770 / AU$ 5,400) Vision Pro – they have the advantage of not just being a display. They’re also a computer, console, exercise tool, and more. This makes them feel like a lot better bang for your buck than an expensive 3D TV.
That said, we’ve been here before. Just like the original 3D TV trend, there’s a chance that 3D films in VR will also drop off.
But with Apple and its partners continuing to launch 3D videos on its Vision pro Platform, and now LG and Meta announcing a partnership that could bring more TV (hopefully also 3D) content to Quest, we could be at the beginning of a new at-home 3D renaissance.
We’ll just have to wait and see if the trend can take off properly this time.
The Oculus Quest 2 has been the most popular VR headset in the world for the past couple of years – dominating sales and usage charts with its blend of solid performance, amazing software library and, most importantly, affordability.
Now its successor – the Meta Quest 3 – is following in its footsteps.
Just four months after launch it’s the third most popular headset used on Steam (and will likely be the second most popular in the next Steam Hardware Survey). What’s more, while we estimate the Quest 3’s not selling quite as well as the Quest 2 was at the four-month mark, it still looks to be a hit (plus, lower sales figures are expected considering it’s almost double the launch price of the Quest 2).
Despite its higher cost, $ 499.99 / £479.99 / AU$ 799.99 is still relatively affordable in the VR space, and its early success continues the ongoing trend in VR that accessibility is the make or break factor in a VR gadget’s popularity.
The cheap Oculus Quest 2 made VR mainstream (Image credit: Facebook)
There’s something to be said for high-end hardware such as the Apple Vision Pro bringing the wow factor back to VR (how can you not be impressed by its crisp OLED displays and inventive eye-and-hand-tracking system), but I’ll admit I was worried that its launch – and announcement of other high-end, and high-priced, headsets – would see VR return to its early, less affordable days.
Now I’m more confident than ever that we’ll see Apple’s rumored cheaper Vision Pro follow-up and other budget-friendly hardware sooner rather than later.
Rising up the charts
According to the Steam Hardware Survey, which tracks the popularity of hardware for participating Steam users, 14.05% of all Steam VR players used a Quest 3 last month. That’s a 4.78% rise in its popularity over the previous month’s results and means it’s within spitting distance of the number two spot, which is currently held by the Valve Index – 15% of users prefer it over other VR headsets, even three-and-a-half years after its launch.
It has a ways to go before it reaches the top spot, however, with the Oculus Quest 2 preferred by 40.64% of Steam VR players. The Quest 3’s predecessor has held this top spot for a couple of years now, and it’s unlikely to lose to the Quest 3 or another headset for a while. Even though the Quest 3 is doing well for itself, it’s not selling quite as fast as the Quest 2.
(Image credit: Future)
Using Steam Hardware Survey data for January 2024 (four months after its launch) and data from January 2021 (four months after the Quest 2’s launch) – as well as average Steam player counts for these months based on SteamDB data – it appears that the Quest 3 has sold about 87% as many units as the Quest 2 did at the same point in its life.
Considering the Quest 3 is priced at $ 499.99 / £479.99 / AU$ 799.99, a fair bit more than the $ 299 / £299 / AU$ 479 the Quest 2 cost at launch, to even come close to matching the sales speed of its predecessor is impressive. And the Quest 2 did sell very well out of the gate.
We don’t have exact Quest 2 sales data from its early days – Meta only highlights when the device passes certain major milestones – but we do know that after five months, its total sales were higher than the total sales of all other Oculus VR headsets combined, some of which had been out for over five years. Meta’s gone on to sell roughly 20 million Quest 2s, according to a March 2023 leak. That's about as fast as the Xbox Series X is believed to have sold, which launched around the same time.
This 87% of Quest 2 sales figure can be taken with a pinch of salt – you can find out how I got to this number at the bottom of this piece; it required pulling data from a few sources and making some reasonable assumptions – but that number and the Quest 2 and 3’s popularity on Steam shows that affordability is still the most powerful driving force in the VR space. So, I hope other headset makers are paying attention.
