Apple Vision Pro is arguably one of the most powerful pieces of consumer hardware Apple has ever built, but the expensive gadget is still struggling to connect consumers. And that’s a shame because the generational -leading Visionos 26 adds even more conspicuous features to the $ 3,500 headset that I think you would fight to find with any other mixed reality equipment.
Apple revealed the latest Vision Pro platform this week as part of its far-reaching WWDC 2025 Keynote, which also introduced a year-OS-name system. For some platforms like iOS had sprang from, for example, 18 to 26 not huge, but for Toddler Visionos 2 it was immediately thrown into adult age and revived Visionos 26.
This is not a reimagering of Visionos, and it is probably because its glass has been plenty spread across all other apple platforms in the form of liquid glass. However, it is an elaboration of its core properties, especially around spatial computing and images.
I had a chance to have an early practical experience with the platform, which is remarkable because Vision Pro owners will not see a Visionos 26 public beta. Which means that although iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV owners are testing us 26-platform updates on their favorite hardware, Vision Pro Owners will have a longer wait, may not see these improvements until autumn. In the meantime, developers naturally have access to testing.
Since much of the Vision Pro Visionos 26 -Interface has not changed from the current public OS, I will focus on the most interesting and effective updates.
See “me”
During the head speech, Apple showed up how Visiono’s 26 personas radically moves the modern technique forward by visually comparing a current persona with a new one. A Vision Pro Persona is a virtual, live, 3D reproduction of your head that tracks your movements, facial expressions and voice. It can be used to communicate with other people wearing the headgear and it is useful for calls and group activities.
Apple has gradually improved personas, but Visionos 26 is a noticeable jump and in more ways than one.
You still catch your persona using the front-facing 3D camera system. I removed my glasses and held the headset in front of my face. The system still guides you, but now the process seems more accurate. I followed the sound guide and then slowly up, down, left and right. I smiled and lifted my eyebrows. I could see a version of my face faintly on Vision Pro Front Display. It’s still a little creepy.
Then I put the headset back and waited less than a minute to generate my new persona. What I saw both distressed and blasted me away.
I was worried because I hate how I look without my glasses. I was blown away because it looked almost exactly like me, almost exclusively removing the disturbing “creepy valley” look of the previous iterations. If you ever wonder what it would be like to talk to yourself (except to stare at a mirror and have a twin) it is.
There was a bit of stiffness and yes, it fixed my teeth, even though part of my installation process included a big smile.
It was easy enough to fix the glasses. Personas interface allows you to choose glasses, and now the choice is far wider and with more shades. I quickly found something that looked almost like mine.
With that, I had my digital Doppelganger who asked my expressions and voice. I turned my head from side to side and was impressed to see how far the illusion went.
Facing the wall
One of the most exciting moments in WWDC headtales was when they demonstrated Visionos 26’s new widget capabilities.
Widgets are a well -known feature of iPhones, iPads and Macs, and to some extent they work similarly on Vision Pro, but the spatial environment takes or at least puts them in new and unexpected places.
In my Visiono’s 26 -Demo experience, I turned to an empty wall and then used the new widget setup to pin an urwidget to the wall. It looked like an actual watch hanging on the wall, and with a flip of a setting I made it look like it was inserted into the wall. It looked real.
On another wall I found a music widget with Lady Gaga on it. As I stepped closer, a play button appeared in the virtual poster. Of course I played a little Abracadabra.
Another wall had several widgets, including one that looked like a window for mounting Fiji; It was actually a deepening photo. I instinctively moved rather than “looking out” the window. When Vista spread in front of me, the Vision Pro warned me that I was getting too close to an object (the wall).
I like widgets, but tempered the tension with the realization that I will be unlikely that I will go from room to room while I carry Vision Pro. On the other hand, it would be nice to practically re -organized my home office.
The key to Vision Pro’s tool is to make its spatial abilities useful across all aspects of information and interaction.
Visionos 26 does it on the web with spatial browsing, which can basically transform any side into a floating wall of text and spatially improved photos called spatial scenes.
Visionos 26 handles the last bit on the go and it is tied to what the platform can do for any 2D photo. It uses AI to create computer depth out of information it can download from your flat image. It works with virtually any photo from any source where the only limitation is the original resolution of the source image. If the solution is too low, it does not work.
I wondered how, when you stared at one of these converted photos, you could see details behind a topic or, say, an outcropping of rock that wasn’t caught in the original image but is inexplicably there.
It’s such a cool effect and I’m sure Vision Pro owners will show friends how they can turn almost all their photos into stereoscopic images.
Space time
I love Vision Pro’s excellent mixed reality capabilities, but there is nothing like the fully immersive experience. One of the best examples of it is the environments you enable by rotating the crown until the real world is replaced by a 360-degree environment.
Visionos 26 adds what might be the best environment yet: a view of Jupiter from one of its moons, Amalthea. It’s beautiful, but the best part of the new environment is the control that allows you to roll back and forth over time to see sunrises and sunsets, the planet’s rotation and Jupiter’s dramatic storms.
This is a place I would like to hang out.
Of course, this is still a developer’s beta and subject to significant change before the final version arrives later in the year. It is also another good showcase for a powerful headset in mixed reality that many consumers have not yet tried. Maybe Visiono’s 26 game switch is.
