visionOS 2 Announced
Apple (preview, MacRumors, 9to5Mac):
With visionOS 2, users can revisit past memories by creating spatial photos directly from their library in the Photos app. visionOS uses advanced machine learning to transform a 2D image into a beautiful spatial photo that truly comes to life on Vision Pro.
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Later this year, Canon will offer a brand-new spatial lens for its popular EOS R7 digital camera to capture gorgeous spatial video, even in challenging lighting conditions. An update to Final Cut Pro will enable creators to edit spatial videos on their Mac and add immersive titles and effects to their projects, and with the Vimeo app designed for Vision Pro, users will be able to upload and share spatial videos for others to discover and enjoy.
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visionOS 2 makes navigating Apple Vision Pro faster and easier for users to access key functions with new hand gestures to get to frequently used features like Home View and Control Center.
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Later this year, Mac Virtual Display will feature a higher resolution and larger size — creating an ultra-wide display that is equivalent to two 4K monitors side by side. To create the perfect workspace, visionOS 2 also adds mouse support for additional workflow options, and Vision Pro will now reveal the user’s physical Magic Keyboard — even when they are fully immersed in an Environment or app.
Previously:
Update (2024-06-12): See also: Hacker News.
Vision Pro users hoping for multiple virtual Mac monitors will be disappointed that's not planned this time around, but Apple plans to add the next-best thing: Users will be able to take advantage of a larger and higher-resolution single virtual display, including a huge, wraparound ultrawide monitor mode that Apple says is equivalent to two 4K monitors.
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A lot of the improvements that will lead to better apps come in the form of new developer APIs that will facilitate apps that really take advantage of the spatial features rather than just being flat 2D windows floating around you—something we noted as a disappointment when we shared our impressions of the device. Some APIs help create shared spatial experiences with other Vision Pro users who aren't in the same room as you. One of those, TabletopKit, is focused on creating apps that sit on a 2D surface, like board and card games.
But the company glossed right over some of the most sorely needed features that it’s adding to visionOS — and those quieter changes make for a much more exciting update.
After the update arrives this fall, you’ll be able to see a Magic Keyboard while you’re working in a virtual environment, use any Bluetooth mouse you want, and rearrange your homescreen icons — including putting iPad and iPhone apps where you want.
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Apple says the Vision Pro will also start saving eye and hand setups for guest users for 30 days, too. It’s been nothing short of a pain to share a Vision Pro with anyone because each time you pop it in guest mode, that person has to go through setup all over again.
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Lastly, when you encounter a video on the web, you’ll be able to break it out into a free-floating video player — something Apple was bound to do since neither YouTube nor Netflix have built apps for the Vision Pro.
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Here’s a brief list of additional features it notes are on the way[…]
Here’s what’s coming in visionOS 2.0.
lmao at Vimeo making a visionOS app for Spatial Video after literally killing their Apple TV app in 2023…
I was a little disappointed to see a lack of conversation around gaming on visionOS. visionOS isn’t really a gaming platform - so kind of understandable. But it does feel weird I’m considering buying a Quest to play the Riven remaster when I have a perfectly good Vision Pro.
By the way, we’re now a full year on and Apple never did ‘get back to [you] soon’ re the application for a Vision Pro Developer Kit. Just crickets, for twelve months.
New in visionOS 2.0, you can create UI that changes when looked at, much like some of the existing system experiences.
Update (2024-06-18): Ben Lang (via Hacker News):
We’ve know that Apple planned to support WebXR for quite some time, but with VisionOS 2, the company is enabling the feature for all users. WebXR allows developers to deliver cross-platform XR experiences directly from the web, with no gatekeepers to approve or reject content.
See also: Are you still using your Vision Pro?.
Hartley Charlton (Hacker News):
Apple has suspended work on the second-generation Vision Pro headset to singularly focus on a cheaper model, The Information reports.
3 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
I still can't bring myself to care about headsets.
Too expensive, too isolating, too limited.
I think Apple had done their absolute best to make VR useful, which means that what they've done is the best anyone could have done.
Miles ahead of Horizon Worlds from Meta.
But I think it will be many years before their hardware will be good enough for mass adoption, and until then I don't think it's possible to create a software reason for anyone to drop 40K on facemask. A catch 22
I mean, what is the addressable market for people willing to buy an apple mask, a DSLR, and a mostly useless lens for it?
Why get a facemask to awkwardly do what two monitors really pull off?
