Building on last year’s Apple Vision Pro spatial computer, which combines digital and real-world content, Apple has updated visionOS 26, the operating system that powers its mixed reality headgear. Apple revealed a number of enhancements at WWDC for both consumer and business users, including more realistic Personas, new spatial widgets, and content.
Personalized spatial widgets
Apple’s widgets provide quick access to tailored and helpful information. They become spatial with visionOS 26 and blend seamlessly with your surroundings. The widgets can be positioned wherever you like and altered in terms of size, color, and depth.
Among the new widgets are a customizable clock, weather that changes according on the local weather, music allowing instant access to songs, and pictures that can be turned into a panorama or a “portal to another space.”
Adding depth to 2D images
A new AI technique that makes advantage of computational depth in an upgrade to the visionOS Photos app gives your 2D photos numerous viewpoints, making them come to life. According to Apple, you will be able to “lean straight into them and gaze around.”
Additionally, using Safari’s spatial browsing feature helps enhance the immersion of web browsing. Spatial browsing can display inline photographs that “come alive as you navigate” and conceal distractions with specific supported articles. Spatial browsing can also be included into apps created by developers.
Talking heads
Last year, Apple made Personas, an AI avatar that can represent you during video calls, available as a beta feature on the Vision Pro. Apple claims that Personas “more truly resemble you” with visionOS 26.
Utilizing “volumetric rendering and machine learning technology,” the new Personas improve your appearance in full side profile view and provide more realistic-looking hair, eyelashes, and complexion. According to Apple, personas are all formed on-device in a “matter of seconds.”
With visionOS 26, you may play a spatial game or view a movie with a companion who also wears a headset.
This capability is also being marketed for enterprise clients, allowing users to collaborate. For example, 3D design software company Dassault Systèmes is leveraging the ability with its 3DLive app to visualize 3D designs in person and with remote colleagues.
Enterprise APIs and tools
In addition to making it simple for teams to share a pool of devices, visionOS 26 now safely stores your vision prescription, accessibility settings, and eye and hand data on your iPhone, allowing users to rapidly access a shared team device or a friend’s Vision Pro as a guest user.
Apple promised to expand its APIs so that businesses could develop visionOS apps. A new “for your eyes only” mode makes sure that only people who have been granted access can view any private information.
Lastly, Apple revealed the Logitech Muse, a spatial add-on designed for the headset that enables accurate 3D drawing and collaboration.Lastly, Apple revealed the Logitech Muse, a spatial add-on designed for the headset that enables accurate 3D drawing and collaboration.
Other visionOS 26 updates
The Apple Vision Pro will soon have additional Apple Intelligence functions. For example, in addition to English in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, visionOS 26 supports new languages such as French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.
Additionally, users can now explore apps and websites by “looking to scroll” with their eyes alone. Additionally, even with the headset on, they can now unlock their iPhone while wearing the Apple Vision Pro, and visionOS allows calls from iPhones to be relayed, allowing you to answer calls from the Apple Vision Pro.
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