The Apple Vision had me a little concerned (Image credit: Future)
The early popularity makes sense. Whatever Mark Zuckerberg says about the superiority of the Quest 3, the Apple Vision Pro is the best of the best VR headsets from a technical perspective. There’s some debate on the comfort and immersive software side of things, but eye-tracking, ridiculously crisp OLED displays, and a beautiful design do make up for that.
Unfortunately, thanks to these high-end specs and some ridiculous design choices – like the outer OLED display for EyeSight (which lets an onlooker see the wearer’s eyes while they're wearing the device) – the headset is pretty pricey coming in at $ 3,499 for the 256GB model (it’s not yet available outside the US).
Seeing this, and the instant renewed attention Apple has drawn to the VR space – with high-end rivals like the Samsung XR headset now on the way – I’ll admit I was a little concerned we might see a return to VR’s early, less accessible days. In those days, you’d spend around $ 1,000 / £1,000 / AU$ 1,500 on a headset and the same again (or more) on a VR-ready PC.
The Valve Index is impressive, but it’s damn expensive (Image credit: Future)
Apple has a way of driving the tech conversation and development in the direction it chooses. Be it turning more niche tech into a mainstream affair like it did for smartwatches with the Apple Watch or renaming well-established terms by sheer force of will (VR computing and 3D video are now exclusively called spatial computing and spatial video after Apple started using those phrases).
While, yes, there’s something to be said for the wow factor of top-of-the-line tech, I hoped we wouldn’t be swamped with the stuff while more budget-friendly options get forgotten about because this is the way Apple has moved the industry with its Vision Pro.
The numbers in the Steam Hardware Survey have assuaged those fears. It shows that meaningful budget hardware – like the Quest 2 and 3, which, despite being newer, have less impressive displays and specs than many older, pricier models – is still too popular to be going anywhere anytime soon.
If anything, I’m more confident than ever that Apple, Samsung, and the like need to get their own affordable VR headsets out the door soon. Especially the non-Apple companies that can’t rely on a legion of rabid fans ready to eat up everything they release.
If they don’t launch budget-friendly – but still worthwhile – VR headsets, then Meta could once again be left as the only real contender in this sector of VR. Sure, I like the Meta headsets I’ve used, but nothing helps spur on better tech and/or prices than proper competition. And this is something Meta is proving it doesn’t really have right now.
(Image credit: Meta)
Where did my data come from?
It’s important to know where data has come from and what assumptions have been made by people handling that data, but, equally, not everyone finds this interesting, and it can get quite long and distracting. So, I’ve put this section at the bottom for those interested in seeing my work on the 87% sales figure comparison between the Oculus Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 four months after their respective launches.
As I mentioned above, most of the data for this piece has been gathered from the Steam Hardware Survey. I had to rely on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to see some historical Steam Hardware Survey data because the results page only shows the most recent month’s figures.
When looking at the relative popularity of headsets in any given month, I could just read off the figures in the survey results. However, to compare the Quest 2 and Quest 3’s four-month sales to each other, I had to use player counts from SteamDB and make a few assumptions.
The first assumption is that the Steam Hardware Survey’s data is consistent for all users. Because Steam users have to opt-in to the survey, when it says that 2.24% of Steam users used a VR headset in January 2024, what it really means is that 2.24% of Steam Hardware Survey participants used a VR headset that month. There’s no reason to believe the survey’s sample isn’t representative of the whole of Steam’s user base, and this is an assumption that’s generally taken for granted when looking at Hardware Survey data. But if I’m going to break down where my numbers come from, I might as well do it thoroughly.
Secondly, I had to assume that Steam users only used one VR headset each month and that they didn’t share their headsets with other Steam users. These assumptions allow me to say that if the Meta Quest 3 was used for 14.05% of Steam VR sessions, then 14.05% of Steam users with a VR headset (which is 2.24% of Steam’s total users) owned a Quest 3 in January 2024. Not making these assumptions leads to an undercount and overcount, respectively, so they kinda cancel each other out. Also, without this assumption, I couldn’t continue beyond this step as I’d lack the data I need.
