Apple Vision Pro is undoubtedly one of the most powerful pieces of consumption equipment that Apple has ever built, but the expensive gadget is still struggling to connect with consumers. And it’s a shame because the Generational-Leing Visionos 26 adds even more breathtaking features with a $ 3,500 helmet, that I think you would have trouble finding with any other mixed reality equipment.
Apple unveiled the latest Vision Pro platform this week as part of its large Keynote WWDC 2025, which also introduced a name for the NO year. For certain platforms like iOS, the jump of, let’s say, 18 to 26 was not huge, but for the toddler Visionos 2, it was instantly pushed to adulthood and rewritten Visionos 26.
It is not a groove of visionos, and it is probably because his telescope has spread over all other apple platforms in the form of liquid glass. However, this is a deepening of its main attributes, in particular around space IT and imaging.
I had the chance to obtain an early practical experience with the platform, which is notable because the owners of pro vision will not see a public beta Visionos 26. This means that if the owners of iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV are updates of the PS 26 Driving Platform on their favorite equipment, the professional vision owners will have a longer wait, perhaps not seeing these improvements before fall. In the meantime, the developers will, of course, have access to tests.
Given a large part of the Vision Pro Visionos 26 interface has not changed compared to the current public operating system, I will focus on the most interesting and hard -hitting updates.
See “Me”
During the speech, Apple showed how Visionos 26 Personas radically advanced the state of the art by visually comparing a current character with a new one. A professional vision is a virtual and live 3D rendering from your head following your movements, your facial expressions and your voice. It can be used to communicate with other people bearing the headgear, and it is useful for group calls and activities.
Apple has gradually improved the characters, but Visionos 26 is a notable jump, and in more than one way.
You always capture your character using the front 3D camera system. I removed my glasses and held the helmet in front of my face. The system still guides you, but now the process seems more precise. I followed the audio advice and looked at slowly, bottom, left and right. I smiled and raised my eyebrows. I could see a version of my face weakly on the display before Vision Pro. It is still a little frightening.
I then put back the helmet and waited less than a minute for it to generate my new character. What I saw both in distress and blown away.
I was in distress because I hate my appearance without my glasses. I was breathtaking because it looked almost exactly like me, almost entirely removing the disturbing “Uncanny Valley” look of previous iterations. If you are ever wondering what it would be to talk to you (apart from looking at a mirror and having a twin), that’s all.
There was a little stiffness and, yes, it repaired my teeth even if part of my configuration process included a big smile.
It was quite easy to repair the glasses. The Personas interface allows you to choose glasses, and now the selection is much wider and with more nuances. I quickly found something that looked almost like mine.
With that, I had my digital double that followed my expressions and my voice. I turned my head from one side to the other and I was impressed to see how far the illusion was going.
Wallpaper
One of the most intriguing moments in Keynote WWDC was when they have demonstrated the new capabilities of Visionos 26 Widget.
Widgets are a familiar functionality on iPhones, iPads and Macs, and, to a certain extent, they operate in a similar way on Vision Pro, but the space environment takes or at least put them in new and unexpected places.
In my experience of demonstration visionos 26, I turned to an empty wall, then I used the new configuration of the widget to pin a clock widget on the wall. He looked like a real clock hanging on the wall, and with a reversal of a parameter, I gave him the impression that he was inserted into the wall. It looked real.
On another wall, I found a musical widget with Lady Gaga on it. As I got closer, a reading button appeared in the virtual poster. Of course, I played a little Abracadabra.
Another wall had several widgets, one of which looked like a window to mount Fiji; It was actually an immersive photo. I instinctively advanced to “look outside” the window. While the Vista spread before me, the pro vision warned me that I was too close to an object (the wall).
I like widgets, but I have an excitement with the awareness that it is unlikely that I walk from room to room while wearing vision pro. On the other hand, it would be good to practically redecorate my home office.
The key to the utility of vision pro is to make its spatial capacities useful for all aspects of information and interaction.
Visionos 26 does this for the web with space navigation, which can essentially transform any page into a floating text of text and photos improved spatially called space scenes.
Visionos 26 manages the last bit on the fly, and it is linked to what the platform can do for any 2D photo. He uses AI to create a calculation depth out of the information that he can glean from your flat image. This will work with practically any photo of any source, the only limitation being the original image resolution of the source image. If the resolution is too low, it will not work.
I am amazed to know how, looking at one of these converted photos, you could see details behind a subject or, let’s say, a rock outcrop that was not captured in the original image but which is inexplicably there.
It is such a cool effect, and I am sure that professional vision owners will want to show friends how they can transform almost all their photos into stereoscopic images.
Space time
I love the excellent capacities of mixed reality of vision pro, but there is nothing like the entirely immersive experience. One of the best examples of this is the environments you allow by turning the crown until the real world is replaced by a 360 degree environment.
Visionos 26 adds what can be the best environment to date: a view of Jupiter from one of his moons, Amalthea. It’s beautiful, but the best part of the new environment is control that allows you to scroll back and forth in time to look at the sunrise and sunsets, the rotation of the planet and the dramatic storms of Jupiter.
It is a place that I would like to spend time.
Of course, it is always a beta version of a developer and subject to a significant change before the arrival of the final version later this year. It is also another large showcase for a powerful mixed reality headset that many consumers have not yet tried. Maybe Visionos 26 will change the situation.
