Apple Announces visionOS 2 With Ultra-Wide Mac Virtual Display, Travel Mode on Trains, and More

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced visionOS 2, the first major update to the Vision Pro's operating system. The first visionOS 2 beta is now available for Apple Developer Program members, and the update will be released to the public later this year.

visionOS 2 includes a range of new features and changes, such as a redesigned Photos app with SharePlay support, the ability to turn existing 2D photos into spatial photos with machine learning, new hand gestures for frequently used features like Home View and Control Center, a larger ultra-wide version of Mac Virtual Display that is equivalent to two 4K monitors side by side, and support for a physical mouse.

visionOS 2 also adds a basic feature that was missing on the Vision Pro at launch: the ability to rearrange apps and place them wherever you want.

Travel Mode gains support for trains on visionOS 2, while the Guest User option can now save a guest's eye and hand data for 30 days.

visionOS 2 includes new APIs and frameworks for developers of Vision Pro apps, such as HealthKit for health data and TabletopKit for tabletop games.

Apple's press release outlined some additional visionOS 2 features, such as AirPlay receiving mode and systemwide Live Captions:

- While in Safari, users can watch videos in an Environment, including on popular sites such as YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon. While scrolling through webpages, users can tap on panoramic photos and immerse themselves as the image wraps around them. Siri can also read and speak the content of a webpage while users multitask.
- The Apple TV app brings support for multiview to Apple Vision Pro for the ultimate sports-viewing experience. Later this year, fans will be able to watch up to five simultaneous streams so they can keep track of all their favorite sports and teams.
- To help users achieve calm and focus, the Mindfulness app includes a new capability called Follow Your Breathing that presents dynamic visual animations and sounds that respond to the user’s breathing patterns.
- Systemwide Live Captions help everyone — including users who are deaf or hard of hearing — follow along with spoken dialogue in live conversations and in audio from apps.
- Users can view content on their Vision Pro with AirPlay from their iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

Apple also announced that the Vision Pro will be launching in eight additional countries by mid-July, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, China, Japan, and Singapore. The headset first launched in the U.S. in February.

Article Link: Apple Announces visionOS 2 With Ultra-Wide Mac Virtual Display, Travel Mode on Trains, and More

 

[nfl46]

We’re getting another environment! Finallllly. Lol.

They didn’t talk about how some of the stock apps got updated. Lol.

 

[slimejester]

MOUSE SUPPORT

 

[chrono1081]

Can someone explain what they mean by “travel mode now supports train”? I’m not sure what travel mode would do on a plane that would be different than a train.

 

[Klae17]

$1999 model cant come soon enough.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

...with what cuts?

• 4K per eye?
• Less cameras?
• Included accessories sold separately?

The only way Apple goes dramatically cheaper is with dramatic feature & benefit cuts. So name the cuts to hit the huge discount desired. Else, I look forward to the (towards) half price iPhone, iPad and Macs too.

 

[jwdsail]

Apple today announced visionOS 2, with several new features and changes.

• SharePlay in the Photos app
• An ultra-wide and higher-resolution version of Mac Virtual Display is coming later this year
• New gestures will make it easier to open Control Center and more
• In addition to airplanes, Travel Mode will support trains
• Mouse support
• Many new frameworks and APIs will be available for Vision Pro app developers

Apple also announced that the Vision Pro will be launching in eight additional countries over the next month, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK, China, Japan, and Singapore.

Article Link: Apple Announces visionOS 2 With Improvements to Mac Virtual Display, Travel Mode, and More

So, still no QTVR?

It seems insane to me that we had interconnected panoramas with directional sound that could link to photos, narration, websites, other panos *20 years ago*, but now? Nothing?

Sigh.

I wish this thing had even one feature that interested me even a little bit.

Oh well, maybe AVP 2 running Vision OS 4 will seem worth while...

 

[Rychiar]

I wish we could just run Mac OS from it...its so silly that I have to use my weaker specced Mac mini to and stay in range to run Mac OS

 

[UltimateSyn]

Looks like it can act as an AirPlay Receiver now. That's neat. The ultra-wide Mac display feature looks awesome, too, but overall pretty sparse for a 2.0 release.

 

[damienDevZ]

I need this now!

 

[mark-in-mk]

Airplay receiver will be very welcome - So now I can enjoy full Atmos with a sub woofer. The final piece in the Vision Pro home cinema jigsaw.