Who needs more than one VR headset anyway? (Image credit: Shutterstock / agencies)
Valve doesn’t publish Steam’s total user numbers, and the last time it published monthly active user data was in 2021 – and that was an average for the whole year rather than for each month. It also doesn’t say how many people take part in the Hardware Survey. All it does publish is how many people are using Steam right now. This information is gathered by SteamDB so that I and other people can see Steam’s Daily Active User (DAU) average for January 2021 and January 2024 (as well as other months, but I only care about these two).
My penultimate assumption was that the proportion of DAUs compared to the total number of Steam users in January 2021 is the same as the proportion of DAUs compared to the total number of Steam users in January 2024. The exact proportion of DAUs to the total doesn’t matter (it could be 1% or 100%). By assuming it stays consistent between these two months, I can take the DAU figures I have – 25,295,361 in January 2024 and 24,674,583 in January 2021 – multiply them by the percentage of Steam users with a Quest 3 and Quest 2 during these months, respectively – 0.31% and 0.37% – then finally compare the numbers to one another.
The result is that the number of Steam users with a Quest 3 in January 2024 is 87.05% of the number of Steam users with a Quest 2 in January 2021.
My final assumption was that Quest headset owners haven’t become more or less likely to connect their devices to a PC to play Steam VR. So if it's 87% as popular on Steam four months after their respective launches, the Quest 3 has sold 87% as well as the Quest 2 did after their first four months on sale.
If you’ve spent $ 3,500 or more on the Apple Vision Pro you’d be understandably frustrated if you damaged the outer screen and had to pay $ 799 (or $ 299 with Apple Care) to get it fixed. But imagine how much more annoyed you’d be if it cracked for seemingly no reason at all.
That’s what some people are taking to social media to complain about, after they discovered cracks extending upwards from the nose bridge of their pricey Apple headset – which they all claim appeared despite them never dropping, bumping, or damaging the headset.
Reddit user dornbirn explained that after putting their headset away for the night they woke up and found a large crack extending from the nose bridge. u/ContributionFar8997, u/inphenite, and u/Wohinbistdu all shared similar complaints to the Vision Pro Subreddit, with images of their Vision Pro’s showing practically identical cracks extending from the nose bridge.
You should always take posts on the internet with a pinch of salt, but the fact that every crack looks the same and has seemingly appeared while the headset wasn’t in use suggests that this is some kind of manufacturing issue rather than user error.
We’ve reached out to Apple to find out what's causing the apparent cracks and if it has any advice for Vision Pro customers who are worried about their screens breaking.
It’s not clear exactly why the outer screen is cracking, but the reports we’ve seen all come from people who discovered the Vision Pro was damaged after leaving the device charging with the front cover on.
Our best guess right now is that as the headset charges it heats up, and because of the cover this heat doesn’t dissipate quickly. As the outer screen warms it expands, with perhaps one of the inner layers expanding faster than the outer layer causing tension.
Given the nose bridge is the area with the most complex curved design it makes sense this would be the place where the tension is at its highest. So when the screen can’t take anymore this is where it would most likely crack – explaining why all the images show near identical damage.
We're not engineers though, so to know for sure we'll need to wait for an official Apple explanation of what's causing the cracks.
Apple Store support staff should be able to help (Image credit: Apple)
I have a Vision Pro, what should I do?
Because there are so many unknown factors it’s tough to say exactly what measures you should take to avoid the same issue happening to your Vision Pro.
Based on the current evidence we’d suggest that you don’t charge the headset with the cover on and that you don’t leave it charging for longer than is necessary. However, the best thing to do is to keep an eye out for Apple’s official guidance, and if a crack forms in your Vision Pro contact support as soon as you can.
While some users have said the Apple Care support team hasn’t been the most helpful – asking them to pay to get the screen fixed – u/Wohinbistdu posted an update to their original Reddit post saying that they were able to take their Vision Pro to the Apple Store and get a replacement unit. Their original has apparently been sent off for Apple’s engineers to investigate.
This was 12 days ago at the time of writing so hopefully Apple is close to finding what’s causing the problems, and is almost ready with a fix.
