visionOS 26 adds a plethora of features that were already on other headsets

Local multi-user experiences and widgets headline Apple's annual software update.

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[OldPhartReef]

It's fun watching Apple iterate on this product. They've got the luxury of time to learn what the market needs (or is made to want). We get the chance to watch it all play out.

 

[MtnGoatJoe]

I really like the idea of Vision Pro. It just needs time to mature. It's expensive, but I'm hoping that will change in time as well.

 

[DaiMacculate]

The narrative arc of this device so far reminds me a lot of the first Newton, and I wouldn't be shocked if it was a similar path where several years from now Apple finally hits a point where the technology exists for them to offer their vision of AR/VR in a fully realized consumer product at more reasonable price points.

 

[Timboman]

Not gonna lie, I kind of thought that the "Apple Vision" product line was gonna be an abandoned footnote, like the Apple Newton. Considering that they are basically trying to "reinvent the wheel" when it comes to VR design philosophy, and stumbling over almost every basic hurdle in the process.

Good on them for keeping with it, but as it currently stands it still doesn't yet justify it's purchase price, and I still have doubts it ever will.

 

[Flipside79]

I don't think Apple will ever release another Vision headset as we know it today. I think the gameplan was to get a really expensive devkit out to developers and early adopters with the specs that they believe they will be able to fit in a par of glasses within 5-6 years of the original launch date. If for some reason the thing took off and was selling a lot of units, I think they would have pursued a more iterative approach to the hardware, but with it clearly not being something consumers are interested in with the current hardware, I think they have fully shifted this to a very public r&d project. I highly doubt the actual hardware specs would have ever changed regardless of form factor and weight improvements, until the Apple Spectacle release somewhere around 2030.

 

[charltjr]

“For example, the headset will soon support native playback of 3D video recorded by people other than Apple and downloaded from anywhere on the Internet”

So……. porn. Excellent.

 

[islane]

Between this announcement and a few one year review / retrospectives (like a recent one by Adam Savage), I'm now compelled to get one of these - assuming I can find a gently used one for 1/2 to 2/3 the MSRP.

I have to wonder how much could have been shaved off of the price tag had the (let's call it what it is) useless/uncanny valley external LCD been removed.? A roughly $2000 version of this that doesn't include that eerie external LCD would be a much more palatable purchase.

 

[Dano40]

The narrative arc of this device so far reminds me a lot of the first Newton, and I wouldn't be shocked if it was a similar path where several years from now Apple finally hits a point where the technology exists for them to offer their vision of AR/VR in a fully realized consumer product at more reasonable price points.

Apples trajectory is the same as their ongoing development of Apple Silicon, and the C1 modem, and the price point isn’t going to be anything below a MacBook Pro which has 13 cameras, LiDar, and a R1 SOC attached to it.

 

[DaiMacculate]

Apples trajectory is the same as their ongoing development of Apple Silicon, and the C1 modem, and the price point isn’t going to be anything below a MacBook Pro which has 13 cameras, LiDar, and a R1 SOC attached to it.

How does this follow? The original Newton launched at $699 in 1993 dollars ($1551.80 in 2025) and the first iPhone came out 14 years later at $599 in 2007 dollars (926.76 in 2025). Your comparison doesn't even work with the MacBook: The original Powerbook 100 would be almost 6000 dollars in 2025 money and only the most extreme versions of the MacBook Pro that the vast majority of consumers would never even consider cost that much.

I get you're just trying to say Apple is expensive, but history suggests that if a vision pro successor does eventually exist, it will cost less, even if its still expensive relative to other products available at that time.

 

[Tedabyte]

With visionOS 26, Apple begins to zero-in on what the Vision Pro is actually used for

Apple will never admit it, but we all know the real answer is porn.

 

[Painted]

How does this follow? The original Newton launched at $699 in 1993 dollars ($1551.80 in 2025) and the first iPhone came out 14 years later at $599 in 2007 dollars (926.76 in 2025). Your comparison doesn't even work with the MacBook: The original Powerbook 100 would be almost 6000 dollars in 2025 money and only the most extreme versions of the MacBook Pro that the vast majority of consumers would never even consider cost that much.

I get you're just trying to say Apple is expensive, but history suggests that if a vision pro successor does eventually exist, it will cost less, even if its still expensive relative to other products available at that time.

I took that to mean the original Newton vs. the Newton MessagePad 2000- I had both, the Newton showed a glimpse; the 2000 delivered as an actual usable, solid device that mostly worked as advertised.

