I had surgery this summer, and throughout the recovery, I routinely used two gadgets: Meta’s Ray-Bans for easy calls and music listening, and Apple’s Vision Pro to escape into movies. For the latter, I used a developer version of VisionOS 2 with features now available for anyone to use on the mixed-reality headset. Those who have one will appreciate a few subtle changes that make using it a bit more interesting. I say “a bit” because the Vision Pro is still, while advanced, a limited headset in how much it can do.
VisionOS 2’s use of new hand gestures is fantastic
Apple assumes you’ll do everything on Vison Pro with your eyes and hands. And its onboard eye- and hand tracking are so good, that’s mostly true. The latest OS also adds dashboard interfaces that appear directly over your hands, making them feel like pop-up dashboards. Meta has had this for years on its Quest headset, but Apple’s riff on the features feels remarkably fluid and fast.
Turning my hand up brings up a floating circle icon and opens the grid of apps when I tap my fingers. It’s faster and easier than pressing the Digital Crown button on the top of the Vision Pro, which I used to do.
See, there’s my pop-up clock with volume and control widgets.
Turning my hand over again brings up a control center widget that I like even more. This replaces the odd floating dot found at the top of the headset’s display (and still appears from time to time). Getting rid of it means no more weird interruptions to my field of view. The widget also shows the time, like a clock. The “what time is it?” concerns in the Vision Pro are instantly solved.
The widget also shows battery life, volume level and Wi-Fi connection. Tapping my fingers brings up a submenu for other control settings, like connecting to my Mac as a virtual display or checking notifications. Tapping, holding and dragging adjusts volume, saving me another Digital Crown reach-up move.
It’s so good and so simple that I want more. I want to control all of Vision Pro through simple subgestures in this mode, avoiding hunting through bigger grids of apps and menus. It could happen — and should happen.
That’s my YouTube video floating over the beach: Safari videos can embed into environments now.
Safari is better for videos and WebXR
Apple now launches WebXR immersive experiences without going into settings (finally), so you could launch a VR experience on the web without needing a dedicated Vision Pro app. Videos play back in immersive environments, too, which makes Netflix, YouTube and other app-free video services feel more like apps on Vision Pro. It’s stuff I’ve wanted from the beginning. Is it a game changer? No, but it’s welcome.
Meditation now tracks your breath
A small quirky bonus I noticed during a mindfulness meditation in-headset (something I like doing every week or so) is it recognizes my inhaling and exhaling and matches the animations to my breaths. Apple hasn’t pursued any other health and fitness avenues with its mixed-reality spatial computer (yet), but this little tweak makes me wonder how much more the Vision Pro could be tuned to be aware of movements, posture and other health-related things.