We’ve officially passed the two-week return window for the Apple Vision Pro, which allowed people who purchased the headset on launch day to hand it back. Social media buzz has suggested that the Vision Pro was being returned in droves. However, inside sources suggest this may not be the case – and offer an interesting insight into who is returning their headset, and why.
In our Apple Vision Pro review, we touched on the positives and negatives of using the device and rounded up our top three reasons why users may end up returning the headset. As Apple’s first attempt at a mixed-reality headset, the product was always going to be rather polarizing. It lacks the backing of familiarity that other Apple products like a new iPhone or MacBook always have at this point.
Not to mention the fact that the Apple Vision Pro is expensive. Retailing at $ 3,499/ £2,788, AU$ 6349, it’s easy to imagine more than a few returns are down to buyer's remorse – I know I would slink back to the Apple Store as soon as I found even the slightest discomfort or annoyance (or looked at my bank account, frankly). Especially if I couldn’t get my prescription sorted out for the headset or just found it really uncomfortable.
In fact, AppleInsider reached out to sources within Apple’s retail chain for more info on the headset returns and noted that discomfort is probably one of the biggest concerns when it comes to it. “Most of our returns, by far, are within a day or two. They're the folks that get sick using it,” one source told AppleInsider’s Mike Wuerthele. “The pukers, the folks that get denied by prescription-filling, that kind of thing. They know real quick.”
Influencer investments – gotta get that content!
The second group of people that seem to be making up most of the returns are influencers and YouTubers. Again, the Vision Pro is a product many people want to get their hands on, so it would make sense that online tech ‘gurus’ would want to jump on the trend at launch.
With the two-week return window offered by Apple, that’s more than enough time to milk the headset for as much content as possible then give it back, and get your money back too. If you’re a tech content creator, it’s easier to look at the Vision Pro as a short-term investment rather than a personal splurge.
“It's just the f***ing YouTubers so far,” one retail employee told Wuerthele.
According to AppleInsider's sources, however, the return process isn’t as simple as just boxing the headset up and dropping it off. Each return is accompanied by a detailed, lengthy survey that will allow users to go in-depth on their reason for return and their experience with the product. This is great news in the long run because it could mean any future iterations of the Apple Vision Pro will be designed and built with this feedback in mind – and the Vision Pro is already arguably a public beta for what will presumably eventually become the ‘Apple Vision’.
Beyond AppleInsider's coverage, prolific Apple leaker and Bloomberg writer Mark Gurman has (unsurprisingly) chipped into the discussion surrounding Vision Pro returns. He reported much the same; some people think it's uncomfortable or induces sickness, while for others it's simply too much money.
Gurman spoke to a Los Angeles professional who bought and returned the headset, who said 'I loved it. It was bananas,' but then went on to explain that he simply hadn't found himself using it that often, and that the price was just too much: “If the price had been $ 1,500 to $ 2,000, I would have kept it just to watch movies, but at essentially four grand, I’ll wait for version two.”
If users are returning it because they’re not using it as much as they thought they would, certain aspects are making them feel nauseous, or the headset is just really uncomfortable on their head, Apple can take this feedback in mind and carry it forward. It’s a common criticism of VR headsets in general, to be fair – perhaps some people just aren’t built for using this type of product?
TikTok has had a big impact on the world of music since it was launched back in 2016, and now it’s set to make its presence felt in the world of VR with a new native app for the Apple Vision Pro. Is there anything that TikTok can’t do?
In January, Ahmad Zahran, Product Leader at TikTok, revealed that a Vision Pro app was in the works, saying his team had “designed a new TikTok experience for the Apple Vision Pro”. Its reimagined interface takes you out of TikTok in Safari – which used to be the only way to access the platform on the Vision Pro – and into a new app version that’s designed for the Vision Pro’s visionOS platform and takes full advantage of the headset’s visual layout.
Similar to the design of its iOS and Android apps, TikTok for visionOS has a vertical layout and includes the usual ‘Like’, ‘Comment’, ‘Share’, and ‘Favorite’ icons. What sets TikTok’s visionOS app apart from its iOS and Android versions is its expanded interface designed for the Vision Pro’s widescreen view.
