Apple announced that with VisionOS 26, the Apple Vision Pro will natively support playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content captured on Insta360, GoPro, and Canon devices.
Broader Support for Camera Harware
Until now, the Apple Vision Pro was only able to display content captured on iPhone, Vision Pro, or specialized cameras (such as Blackmagic’s dedicated immersive camera) in a windowed environment. So while most immersive content did take up a majority of the “screen” area in front of a user, fully immersive spaces were rare outside of the immersive environments Apple curates. That is changing with VisionOS 26, as now the headset will natively playback 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content shot on multiple consumer devices.
“Apple Vision Pro has defined what’s possible in this new era of spatial computing, and with visionOS 26, we’re excited to push the boundaries even further,” Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Vision Products Group, says. “With brand-new ways for Vision Pro owners to connect, explore, work together, and enjoy content, we’re incredibly excited for users to enjoy features like apps and widgets that they can arrange in their spaces, spatial scenes that offer a brand-new viewing experience for their photos, and dramatically enhanced Personas on Vision Pro.”
In the demonstration video Apple shared today, below, the content will start windowed for a Vision Pro user but can be expanded to take up the entire visible space and will react to a user’s head direction. Based on the content and the fact that an Insta360 camera is visible on the helmet of a person seen in the footage, it is likely that the content Apple shared today was captured on an Insta360 device, likely an X4 or the new X5.
Dramatically Improved Personas
When Personas, Apple’s way of showing other people to Vision Pro users inside the headset, originally launched, they looked low resolution and were seen by many as a poor facsimile of how a person actually appeared. That improved a few months later with an app update to be far better, but with VisionOS 26, they’re improving even more. Apple says that Personas should now appear more natural and familiar to how a person actually appears.
“Taking advantage of industry-leading volumetric rendering and machine learning technology, the all-new Personas now have striking expressivity and sharpness, offering a full side profile view, and remarkably accurate hair, lashes, and complexion. Personas are still created on device in a matter of seconds, and new improvements to the setup process allow users to adjust and preview how their Persona looks spatially, and even pick glasses from over 1,000 variations,” Apple says.
Availability
These and other Vision Pro updates, which can be seen in Apple’s announcement, are available for testing starting today through the Apple Developer Program. No public beta or final release schedule was announced.
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