Vision Pro

After years of rumors, Apple has finally joined the AR/VR headset market with Vision Pro – which immediately gained the spotlight due to its super advanced hardware and $3,499 price tag. We’ve already seen many reviews of Apple Vision Pro, but now Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has decided to share his thoughts on the product, and he argues that Meta Quest 3 is better than Apple Vision Pro “for the vast majority of things.”

Apple is rolling out the second developer beta of visionOS 1.1, one week after the first beta was released. As we covered last week, visionOS 1.1 offers improvements to Personas, MDM support, and more.

Following this month’s release of Apple Vision Pro, Apple has shared an in-depth overview on how Vision Pro and visionOS protect your data. The new “Apple Vision Pro Privacy Overview” covers things like Optic ID, cameras and your surroundings, Persona, EyeSight, and more.

Apple has released visionOS 1.0.3 for Apple Vision Pro. The latest software update is the first to be released since the headset hit stores on February 2.

I’ve written before about how CardPointers is one of my favorite apps, making it super easy to maximize credit card rewards, offers, promotions, and more. Now, CardPointers is available on Vision Pro, with a very clever AutoPilot feature.

CardPointers is also celebrating its 5th birthday this week with a 50% discount and $100 Savings Card bonus for 9to5Mac readers.

There are a lot of excellent Vision Pro apps already available, and early data shows that the App Store for visionOS is bucking a long-running trend. According to new data from Appfigures, cited by TechCrunch, the majority of Vision Pro apps are paid downloads, rather than being free to download with in-app purchases.

The average selling price of Vision Pro apps is $5.67, according to Appfgures.

There’s been no shortage of Vision Pro stunts since the device was launched, like fake traffic stops. Celebrities have also been having fun with the facial spatial computer, including T-Pain, Diplo, and Casey Neistat.

But while this may all seem just some random silliness, one analyst suggests that this type of coverage is helping to normalise the device – something that never happened with Google Glass …

Buying any first-gen Apple product has always been associated with a certain degree of bravery, whether that’s because of the inevitable bugs and shortcomings of any venture into a new product category, or because of the risk of buyer’s remorse when the second iteration is so much better.

Many consider Vision Pro could be the ultimate example of this, and a report over the weekend says that some members of the Apple team responsible for the product think that only the 4th-gen model will really deliver what they set out to achieve …

As part of the first visionOS 1.1 beta, Apple added MDM – or mobile device management – support for Vision Pro. In an interview with TechCrunch, the company once again reiterated how it thinks Vision Pro can play an essential role in the business and enterprise world.

Vision Pro’s EyeSight feature is something Apple has stressed as a key product differentiator over rival headsets, and as a way of solving the isolation problem when using this kind of tech.

But comparing a range of real-life examples with Apple’s promo images leads one reviewer to conclude that it doesn’t really work …

The excellent accessory makers at WaterField out of San Francisco are back with a plush and padded travel case for Apple Vision Pro. Vision Pro Shield Case is half the size and a fraction of the cost of Apple’s travel case. It also features an exterior zipped pocket unlike other Vision Pro bags we’ve seen so far.

The first Apple Vision Pro reviews arrived last week on January 30 ahead of the February 2 product launch. A week and change later, tech journalists have had even more time to spend with Apple Vision Pro. My new favorite review is from Raymond Wong at Inverse. He spares no words when evaluating Apple Vision Pro, including as a spatial computer.

When the Apple Watch launched in 2015, Apple gifted artists like Beyonce and Katy Perry with real gold versions as a marketing campaign. No celebrity endorsement competes with this (seemingly organic and slightly NSFW) take from Mr. Buy U a Drank himself, T-Pain, however.

A test of using Lightroom on Vision Pro found that the controls were easy and intuitive, but it did require a somewhat slower pace than working on a Mac.

Also, being based on the iPad app, the Vision Pro version of Lightroom doesn’t support all the features of the Mac app – and has one rather odd omission …

Leitmotif, the team behind Kaleidoscope and Versions for Mac, is out with a brand new photo management tool. Photoscope just launched on both iPhone and Apple Vision Pro (possibly a first for that combo with a new app). The pitch is that it can help you clean up your massive photo library and rediscover your best shots. And to start, t’s completely free with no in-app purchases or subscriptions.

Plex is joining the likes of Netflix and not currently developing a Vision Pro app. In a post on Reddit, a Plex employee confirmed: “There is currently no Plex app in development for the Apple Vision Pro.”

Perhaps the primary question to be answered regarding Apple’s new spatial computer is: What is it for? And the bigger version of that question: Is Vision Pro a first step toward the future of computing?

Right now, in a world where relatively few people have even tried it, and even fewer of them have bought it, it’s clear that there’s nothing remotely approaching a consensus. Answers range from “Of course not, it’ll just be a short-lived gimmick” to “Absolutely, this will replace our Macs” …

After sharing an initial video over the weekend, iFixit is back with part two of their Apple Vision Pro teardown. This time around, the focus in on the Vision Pro’s dual 4K screens, and iFixit questions whether the display are actually 4K resolution.

Last week, Apple released its first new accessory for the Vision Pro since its launch, a $299 Apple Vision Pro Developer Strap only available for registered Apple Developers. Although Apple notes clearly on the back of the box that it’s not for resale and only intended for developers, anyone who coughs up $299, plus the yearly $99 fee to become a registered Apple Developer, can get their hands on this accessory.

The Apple Vision Pro Developer strap replaces the device’s right Audio Strap. It arrives in a small box that resembles an Apple Watch box, and includes the Developer Strap, over-designed eject tool, and documentation. The Developer Strap has several noticeable differences compared to the right Audio Strap that it replaces. The most obvious difference is the addition of a USB-C input that allows you to connect Apple Vision Pro directly to your Mac. Let’s take a closer look at the Apple Vision Developer Strap inside.

The first beta of visionOS 1.1 doesn’t include many changes, but there is an update to app placement that appears to be somewhat notable. Here’s what to expect.

One of the most popular features for Vision Pro is the ability for it to serve as an external display for your Mac. Here’s how this feature works and how to enable it on your Apple Vision Pro.