source: Apple showing the beta and Persona 1.0 (left)

visionOS 26 - release

It’s been a minute since WWDC25 where we learned that visionOS design leads the way to Apple’s platforms, with the introduction of Liquid Glass. The UI metaphors we’ve been dealing with for the past 18 months are available on your iOS, watchOS and tvOS devices; round buttons, transparency, and glassy surfaces.

Now that visionOS is released you can try all of the new features. Here are some on my faves.

Super Realistic Personas. I've been using Persona beta since visionOS 1.0. Joining meetings with my Vision Pro is my favourite way to attend. I can be anywhere in my home and no one is the wiser. Personas are now fully out of beta, and are the closest representation of your face and expressions. On a spatial FaceTime call Personas are amazing.

Spatial Widgets. We now have access to app Widgets on vision OS 26 that persist in spaces. I have a battery widget and a clock widget pinned to my kitchen wall. I also have a second battery widget and a second clock widget in my office. I can quickly glance at the wall to see the values, and with visionOS' amazing occlusion, the widgets only appear when I'm in the room. Step Into Vision has a great tutorial on building spatial widgets - Widgets – Getting started with visionOS Widgets – Step Into Vision

Re-open Apps on resume. Early versions of visionOS were a bit annoying because apps and windows would be reset on subsequent launches. For example, if you don't use your Vision Pro in 24 or so hours the device would shutdown. As a result you had to reopen your apps and reposition your windows. In visionOS 26, apps re-open and windows are where you left them. You can disable this behaviour in settings if you like. It's now very convenient to resume your work.

Eye Scrolling views. Initially a little strange and awkward, is the new scrolling lists/views with your eyes, just by glancing at the edge of the window. In native visionOS apps, both hands are free as you scroll through collections or web browsers.

Spatial Scenes from 2D photos. This may be my favourite feature. I take a lot of spatial photos on my iPhone 17 Pro. However you can convert a 2D photo on your iPhone or Vision Pro with the respective versions 26. On your iPhone, giggle your device to see the 3D effect. On Vision Pro you can view the images in the Photos app. I was recently at Stonehenge in the UK, where I captured the site with 2D and Spatial photos and movies. I converted one of the 2D photos and was astounded that it appeared to me more spatial than an actual spatial capture. (That may be due the the different apertures on the iPhone 16 Pro camera lenses.)

Among the other new features are 90Hz Hand Tracking, PSVR Controller support, Logitec Muse Spatial Stylus, Volumetric Spatial Scenes, more 180° and 360° video support, and Safari's Spatial Browsing.

Shared Visions - the movie

The folks over at Step Into Vision are coordinating a video made for and about users of the Vision Pro. It's for developers, animators, 3D artists, power Vision Pro users, spatial meeting attendees, and general users who kick back and consume TV, movies and 3D entertainment. Check out the link to find out more to participate.

Read the blog post.
Sign up to participate in the Shared Visions Project

Step Into Vision Office Hours

Step Into Visions also hosts Office Hours, where Vision Pro developers and creators can get together and discuss working on projects and apps. There are currently a couple of weekly sessions, and a Discord channel.

Every Wednesday at 11:00 AM CET/CEST (Europe)
Hosted by: Roxana Monica Nagy and Cristian Díaz

Every Friday at 2:00 PM EDT/EST (North & South America)
Hosted by: Joseph Simpson

Step Into Vision has also started a newsletter.
See the links below for more interesting labs from Step Into Vision

The Green Spurt On the App Store

In the latest instalment of the More Than Just Podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Roxana Monica Nagy and Cristian Díaz about their upcoming escape room game for Vision Pro. The app is now on the App Store.

They built the app with TableTopKit and I've been playing it throughout its development. The video and audio versions of the interview are on Youtube or your favourite podcatcher.

Episode 388 - Roxana Monica Nagy & Cristian Díaz, The Green Spurt.

MotoGP Tour De Force

Canal+ has released MotoGP Tour De Force, which follows Johann Zarco as he prepares for the French MotoGP™ Grand Prix race. This Apple Immersive video is a must see. You'll get to experience the thrill and sense of speed of the amazing sport as the motor cyclists zoom around the circuit at 190 miles an hour. That's 304 kilometres per hour for those of you driving at home.

MotoGP Tour De Force

Two More Things...

Meta(amaze)balls

I almost forgot to mention Metaballs. Gregory Weiner, creator of Vibescape, has released Metaballs and its amazeballs! It's a hands on modelling tool that takes advantage of the new hand controls in visionOS 26. The latest update lets you export USDZ and STL formats, so you can use in apps or 3D print your models.