visionOS Diary: I’m here for the whoa
I’ve long been someone who enjoys a change of scenery: working out of a coffee shop or library to give myself a break from the home office. So this past week, I’ve spent some time mixing it up in a bunch of different places: the beach, the lake, even the desert.
Are you getting it? These aren’t three locations: it’s just one. Still my office. But thanks to the Apple Vision Pro, I’ve been able to get the feeling of working in novel, exciting places without ever leaving the comfort of my desk.1
This is the most time I’ve spent with the Vision Pro since its release: I got to try the initial in-store demo back when it first launched, as well as a short, mostly guided experience with Apple in a briefing last year, but thanks to Apple sending me a unit to try out for the next few months, I’ve finally gotten the chance to really put it through its paces.
But…why?
Let’s start with the big question: why.
Why spend this time with a device that’s $3500, out of the reach of most consumers, that represents a tiny sliver of Apple’s business?
For one thing, it’s because, as somebody who spends much of their days writing, talking, and thinking about Apple, it’s been weird for me over the past year to feel like there’s a whole category of Apple product that I have little firsthand knowledge of. It’s one thing to not have AirPods Max or the Apple Watch Ultra or even a Mac Pro—the experience of using those are largely replicable with other devices in the same lineup.
But the Vision Pro stands alone. There’s no other way to experience it, at present.
It’s also Apple’s most cutting-edge platform. The one that’s clearly aiming for the future. From the outside, it’s clear that even Apple doesn’t expect this version of the device to take the world by storm. But the time it’s invested in the Vision Pro—and, more to the point, visionOS—shows that the company does think that, down the road, some version of it could.
Finally, and this ties in to that last point, the Vision Pro is manifestly cool. Yeah, there’s plenty of shade thrown about the computer-generated eyes on the front, or the lack of apps on the platform, or even how silly you look waving your hands around at things nobody can see.
But I dare you to put it on for a few moments, dial in the beach at Bora Bora, or open up a spatial photo, or even just move a window around with your hand and not have a moment of “whoa.”
So, yeah, I’m here for the whoa.
Looking forward, not back
The other nicety of spending some time with the Vision Pro more than a year after its release is that I can dispense with some of the necessities of those initial reviews. I don’t need to tell you that the headset is heavy and can be tricky to get the right fit. Or that the interface can occasionally be tricky to navigate because of the ways our eyes jump around. Or that the battery life is good, but not great.
All of those things are known and have been noted. Nobody needs me to reiterate them a year later.
So I get the benefits of some freedom here.
That’s not the only upside. visionOS has progressed significantly in the last couple years, and the visionOS 26 beta is poised to push that even further. The reviews of 2024 may still retain some merit, but they’ve stood still while visionOS has continued to evolve.
Likewise, Vision Pro users have had to wait for content for the platform to filter out in dribs and drabs, not unlike those earliest subscribers to Apple TV. But after more than a year, the continued investment by Apple and third-party developers means there’s actually a decent amount of content for the Vision Pro. (And so the time-honored pastime of Catching Up On Stuff™ continues.)
Or, to put all of this more simply, I knew many of the downsides going in, but I get to experience the upsides first hand.
Fitting in
Personally, I’ve enjoyed spending the last week figuring out how the Vision Pro fits into my life. I’ve mostly ended up using it at the desk in my office, plugged in so I don’t worry about the battery running out.
This has led me to conclude that this debut version of the Vision Pro…it’s a bit like a desktop computer. Maybe, if I’m being generous, the Macintosh Portable. In a stationary, set environment, it’s got a lot of utility to it. And if you want to take it with you, you can, but it comes at a cost of bulkiness and unwieldiness.
Is it going to replace my Mac mini? No; I don’t see myself recording or editing podcasts using the Vision Pro. In fact, I don’t see it replacing any of the devices in my life. But that doesn’t mean that it can’t have a beneficial additive effect: it’s yet another option when I sit down to do something like writing or watching video. Which brings me back to my first point. Sometimes it’s just nice to be in a different location for a while; and that’s something the Vision Pro delivers in spades.
Notes
There’s been almost too much to think about and process in this first week with the Vision Pro, but I did want to note some of the features that I found most interesting and compelling.
Mac Virtual Display: Throwing open your Mac’s display in Wide or Ultrawide mode is wild, especially for a tiny 13-inch MacBook Air screen. Is it almost too much space? Almost. But I’m mostly impressed with how good the quality is: it feels more or less like working right at my computer, just with a ton more space. I did run into some of the not uncommon wonkiness of Apple’s continuity features where for a while it would just steadfastly not connect to my Mac mini until I restarted the Vision Pro, but mostly it’s been solid. I do, however, wish that keeping Mac Virtual Display open in the background wasn’t the only way to use Universal Control, but such is life.
Personas: I installed the visionOS 26 Beta on this device straightaway, which meant I never had the chance to make one of the old style spatial personas, instead just launching headfirst into the “new and improved” model. My overriding opinion of the the old spatial personas, from what I’d seen in stills and videos, were that they looked janky as heck and I found them unsettling and uncanny. But these new ones? It’s tough to admit, but I think they are kind of incredible. I had a FaceTime call with Jason and our pal James Thomson, two people I’ve spent a lot of time with in real life, and their personas were incredibly compelling. Not perfect, of course—sometimes the eyes were a little off, and the expressions aren’t quite right—but when you think about where they were a year ago, it’s mind blowing. I really want to sit around a table with some folks and play D&D in an immersive environment, that sounds amazing.
Environments: Speaking of immersive environments, more of these, please. I’m really looking forward to checking out the new Jupiter one in the visionOS 26 Beta when it shows up. Even though this is the most “VR” of features, it’s also one of the most compelling. I cannot get over how real they feel. I appreciate that some items, like keyboards, can punch through the illusion, though I really need that feature to expand to beverages too—it’s not going to be too long before I knock over a mug of tea or a glass of water reaching for it. Like Jason, I do wish third parties could donate their own environments here: both Disney+ and Sandwich’s Theater app provide cool immersive experiences that should be available systemwide.
Widgets: visionOS 26’s Widgets are wild, the way they just look like permanent parts of your environment. I put a few up on the wall above of my desk, including a clock and a calendar, as well as one in my kitchen, and it was super trippy to see them there like they were just physical objects. It’s the kind of thing that makes me wish my office had more open wall space. Who needs art, right? I do also wish there were a way for widgets to optionally poke through immersive enviroments, even if only when you summon Control Center or something. But this is one of the clearest examples yet of Apple’s AR aims, and I found them pretty cool—I can’t wait to see what more third party developers do with them.
Correction: A previous version of this piece said Disney+’s environments were not fully immersive—they, in fact, are.
- I’ve got an overhead fan in my office, and I cannot recommend highly enough turning it on and feeling the breeze while you’re sitting in an immersive environment. If Apple could figure out a way to ship that sensation… ↩
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors, as well as an author, podcaster, and two-time Jeopardy! champion. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the sci-fi spy thriller The Armageddon Protocol, is out now.]
If you appreciate articles like this one, support us by becoming a Six Colors subscriber. Subscribers get access to an exclusive podcast, members-only stories, and a special community.