(Image credit: TikTok)
When you tap the icons in the navigation bar they appear as floating panes to the right of your ‘For You’ page without interrupting the main video display, giving you a better view of comment sections and creator profiles. Better yet, the app is also compatible with Vision Pro’s Shared Space tool, allowing you to move TikTok to a different space in your headset view so that you can open other apps.
If you really want to reap the benefits of using TikTok in the Vision Pro, you can immerse yourself even further by viewing content in the headset’s integrated virtual environments – so you could enjoy your favorite clips on the surface of the Moon if that’s your thing.
If you thought TikTok was ubiquitous and immersive now, just wait – it’s already far too easy to get lost in the endless feed you’re presented with in your phone, never mind having it take over the majority of your central view in a headset.
There is one thing missing from the TikTok Vision Pro app: the ability to capture and create new videos.
TikTok has also beaten Netflix and YouTube to the punch by arriving on the Vision Pro. While Netflix has no plans to launch a Vision Pro app right now, YouTube recently announced the app Juno – a service that lets you browse YouTube videos specifically for Apple’s ‘latest and greatest device’.
Apple Vision Pro owners are announcing they’re returning their headsets because they’re disappointed by the experience offered by the $ 3,500 mixed-reality gadget.
We’ve highlighted the positives and negatives of using the device in our Apple Vision Pro review, but if you’re still on the fence then the reasons people are giving for returning could help you decide if the headset is the right fit for you.
It also might be worth starting to keep an eye on the Apple Store’s refurbished section. While it’ll likely be a while before the Vision Pro appears – and it’ll probably still be fairly pricey – you might be able to buy one of these returned Vision Pros for a discount in the future.
As an aside, we’ve been impressed with Apple’s refurbished tech; the checks and replacements it makes mean you’re basically getting a new gadget at a lower price so it’s worth checking its refurb store for the Vision Pro or any other piece of Apple tech you’re after before just buying new – provided you aren’t after something super recent.
Anyway, let’s get into why the Vision Pro headset is being returned.
Why is the Vision Pro’s popularity waning? (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The end of a (trial) era
There are individual reasons people will be looking to return the Apple Vision Pro, and we’ll get to those, but the main reason you’ll be seeing social media post after social media post on the topic right now is because of Apple’s returns policy.
When you buy a new Apple product from its store you have 14 days to be able to send it back and get a full refund. The Apple Vision Pro launched on February 2 so at the time of writing we’re at that two-week mark.
If someone has decided the experience isn’t perfect enough for them to part with $ 3,500 – or more if they bought a model with bigger storage – then it’s getting to the stage where they either have to live with that subpar experience or send the device back.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Comfort is king
As for the specific Apple Vision faults, a lot of people’s problems come down to comfort.
When you’re spending as much as you’re spending on the Vision Pro you’ll probably feel the need to use it a lot to feel your purchase is justified. But as we heard from some early test events that media were invited to the device could be uncomfortable to wear for long stretches – especially when using the Solo Loop band that offers zero over-the-head support.
On top of complaints that it’s too heavy people have said it can cause motion sickness and eye strain. These issues also exist for other VR headsets – especially among people who are new to VR – but the Vision Pro may exacerbate these problems as, again, people are probably immersing themselves for very long stretches to feel like they’re getting the most out of the headset.
Not only in terms of bang for their buck but also for productivity and watching films – the two main Vision Pro uses. Blockbusters can stretch on for two hours or longer, and typical work shifts are eight hours. Even if you are just sitting looking at virtual windows this is a very long time for new users to be spending in VR without long breaks.
What’s the Vision Pro’s killer app? (Image credit: Future)
The Vision Pro does have a lot of apps (over 1,000 at the time of writing) at its disposal and has some really neat features. But as many reviewers have pointed out – such as The Verge – the majority of those programs are ported over from iPadOS.
There are some bespoke spatial apps and improvements have been made to make the iPad programs feel more interactive in mixed reality, but when people think of VR software they imagine epic immersive gaming like Asgard’s Wrath 2, fitness apps like Supernatural, or educational adventures like Out of Scale from Kurzgesagt.
