At this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), while updates to iPhone and iPad grabbed headlines, Apple quietly unveiled significant improvements for VisionOS, its spatial computing operating system. The upcoming VisionOS 26 update brings changes designed to make the Apple Vision Pro more useful, intuitive, and collaborative, setting the stage for broader adoption and exciting new experiences. Here’s a look at the key highlights and why they matter.
Contents
Spatial Widgets Fundamentally Improve How You Organize Your Space
Imagine sticky notes or dashboards that stay exactly where you leave them in your physical room, even after you leave and come back. That’s essentially what Spatial Widgets do in VisionOS 26. Unlike standard app windows, these widgets are persistent elements you can anchor in your spatial environment.
This seemingly small change has a huge impact on usability. You can now truly customize your space, keeping important information or controls always visible, whether it’s a weather widget floating outside a virtual window or a task list pinned next to your workspace. This personalization makes the environment feel more like your own and opens the door for developers to create unique, always-available app experiences.
Personas Get a Major Quality Boost
Personas are Apple’s digital avatars, designed to represent you realistically during video calls or collaborative sessions while you’re wearing the Vision Pro headset. The initial version had some room for improvement, but VisionOS 26 brings a significant leap forward.
Apple has upgraded Personas to be nearly photorealistic. This next generation aims to move past the “uncanny valley,” making your digital double feel much more like the real you. Seeing Apple executives like marketing chief Greg Joswiak sharing their own updated Personas publicly suggests a new level of confidence in this technology. For anyone using Vision Pro for remote work or social interaction, this means a more natural and present feeling connection.
Serious About Gaming and Content Creation with New Controller Support
Good news for gamers and creators: VisionOS 26 is adding support for more external controllers. This includes the PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers and the new Logitech Muse spatial stylus.
The addition of PSVR2 controller support is particularly interesting for gaming. While Vision Pro excels at hand tracking, many traditional games require physical controllers for movement and action. Supporting these popular controllers means developers can potentially bring a wider variety of games to VisionOS. For creative users, the Logitech Muse provides a dedicated tool for drawing and precise interaction within spatial apps. If you already own a PSVR2, you might finally have a new way to use those controllers!
Unlock New Spatial Content Experiences
VisionOS already had a cool feature that could turn regular 2D photos into spatial, 3D versions. VisionOS 26 builds on this with “spatial scenes.” This new feature takes the 3D conversion even further, creating immersive scenes that capture multiple perspectives, making photos and videos feel more real and interactive.
Apple is also making it easier to bring existing spatial content into the Vision Pro. The update adds support for wider fields of view (180-degree and 360-degree) from popular cameras like GoPro, Insta360, and Canon. This means your existing panoramic photos or 360 videos shot on these devices will look even better and be easier to view, helping address the need for more spatial content on the platform.
Boosting Privacy and Collaboration for Work
For businesses and professionals using Vision Pro, VisionOS 26 includes important enterprise features. This includes enhanced privacy options like an “eyes only” mode for sensitive content.
Crucially, the update also improves spatial sharing and collaboration. Users can finally easily share spatial content and experiences with others, whether it’s collaborating on a 3D design project or watching a 3D movie together remotely. Integration with FaceTime allows remote team members to join spatial collaboration sessions, making Vision Pro a more viable tool for distributed teams.
Person wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset, interacting with floating apps in a spatial computing environment.
Seamlessly Connect Your Mac and iPhone
One of the most welcome quality-of-life improvements in VisionOS 26 is better integration with your other Apple devices. You can finally unlock your iPhone while wearing the Vision Pro, even in fully immersive environments – a big fix for a common frustration.
Taking phone calls is also simpler, with calls now able to come directly through the headset, eliminating the need to take it off. The update also enhances the ability to stream apps from your Mac with spatial rendering. This could pave the way for more Mac applications, potentially including games (especially with Steam now supported natively on Apple Silicon Macs), to feel more integrated into the Vision Pro experience.
These updates show Apple’s continued commitment to the VisionOS platform. While the Vision Pro headset is still relatively new and has areas for improvement, the software is rapidly evolving. VisionOS 26 delivers crucial features that improve usability, enhance content, and deepen integration with the Apple ecosystem, bringing spatial computing closer to being a seamless part of our digital lives.