 

[Steve austin]

Not gonna lie, I kind of thought that the "Apple Vision" product line was gonna be an abandoned footnote, like the Apple Newton. Considering that they are basically trying to "reinvent the wheel" when it comes to VR design philosophy, and stumbling over almost every basic hurdle in the process.

Good on them for keeping with it, but as it currently stands it still doesn't yet justify its purchase price, and I still have doubts it ever will.

I think its price is justified if you look at it as a “pro” product. With the right software, it could be useful in surgery, in architecture/construction, mechanical design, and other roles where the cost would be almost incidental. However, Apple doesn’t play really well in those sort of low volume markets, and as it stands it isn’t going to be a high volume consumer product. The only potential high(er) volume (relatively) cost insensitive market that I can picture for it now is the military, and even there they’d probably want a smaller, lighter device.

But if they can seriously cost reduce it and increase its more general purpose uses (especially if some developers come up with some killer apps relative to what is currently available) - both of which are certainly possible - then it may yet become a serious consumer product.

 

[Zoc]

you can use a photo to make a fake window in your space

It's so dystopic that we are at a stage where we need fake windows in our darkened, air-conditioned workpods, yet I think a fake window looking over a beautiful forest would meaningfully improve my mental health at this point.

 

[ScifiGeek]

Apple begins to zero-in on what the Vision Pro is actually used for...

So Watching movies?

I'm serious, because that's what I have seen form users months after the novelty wears thin. It mostly becomes a solo movie watching device.

 

[deltaproximus]

It's so dystopic that we are at a stage where we need fake windows in our darkened, air-conditioned workpods, yet I think a fake window looking over a beautiful forest would meaningfully improve my mental health at this point.

Personally, I'd prefer a physical fake window over a virtual one if real windows are not an option. Might be a fun raspberry pi project, tbh.

 

[DaiMacculate]

I took that to mean the original Newton vs. the Newton MessagePad 2000- I had both, the Newton showed a glimpse; the 2000 delivered as an actual usable, solid device that mostly worked as advertised.

I mean you’re correct-my dad had a 2000 and it was way more functional. But I was mostly talking about greater commercial success, which the iPhone had but newton its technological ancestor never did.

 

[GotToCreateAUsername]

I really like the idea of Vision Pro. It just needs time to mature. It's expensive, but I'm hoping that will change in time as well.

Owning one I have to say it already is excellent for Media Playback and shutting out the world. Very niche, given the price, but watching a movie on it, being surrounded by Yosemite at night when staying in a hotel or even on a plane is incredible. I have a bunch of headsets and this is the only one where pass through mode in a well lit environment is really usable. I check my phone on it without taking off the headset So for the right use cases it already is much more than a prototype. Just very niche.

 

[GotToCreateAUsername]

So Watching movies?

I'm serious, because that's what I have seen form users months after the novelty wears thin. It mostly becomes a solo movie watching device.

Yup, that's the only thing it is good at, but it truly excels at it. So amazing if you travel a lot!

 

[David Mayer]

I had hoped that VisionOS development would mirror the pace and scale of Horizon OS development. I have been sorely disappointed.

 

[gmerrick]

So Watching movies?

I'm serious, because that's what I have seen form users months after the novelty wears thin. It mostly becomes a solo movie watching device.

We need beat Sabres for this device

 

[Makotor]

Yup, that's the only thing it is good at, but it truly excels at it. So amazing if you travel a lot!

It is also 100% my favorite office setup while traveling, in addition to being great for entertainment while traveling.

Now if only all the carrying cases for it weren’t weirdly enormous.

 

[ghub005]

I forgot this product even existed.

 

[Socks Mingus]

Also, widgets are now supported in visionOS. Whereas widgets can be put anywhere on your home screen on iOS, visionOS allows you to put widgets anywhere in your physical home (or office or wherever else). For example, you can put the clock widget on a wall like it's actually a wall clock, or you can use a photo to make a fake window in your space.

That's pretty dang cool*. Maybe I'm just lacking imagination and the most boring sort of nerd, but I still find the idea of a virtual desktop/workspace (which I could take wherever) to be the most compelling vr/ar application. I wonder if you can have it auto-deploy your widgets in new locations?

*Though there is no way this is not used for injecting advertising anywhere & everywhere if augmented reality use becomes popular to any degree in day-to-day life (especially on non-swanky $3000 Apple products).