The Vision Pro doesn’t have a good answer (or in some cases any answer at all) to these apps that you can find on rival platforms, and unfortunately for Apple, this is something that will take time to change. And if it seems like all you’re getting are iPad apps, why not save a lot of money and just buy an iPad – or even an iPad Pro?
Given that people have to decide to keep or send the device back for a refund now it’s a lot safer to assume the software problems will persist until the next headset or two launch rather than pray some killer exclusive apps are on the horizon and risk wasting $ 3,500.
Don’t like the Vision Pro? You can send it back (Image credit: Apple)
More to the story?
Remember it’s worth taking the posts you see with a pinch or two of salt – and remembering that most people who bought a Vision Pro are probably keeping it.
Apple tech has a lot of devout fans and haters who will engage with every single post they see about people returning the Vision Pro because it either affirms their negative view or because they feel the need to defend the 2.8 trillion dollar company. No matter how someone chooses to respond to the post, their interaction will boost engagement and amplify the voice of what is very likely a minority of Vision Pro users sending the headset back.
We also wouldn’t be surprised if a chunk of people returning the headset always planned to send it back for a refund, and are just giving whatever excuse they can that isn’t “because I can’t actually afford it.”
Apple’s Vision Pro has, as many expected, created a buzz online with post after post going viral – be they someone giving their hands-on impressions, or finding a weird way to use it like that person who walked their robot dog down the street while sporting the Apple headset. There’s also just a certain level of perceived internet clout that comes from being able to show off that you own and have used a $ 3,500 device.
Once you’ve soaked up that early hype and boosted traffic to your socials do you want to be left with a $ 3,500 hole in your wallet? Or would you rather get the boosted attention and not have to spend a dime?
That’s not to say there aren’t some genuine issues with the Vision Pro, but don’t let all these reports necessarily put you off if you’ve tried it yourself, love it, and want to own one. As these posts have made clear, you do have just under 14 days to use it at home before you’re locked out from a full refund if you decide the Vision Pro isn’t for you after all.
Mark Zuckerberg has tried the Apple Vision Pro, and he wants you to know that the Meta Quest 3 is “the better product, period”. This is unsurprising given that his company makes the Quest 3, but having gone through all of his arguments he does have a point – in many respects, the Quest 3 is better than Apple’s high-end model.
In his video posted to Instagram, Zuckerberg starts by highlighting the fact that the Quest 3 offers a more impressive interactive software library than the Vision Pro, and right now that is definitely the case. Yes, the Vision Pro has Fruit Ninja, some other spatial apps (as Apple calls them), and plenty of ported-over iPad apps, but nothing on the Vision Pro comes close to matching the quality or immersion levels of Asgard’s Wrath 2, Walkabout Mini Golf, Resident Evil 4 VR, The Light Brigade, or any of the many amazing Quest 3 VR games.
It also lacks fitness apps. I’m currently testing some for a VR fitness experiment (look out for the results in March) and I’ve fallen in love with working out with my Quest 3 in apps like Supernatural. The Vision Pro not only doesn't offer these kinds of experiences, but its design isn’t suited to them either – the hanging cable could get in the way, and the fabric facial interface would get drenched in sweat; a silicone facial interface is a must-have based on my experience.
The only software area where the Vision Pro takes the lead is video. The Quest platform is badly lacking when it comes to offering the best streaming services in VR – only having YouTube and Xbox Cloud Gaming – and it’s unclear if or when this will change. I asked Meta if it has plans to bring more streaming services to Quest, and I was told by a representative that it has “no additional information to share at this time.”
Zuckerberg also highlights some design issues. The Vision Pro is heavier than the Quest 3, and if you use the cool-looking Solo Knit Band you won’t experience the best comfort or support – instead most Vision Pro testers recommend you use the Dual-Loop band which more closely matches the design of the Quest 3’s default band as it has over the head support.
You also can’t wear glasses with the Vision Pro, instead you need to buy expensive inserts. On Quest 3 you can just extend the headset away from your face using a slider on the facial interface and make room for your specs with no problem.
