Apple announces visionOS 2 with 3D photo transformations and an ultrawide Mac display

Apple has announced visionOS 2, the second version of the Vision Pro’s operating system. When the update comes out in the fall, it will start to bring with it some much-needed changes, including what could be a much better virtual display experience, an updated homescreen and hand gestures, and new Photos app features.

First, Apple has some deeply needed improvements coming to the visionOS interface, like the ability, at long last, to rearrange apps on your homescreen — and that includes iPad and iPhone apps. Not only that, but there will be new gestures for summoning the homescreen, viewing Control Center, and even just checking your battery life or the time (using a very clever wrist roll that’s not dissimilar from looking at your watch). And if you have family or friends that you want to share the headset with, Apple says it will save guest users’ hand and eye data for 30 days. That should make it much easier to share the Vision Pro.

The most significant update, for all the productivity heads out there, is a new ultrawide virtual display feature. Apple says that in visionOS 2, you’ll be able to connect a Vision Pro to a Mac to generate a dual 4K-equivalent curved ultrawide display. Right now, the virtual display feature only does a single up to 5K one.

Also, the company will finally add mouse support to the Vision Pro — at launch, the headset could work with trackpads like the one on a MacBook Air or the standalone Magic Trackpad 2 but oddly left out mouse support. You can still use one inside a mirrored display in the Vision Pro, but not outside of that screen in, say, an iPad or Vision Pro app. And if you like working in a fully immersed space but you’re tired of pawing around to find your keyboard, I have great news: the company says the Vision Pro “will now reveal the user’s physical keyboard.”

Apple says that in the new update, users will be able to convert any image in the Photos app to a spatial one. The company also says it’s adding SharePlay to the visionOS Photos app, which means that you can share the app with another Vision Pro owner using Spatial Personas, a feature Apple introduced in April that puts the ghostly bust of your Vision Pro-having friends right in the room with you. It’s a surprisingly impressive feature that also lets you watch things or edit documents together in actual 3D space.

Apple also mentioned Bora Bora, a new environment — the virtual spaces you can dial in with the digital crown. There have been two environments listed as “coming soon” since the Vision Pro launched, so it’s good to have some indication of when we can expect more.

Apple also says it’s going to make it possible to watch web video players independent of the Safari browser. The company mentions YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon — notably, three companies that haven’t released native Vision Pro versions of their apps. It also announced that the Apple TV now supports up to five simultaneous streams in multiview — something sports fans will appreciate — and the ability to stream content via AirPlay from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

One of the coolest things about the Vision Pro are the “Apple Immersive” videos, but they’re so few and so short that some if not all of us probably blew through them on the first day of owning the headset. New content is still trickling out, but there’s more on the way: Red Bull is creating a new immersive sports series, while Apple says it’s making its first scripted immersive feature.

The company also trotted out a couple of other third-party announcements, including that Blackmagic Design is launching “the first-ever commercially available camera system” and an update to DaVinci Resolve Studio to support Immersive Video. Apple also said that Canon is releasing a new spatial lens for the EOS R7, one designed specifically for creating content for the Vision Pro.

Finally, the company is rolling out the Vision Pro abroad. Apple is going to start taking preorders in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore on June 13th at 6PM PT, and it’ll be available in those countries on June 28th. Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK will get preorders later, on June 28th at 5AM PT, with the headset officially available on July 12th.

As flashy as it is, the Vision Pro is very much still a first-generation product, but it’s clearly putting real work into improving things. Apple has pitched it as a productivity device and a tool for enterprise use. (The company loves to talk about how doctors are using it.) With a new curved virtual display, it’s starting to feel much closer to that.