visionOS 2.4 Makes Apple Vision Pro Easier to Show Off
Apple visionOS 2.4 was announced today, bringing Apple Intelligence (sort of) and some quality of life improvements to the Apple Vision Pro. visionOS 2.4 enters beta today and ships in April.
Apple Vision Pros
A much needed Guest User mode allows Apple Vision Pro owners to quickly demo the device to friends, neighbors, and people coming in off the street without the current lengthy and awkward setup. Guests can be quickly and easily locked out of specific apps and the owner can see/guide the user on their iPhone. This can be helpful not just for enthusiasts who want to show off their gadget cred to their friends, but also to speed user testing and executive reviews for spatial computing projects in the enterprise.
Apple Intelligence is coming! At one point it looked like the Apple Vision Pro might not support Apple's more advanced AI functionality given all the other things that its M2 processor is tasked with, but it turns out it was just farther down on the Apple Vision Pro team's to-do list.
There's a new Apple Vision Pro app for the iPhone that should greatly help with app and service discovery without having to wear the headset to do it. The app allows you to push apps directly to the Apple Vision Pro. This intended for Apple Vision Pro owners -- it will automatically be loaded on iPhones using the same Apple ID, but curious non-owners can download it manually from the App Store. Other XR platforms have long had similar capabilities and it can be really helpful.
There's a new Spatial Gallery app showcasing pictures and videos that Apple think look particularly cool on the Apple Vision Pro. This is probably the place you'll guide someone using Guest Mode.
Apple Vision Cons
The version of Apple Intelligence that is coming to visionOS 2.4 isn't all that impactful. The main additions are Writing Tools, Image Playground, and Genmoji; minor additions that should be useful or fun include Smart Reply in Messages and Mail, Create a Memory Movie in Photos, and Natural language search in Photos. However, none of these change the user experience on a sometimes-imprecise gesture-based platform like a super-charged genAI Siri could if that was included and given full control of the interface.
Additional languages are sure to follow, but even the limited version of Apple Intelligence shipping in visionOS 2.4 is initially arriving just in English.
App support for the Apple Vision Pro remains anemic, and while the new iOS app should help with discovery, this release isn't aimed at giving developers more reasons to invest in the platform on the tools/API side. It also doesn't change the use cases or value proposition for the Apple Vision Pro in a way that would supercharge sales and create a larger installed base for developers to target.
My biggest software gripes with the Apple Vision Pro remain unresolved: there still isn't a way to set up a virtual workspace and replicate it in different physical locations, there aren't any virtual window management tools to quickly snap apps into structured arrangements, and there still isn't universal Bluetooth mouse support.
Conclusion
The Apple Vision Pro remains the best spatial computing experience you can buy, but it is not right for all use cases. It is good to see Apple starting to pull Apple Intelligence onto the platform, as a voice and visually aware AI assistant can be even more useful on a headset than a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. We’re also seeing some improvements in the hardware, albeit from third-party strap makers like ResMed and ANNAPRO.
However, Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 2.4 remains expensive, uncomfortable for long use, and lacks a killer app. Meta Quest 3 is better for exercise and light gaming. Vehicle designers and fighter pilots in training will want Varjo. For comfortably watching hours of content without lugging a large case, XREAL’s The One Pro is the one. And Android XR is coming.
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