The Vision Pro being worn with the Dual-Loop band (Image credit: Future)
Then there’s the lack of controllers. On the Vision Pro unless you’re playing a game that supports a controller you have to rely solely on hand tracking. I haven’t used the Vision Pro but every account I’ve read or heard – including Zuckerberg’s – has made it clear that hand-tracking isn’t any more reliable on the Vision Pro than it is on Quest; with the general sentiment being that 95% of the time it works seamlessly which is exactly my experience on the Quest 3.
Controllers are less immersive but do help to improve precision – making activities like VR typing a lot more reliable without needing a real keyboard. What’s more, considering most VR and MR software out there right now is designed for controllers software developers have told us it would be a lot easier to port their creations to the Vision Pro if it had handsets.
Lastly, there’s the value. Every Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro comparison will bring up price so we won’t labor the point, but there’s a lot to be said for the fact the Meta headset is only $ 499.99 / £479.99 / AU$ 799.99 rather than $ 3,499 (it’s not yet available outside the US). Without a doubt the Quest 3 is giving you way better bang for your buck.
The Vision Pro could be improved if it came with controllers (Image credit: Future)
Vision Pro: not down or out
That said, while Zuckerberg makes some solid arguments he does gloss over how the Vision Pro takes the lead, and even exaggerates how much better the Quest 3 is in some areas – and these aren’t small details either.
The first is mixed reality. Compared to the Meta Quest Pro the Vision Pro is leaps and bounds ahead, though reports from people who have tried the Quest 3 suggest the Vision Pro doesn’t offer as much of an improvement – and in ways it is worse as Zuckerberg mentions.
To illustrate the Quest 3’s passthrough quality Zuckerberg reveals the video of him comparing the two headsets is being recorded using a Quest 3, and it looks pretty good – though having used the headset I can tell you this isn’t representative of what passthrough actually looks like. Probably due to how the video is processed recordings of mixed reality on Quest always look more vibrant and less grainy than experiencing it live.
Based on less biased accounts from people who have used both the Quest 3 and Vision Pro it sounds like the live passthrough feed on Apple’s headset is generally a bit less grainy – though still not perfect – but it does have way worse motion blur when you move your head.
Mixed reality has its pros and cons on both headsets (Image credit: Apple)
Zuckerberg additionally takes aim at the Vision Pro’s displays pointing out that they seem less bright than the Quest 3’s LCDs and they offer a narrower field of view. Both of these points are right, but I feel he’s not given enough credit to two important details.
While he does admit the Vision Pro offers a higher resolution he does so very briefly. The Vision Pro’s dual 3,680 x 3,140-pixel displays will offer a much crisper experience than the Quest 3’s dual 2064 x 2208-pixel screens. Considering you use this screen for everything the advantage of better visuals can’t be understated – and a higher pixel density should also mean the Vision Pro is more immersive as you’ll experience less of a screen door effect (where you see the lines between pixels as the display is so close to your eyes).
Zuckerberg also ignores the fact that the Vision Pro’s screens are OLEDs. Yes, this will mean they’re less vibrant, but the upshot is they offer much better contrast for blacks and dark colors. Better contrast has been shown to improve a user’s immersion in VR based on Meta and other’s experiments so I wouldn’t be surprised if the next Quest headset also incorporated OLEDs – rumors suggest it will and I seriously hope it does.
Lastly, there’s eye-tracking which is something the Quest 3 lacks completely. I don’t think the unavailability of eye-tracking is actually a problem, but that deserves its own article.
This prototype headset showed me how important great contrast is (Image credit: Future)
Regardless of whether you agree with Mark Zuckerberg’s arguments or not one thing that’s clear from the video is that the Vision Pro has got the Meta CEO fired up.
He ends his video stating his desire for the Quest 3 and the Meta’s open model (as opposed to the closed-off walled-garden Apple has where you can only use the headset how it intends) to “win out again” like Windows in the computing space.
But we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out. As Zuckerberg himself admits “The future is not yet written” and only time will tell if Apple, Meta or some new player in the game (like Samsung with its Samsung XR headset) will come out on top in the long run.
