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One of the most common questions I’m asked is: “are you still using Vision Pro?”.
My answer used to be: “yep, although I’m only really using it as a companion device for my MacBook Pro”.
Now, my answer has morphed into: “Rarely”.
There are two reasons for this. The first is that, as I type, Vision Pro is still a US-only affair. This is about to change (I’ll get onto that later), but at the moment, I’m unable to fully use my Apple ID within visionOS. I have a US Apple ID that was used to set up the headset, but it’s a faff to continually switch between the two.
The second reason is that Vision Pro remains a rather uncomfortable experience. I don’t want to sound like a broken record about this – although it’s impossible not to if you own Apple’s mixed reality headset. Having spent some time away from the clutches of visionOS, I was dismayed when I returned to it recently for some video editing at home; it felt even heavier and more uncomfortable than before.
However, these are first-generation grumbles. When you get your hands on Vision Pro, you realise how big Apple’s vision (sorry) for spatial computing is. They need to iron out the kinks, but that process will take a long time.
The good news is we have a new version of visionOS on the way, and I think there are two big saviours for Vision Pro.
Not that it needs saving, obvs.
visionOS 2 was never going to be big
I’m still a little surprised that visionOS featured in such a significant way at this year’s WWDC; it was the first OS to appear on one of the parachutes worn by the skydiving Apple employees during the intro, and, consequently, the first to have its latest version unveiled. I was personally expecting nothing more than a visionOS footnote this year.
visionOS 2 isn’t a seismic leap forward for Vision Pro, though – let’s get that straight. The tweaks are just that – minor additions to gesture controls, SharePlay capabilities for photo viewing, and the ability to rearrange apps on the Home Screen.
Some nice tidbits didn’t get mentioned during the keynote. I love the fact that visionOS will reveal your Magic Keyboard or MacBook keyboard while fully immersed in an environment, and the addition of mouse and trackpad support is a big deal for anyone who has bravely committed to making Vision Pro a standalone computing device.
If you’ve been craving the ability to use Vision Pro on a train without your pinned windows attaching themselves to the passing landscape and shooting out of sight at 100mph, you’ll devour the new train support.
Oh, and there’s a bunch of new environments, the ability to create spatial photos from 2D images, and AirPlay mirroring support for the iPhone and iPad.
This is all good stuff, but two much bigger updates immediately caught my eye.
Saviour 1: supersized Mac display
As I’ve noted numerous times, the only reason I use Vision Pro for anything other than impressing friends and family, is to undertake video edits at home.
When I’m away from the studio, the only display I have for that task is on the 14-inch MacBook Pro, which is too cramped for serious editing duties. By strapping Vision Pro to my face, I can ‘detach’ that display and make it far bigger and wider within visionOS. It’s genuinely useful (once you put the weight of the headset to the back of your mind).
You can therefore imagine how excited I became when Apple revealed “panoramic productivity” in visionOS 2. This basically means that they’ve increased the available size and resolution of the extended MacBook display in visionOS. They’ve also gone a step further by including ‘wide’ and ‘ultra-wide’ viewing options.
The latter turns the virtualised MacBook display into a huge ultra-wide monitor-like screen that almost wraps around the user. It looks awesome and will probably tempt me to use Vision Pro far more consistently – and not just for video production work.
There’s no multi-display support, which I know will irritate some people (and I know where they’re coming from – the ability to have two separate Mac displays in front of you would be handy). Regardless, this supercharged and supersized version of what we already have is a big upgrade and, I think, targets what is probably the main visionOS use case for most people at the moment.
Saviour 2: worldwide launch
I had to import Vision Pro from the US earlier this year. That was expensive, complicated, and riddled with potential pitfalls. As noted earlier, it has also resulted in an incredibly pricey Apple device that I can’t fully explore due to the regional restrictions.
Interest in Vision Pro was also sharp and short-lived. This isn’t unusual for many devices; smartphones in particular remain at the top of people’s minds for a couple of weeks before disappearing from search trends (with the notable exception of the iPhone and Samsung’s S series).
The news that Vision Pro will complete its worldwide launch on 12th July is very promising. It means I’ll be able to fully unlock the device and should, in theory, raise interest levels a bit – which is great for my content brand.
If you weren’t aware, Vision Pro will hit the shelves in China, Japan, and Singapore on the 28th of June, before launching in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany on the 12th of July.
If nothing else, it’ll at least mean my friends and family can go and grab a proper, fully-trained demo of Vision Pro without relying on my ham-fisted attempts at showing them the future of computing.
Final thought: no Apple Intelligence for visionOS?
There was one odd omission from visionOS 2 at WWDC: Apple Intelligence.
Apple’s cheekily branded take on artificial intelligence will be made available to the public in beta form later this year for the iPhone, Mac, and iPad. Vision Pro? Sorry – that’ll be stuck with the current version of Siri and, presumably, no sniff of the fancy new ‘personal intelligence system’.
This doesn’t make any sense. Apple made it clear that for Apple Intelligence to run, devices would need the M1 chip or later beneath the hood. Vision Pro runs on an M2 chip. It is, basically, a face-attach M2 Mac.
Vision Pro also feels like the ideal candidate for Apple intelligence. The ability to rely more heavily on a supercharged next-generation Siri would make light work of so many tasks within visionOS, and if spatial computing is the future of computing, why won’t it get access to Apple’s latest innovation?
I wonder if Apple simply expects Vision Pro users to rely on their Mac and the aforementioned extended display for access to Apple Intelligence. Possibly. It’s still a head-scratcher, though.
Regardless – I’m excited to get my hands on visionOS 2 and will report back as soon as that happens.