 

[darkowl]

It's the most impressive VR device I've ever tried, but it's still not enough. A singular, enclosed, isolating space that you can really only wear for a few hours at a time (eye strain and fatigue) just isn't a mass-market product. It doesn't have to be, but it's definitely not the next "big thing" like the iPod and iPhone were in their day. As a niche product? Sure. But it's one hell of niche they've got.

 

[dwrd]

“For example, the headset will soon support native playback of 3D video recorded by people other than Apple and downloaded from anywhere on the Internet”

So……. porn. Excellent.

It's the killer (f)app

/gets coat

 

[TimeWinder]

I do like that they did a not-so-subtle about-face in the "your hands are the only controller you'll need, and the game developers will adapt" when the game developers basically said, en masse, "Uh, no."

But the controller they chose is the Playstation 5 VR2 Dual Shock controller, which looks nice enough, but so far as I can tell isn't sold separately anywhere (even by Sony) except by Ebay scalpers. I'm disinclined to buy a $350 full VR setup for a console I don't own just to get the controllers.

I expect by the time visionOS 26 hits the public, Apple will sell them in the Apple Store (at a "premium price"), but as a dev who'd like to get a set now to play around with, there doesn't appear to be a straightforward market.

 

[NinjaNerd56]

Ken, I’ll take “4D porn” for $1000…

 

[zogus]

Apple will never admit it, but we all know the real answer is porn.

I know porn saved many other media formats in the past, but at $3499? Nah.

 

[zogus]

[pages and pages of electron-wasting Jobs worship and Apple-is-dying stuff we've all seen a billion times before and therefore not worthy of commentary deleted]

(I need to go Market-craft, so setting this thread to Ignore. If anyone wants to DM, figure out for yourself first what Jobs 2.0 is teaching and I’m happy to chew the fat.)

Pro tip: if you are that starved for attention, you can at least pretend like you aren't treating this forum as a write-only medium.

 

[torp]

So is there any vision pro application so far that doesn't summarize as very expensive bling for the upper management's meetings?

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

If the Vision Pro can reach eh price of a high end laptop, I will gain much interest.

Something in the 1700-2000 range

 

[Coriolanus]

The direction those persistent widgets seems to be going is allowing people to buy home decor or even entire virtual "windows", complete with virtual sunshine to dress up drab, windowless apartments. And when people take off their headsets to shower, the experience of being in a sparsely furnished apartment with uncleaned surfaces and floors will be so disorienting, they can't wait to get back to their "real" home in the headset.

 

[Coriolanus]

[Folks, I know this vision won’t be welcome. Downvote away if you wish. But, like Jobs 1.0, I have now lived it, bought that shirt, learned my lumps. If you’ve done it too, you have your right to tell me I’m full of it. If you haven’t, you’re only posing.]

Have you considered just starting a blog? I don't think this type of stuff goes well with the comment section of a news article.

 

[luddite1967]

Owning one I have to say it already is excellent for Media Playback and shutting out the world. Very niche, given the price, but watching a movie on it, being surrounded by Yosemite at night when staying in a hotel or even on a plane is incredible. I have a bunch of headsets and this is the only one where pass through mode in a well lit environment is really usable. I check my phone on it without taking off the headset So for the right use cases it already is much more than a prototype. Just very niche.

How long can you wear it until it becomes uncomfortable?

 

[EspHack]

that gadget will get its tiktok killer app soon enough, drug lords might go bankrupt soon after

 

[MtnGoatJoe]

I have to wonder how much could have been shaved off of the price tag had the (let's call it what it is) useless/uncanny valley external LCD been removed.? A roughly $2000 version of this that doesn't include that eerie external LCD would be a much more palatable purchase.

I doubt the external eyeball monitors cost very much. But either way, I get why they included them. It's a first-gen product where some ideas will be great, some will need tweaks, and some are superfluous.

They were obviously thinking of scenarios where eye contact is important, and they were trying to make things less weird for people talking to someone who has the goggles on.

I've never even seen Vision Pro in person, so I can't say if the external eyeball monitors are a waste, but I can certainly see where they "might" be important.

 

[lunarworks]

You're all missing the obvious Lisa comparison, which cost 5x as much as the Mac which replaced it.

 

[mac the naïf]

All I want is spatial computing interfaces with multiple text (BBEdit and Terminal) windows and the occasional iCab parked around the house.
Really, just more screen than I get from my laptop.