 

[tyr2]

Can someone explain what they mean by “travel mode now supports train”? I’m not sure what travel mode would do on a plane that would be different than a train.

Travel mode didn't work properly on a train before because the moving landscape seen through the windows would confuse the positional tracking.

 

[brofkand]

...with what cuts?

• 4K per eye?
• Less cameras?
• Included accessories sold separately?

The only way Apple goes dramatically cheaper is with dramatic feature & benefit cuts. So name the cuts to hit the huge discount desired. Else, I look forward to the (towards) half price iPhone, iPad and Macs too.

Why do they have to cut anything?

 

[diddl14]

AirPlay receiver sounds cool. If the latency is decent, I can finally fly my drone from AVP.

 

[5097842]

Disappointing that Vision Pro wasn't mentioned during the Apple Intelligence part of the presentation. Maybe it's "coming to other platforms later".

 

[jimbobb24]

This is cool but I hope it has more than this. Probably the number 1 requested feature is something they showed off for the mac...control of your iPhone while using AVP. Or at least a way to unlock it with FaceID while using AVP.

Slowly onward but was hoping for more.

 

[brofkand]

Disappointing that Vision Pro wasn't mentioned during the Apple Intelligence part of the presentation. Maybe it's "coming to other platforms later".

Took them 6 months to figure out how to let a mouse pair to the vision pro, give them time.

 

[truthsteve]

trains?

in USA, Teslas are more energy efficient than trains. with the advent of robotaxis like from Waymo and others, it just makes sense to prioritize car travel mode over trains.

sorry, but that's just facts. Apple did an oopsie-oops.

 

[kylelerner]

They really dropped the ball here. So much potential with this thing.

With all of the LLMs/AI they announced, they could've made a "look at what you want to interact with" and have it perform an action - like, looking at your living room lights or its light switch, then "turn it off/on." Or, "what is this" while looking at a plant, and it would tell you.

Unimpressed.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Why do they have to cut anything?

To hit half price and lower targets that people keep posting... and preserve their big fat margin too. Else again, where's that half price or lower iPhone, Mac or iPad if it's that easy? I'm quite game for a new Mac at half price. If I can just call for a massive price reduction with nothing getting cut in features & benefits, bring it on.

 

[mercury895]

VisionOS really needs the iPhone mirroring ability. Also, it is strange that Apple Intelligence was not mentioned as supported by the Vision Pro.

 

[brofkand]

To hit half price and lower targets that people keep posting... and preserve their big fat margin too. Else again, where's that half price or lower iPhone, Mac or iPad if it's that easy? I'm quite game for a new Mac at half price. If I can just call for a massive price reduction with nothing getting cut in features & benefits, bring it on.

Apple cuts prices when they have to, to invigorate sales. That's why the 10th gen iPad just got a price cut - and why the original iPhone famously got a hefty price cut just a few months after it went on sale.

I don't care about their margins.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

OK great. But people are calling for $1999 and down. Most of the posts I've seen call for at least 50% off of the current price. Nothing I've EVER seen from Apple has been cut 50% or more while maintaining the same features & benefits... and is still "new", not used or refurbed.

And I don't care about their margins either... but THEY do. So we won't get a dramatic price cut by them opting out of dramatic margin. Best shot at lower pricing is USED, REFURBED and/or key suppliers like Sony figuring out a way to make 4K per eye lenses for a much lower price... maybe go plastic... maybe cut some cameras... maybe use a cheaper chip than M2, etc.

Those price points requested generally reference competition which has 1080p or lower lenses (thus much more BLUR) and generally other tradeoffs. I don't see an obvious way down to half price and lower without dramatic cuts of FABs. Else, those calling prices like that probably need to buy someone else's glasses/goggles... the same remedy of comparing PCs to Macs, Androids devices to iDevices, etc... where half price and lower is also available for computers, tablets and phones.

 

[diddl14]

So the only feature I was really waiting for won‘t be in the beta and maybe not even make it into the 2.0 release. Beyond disappointed!

 

[mark-in-mk]

trains?

in USA, Teslas are more energy efficient than trains. with the advent of robotaxis like from Waymo and others, it just makes sense to prioritize car travel mode over trains.

sorry, but that's just facts. Apple did an oopsie-oops.

How many people can you get in a Tesla ?