My new prescription lenses for Apple Vision Pro arrived via UPS late Monday afternoon. finally You can set up the AVP and download apps from the App Store (mostly education and workplace-related apps, since I’m not a gamer and this isn’t a gaming headset). After using it for a week, here are some initial impressions of the device (and from the perspective of someone who plans to use it as a productivity tool at work and media consumption at home). Since I’m a social VR blogger, I’ll also throw in some thoughts on potential applications for the AVP and the metaverse.
But before that, I wanted to share with you what happened when I went to my local Apple Store to pick up my Apple Vision Pro on July 12, 2024. As part of the process, they scanned my glasses and fitted me with a demo device with the appropriate prescription lenses. So I was able to do an hour-long walkthrough with a store associate who monitored what I could see on the AVP on a small iPad (Look at the image on the right) My first reaction when I received the demo device at the Apple Store in Polo Park was: Wow, it’s really small! It’s a surprisingly compact device. Compared to all the other VR headsets I’ve worn, it sits higher on my cheek, which takes some getting used to at first (Apple Vision Pro automatically determines the correct pupillary distance/IPD and lets you know if you need to adjust the headset up or down to get the best view).
Apple Vision Pro has only two buttons. The first button is in the upper right corner, and it brings up the App/People/Environment menu, which lets you adjust how much of the environment is visible.More details on this are given below.), and the second button on the top left is used to start recording a 3D video or take a 3D picture of what you see (plus a double-click to see all the items you’ve purchased on the device. It then scans your retina to confirm it’s you). That’s it. Just two buttons! The rest of the navigation is done with gaze fixation and hand gestures. App icons light up subtly when you look at them. Then you tap your index finger and thumb together to select and open the app. It’s simple and intuitive, but I’ve found that my 60-year-old eyes tend to wander a little, so I still made a few mistakes in the first week. I think I’ll become a seasoned navigation pro over time!
Apple Vision Pro has something called an environment, which is a high-quality 360-degree virtual space that you can use as a background for other activities in the headset. Or you can just stop and take in the scenery. I personally think this is the hidden killer app for AVP! In a message I shared with my friends on Second Life, I said:
As I mentioned earlier, I bought my first VR headset (Oculus Rift) in 2017, and since then I’ve used several VR headsets including the Valve Index, Vive Pro 2, Meta Quest, Meta Quest 2, and Meta Quest 3. In fact, I’m currently working on a project to create a VR/AR lab for faculty, staff, and students in my university’s library system that they can use to teach, learn, and research…
Apple Vision Pro makes every VR headset I’ve ever used feel like the red plastic View-Masters I played with as a kid in the 1960s. The “screen door” effect that was so noticeable in previous VR headsets (where you could see individual pixels, making everything look slightly blurry) is completely, completely gone.
I sat on the shore of Mount Hood, surrounded by forests, listening to the rain gently falling on the lake. I watched the rain create small ripples in the water and the clouds gently drift over the mountains.
It felt real.
I was there.
I almost started crying.
The following YouTube video, made by another AVP user, shows how this works, and takes you through two environments: a bird’s-eye view of Haleakala volcano in Hawaii and a winter landscape in Yosemite National Park in California.
This video also shows you how to adjust the environment you choose. As I said when I showed the device to some of my coworkers, “Look at this knob on the top right of the Apple Vision Pro. If you turn this knob all the way clockwise, you’re rejecting your reality and replacing it with another reality.” Likewise, if you turn the same knob all the way counterclockwise, the environment disappears and you can see everything around you. You can work on your email or spreadsheet while being completely surrounded by Yosemite peaks, if you want!
There are only 7 environments available in AVP right now, but you can choose between day and night for each environment, so there are actually 14 environments (there are also 4 “moods” that overlay the actual environments with color and background sounds). I re-subscribed to Disney+ last night and watched the first 30 minutes of the 3D movie. hope Sitting atop Haleakala, under a full moon and star-filled sky, on a giant theater-quality screen. (Disney+’s 3D content offering is still small, but it’s still early days, and there’s no doubt more is in the pipeline from the Disney complex!)
But I bought the Apple Vision Pro for more than just watching movies and TV shows. I plan on using it at work! Just take the glasses off, put them on, look at my MacBook Pro, and it automatically asks if I want to connect! When connected, a large, beautiful screen floats above my MacBook Pro, and I can position and resize it as I like. The screen is very sharp, and the text is clear and easy to read. I think I will be able to easily transition from dual desktop monitors to the Apple Vision Pro!
But Apple Vision Pro already has social VR. There is a promising program called InSpaze that I have already downloaded and installed on my device. It allows you to meet and interact with other AVP users (I have written about this on my blog before). Here is a 15-minute YouTube video that I shared in a previous blog post. It explains what InSpaze is and how it works.
As part of the setup process for the Apple Vision Pro, you take off the headset, hold it up to your face like a camera, and record yourself moving side to side, up and down, smiling with your mouth closed or open, raising your eyebrows, etc. These scans are then used to create a very realistic virtual representation of your head, and I can immediately put on a pair of virtual glasses to make it look more like me in real life! This representation is called a persona, and you can use it in places like Microsoft Teams and InSpaze!
But I was scared before I even entered the first InSpaze room. Why? Well, as you know, I’ve been to many social VR experiences over the years, and I’ve written about them extensively on this blog. My blog’s tagline is “News and views on social VR, virtual worlds, and the metaverse,” right? 😉 But in all my experiences so far, I’ve always been hiding behind some kind of avatar.. Even if I styled my avatar to look like myself (e.g. in Meta Quest 3), it was a very stylized cartoon version of me. InSpaze has the option to choose a cartoon avatar, but it feels a bit cheating when you already have a very realistic head and shoulders persona to use. That said, I was hesitant to enter my first InSpaze room because I’m not used to sharing my real 60-year-old face with other people in social VR! (You’ll get there eventually. You don’t want to miss the experience!)
In short, the Apple Vision Pro is magical, and I am particularly impressed by how sharp, clear, and clean the visuals on the device are. It’s so good that it’s easy to forget it’s not real! It feels like an early preview of the future, and I’m particularly excited about the metaverse possibilities. In a message to my Second Life friends, I said:
F#$%ing Amazing technology. If you live near an Apple Store, I highly recommend stopping by and trying it out for yourself. It’s super expensive, but I think it’s worth every penny.
I just got a glimpse into the future, and let me tell you, it’s going to be exciting! Ready Player One is coming out sooner than you think (both good and bad, in my opinion).
But instead of staring at a flat screen and wanting to live as if you were in it, like an avatar, what if you could put on a headset and be somewhere as if it were real? Magic What we sometimes experience in Second Life—the people and companies that (successfully) make that magic happen in this new world will become rich. Mark my words.
This is just a first impressions blog post, a sort of mini-review. I will no doubt be writing more about this amazing device in the coming weeks. I will also be working with the sales department at my local Apple Store to see if they can add the Apple Vision Pro to the VR/AR headsets we are currently providing for our virtual reality lab project for our university library system. I hope as many faculty, staff, and students as possible will get a taste of the Apple Vision Pro and think about how we can use this technology to further our teaching, learning, and research!
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