The Apple Vision Pro has finally launched, and if you were thinking you may have to upgrade your Mac or MacBook to use the new headset (piling on another expensive purchase onto an already very pricey device) there is some good news, as it seems like the Vision Pro headset is compatible with Intel-based Macs, potentially opening the door for users with older models.
A support page on the official Apple website, explaining how to use the headset with a Mac as a display, reveals that support for this feature is not limited to Apple Silicon Macs (such as recent MacBooks with the M1, M2 or M3 chips). The post explains that if you happen to be using a Mac with an Intel processor, you can still use the Vision Pro as a workspace, however, you’ll be working with resolutions capped at 3K rather than 4K as you normally would with an Apple Silicon-powered Mac.
You’ll still be able to resize the Virtual Display window and use the computer's keyboard and trackpad. That being said, if you’re looking to take advantage of the Virtual Display feature, your Mac will need to be running on macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, so if you are planning on giving it a go you’d probably have to upgrade your operating system. Very old Macs and MacBooks may not be compatible with macOS Sonoma, which means you won’t be able to use the Vision Pro as an additional screen with those products.
Cool, but not very useful.
While I am glad to see support for older Macs, I’m not sure I see the point. Of course, Intel-based Macs are still good computers despite their age, but with the cost of the Apple Vision Pro, you could buy yourself an M3 iMac and have plenty of cash to spare.
Of course, I’m sure plenty of people may have an older iMac collecting dust at home that would like to give it a go, but again the Apple Vision Pro isn’t exactly a product you buy on a whim. I wouldn’t really encourage anyone to buy the headset if they exclusively work on an Intel Mac since you won’t get the full 4K experience. You’d be better off just upgrading your device to a new MacBook, Mac mini or iMac and buying a Vision Pro later… if at all.
There’s also no guarantee that this support on the Intel Macs will last forever – now that the M3 iMac has launched I wouldn’t be surprised if we started to see support for newer accessories or features being limited. So, if you are in the position to try out the Vision Pro with your older Mac, I suggest you get on it soon and decide if you like the pairing enough to justify upgrading to an Apple Silicon Mac – because you might have to in the future.
There are a few big features that the Apple Vision Pro is missing – such as support for Bluetooth mice and location tracking for the Apple Find My network – but perhaps the strangest omission from the Apple Vision Pro is the ability to reset your device if you forget your passcode.
During the Vision Pro set-up process you’ll be asked to enter a six-digit passcode, just as you would when setting up an iPhone or iPad. You can also optionally set up an Optic ID login method, but just as with Face ID on your other Apple gadgets there will be times when you’ll be forced to enter your passcode – for example after your headset has restarted.
If you ever forget your iPad or iPhone passcode you can unlock your Apple device by connecting it to your Mac or PC and wiping the data on it, and on the Apple Watch you can use the digital crown or your connected iPhone to do the same thing. Yes you’ll delete all the data, but a blank gadget is better than a gadget you’re forever locked out of.
However, while the Apple Vision Pro also has a setting that allows you to erase all your content – including the passcode – it’s only accessible via the Settings app. If you're locked out of your headset because you’ve forgotten your passcode there’s currently no at-home way to get into your Vision Pro.
Instead, as reported by Bloomberg ($ /£), you’ll need to either take your headset back to your local Apple Store, or ship it back to Apple to have it reset if there isn’t a physical store near you.
Locked out? Send it back to Apple, or say hello to your new paperweight (Image credit: Apple)
Is there a workaround?
Unfortunately, the only workaround to this problem available to most people is to not forget your passcode in the first place.
We’ve seen reports that users with the Developer Strap – a dongle that adds a USB-C port to the Vision Pro so that it can be connected to a Mac computer – could erase the Vision Pro’s content and passcode using a Mac. However, the Developer Strap costs $ 300 and is only available to officially registered developers, so most people won’t have access to it – and we’ve not been able to confirm that this method works, so there’s a chance the dongle wouldn’t even help you if you had one.
We expect that Apple will launch some kind of alternative way to erase your Vision Pro passcode in due course, especially once the gadget is made available outside the US, and sending your headset back becomes even more inconvenient for some. But for now you might want to make a note of your passcode, taking the usual precautions to ensure that this is secure.
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