Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Vision Pro Content Can Be Mirrored to Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV Using AirPlay

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,547
37,904


Content that is displayed on the Apple Vision Pro display can be mirrored to an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, or AirPlay-compatible smart TV using AirPlay, Apple confirmed today.

vision-pro-macbook.jpg

Apple's technical specifications page for the Vision Pro says that what's on your Vision Pro can be mirrored to any AirPlay-enabled device at up to 720p, which will allow you to show people what you're seeing on your headset.

iPhones and iPads were updated with the ability to receive content from the Vision Pro in iOS 17.2 and iPadOS 17.2, and to use the feature, the AirPlay Receiver toggle must be turned on under General > AirPlay & Handoff.

While the Vision Pro's display can be mirrored to an AirPlay device, the headset can also serve as a display for a Mac. With the Mac Virtual Display feature, AirPlay 2 connects the Vision Pro wirelessly to a Mac, and a virtual representation of the Mac's display can be placed anywhere in space. Used this way, the Vision Pro essentially serves as an enormous, portable 4K display, according to Apple.

Note: Apple's specifications page previously said that content could be AirPlayed at 1080p, but later updated it to say 720p.

Article Link: Vision Pro Content Can Be Mirrored to Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV Using AirPlay
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/19/vision-pro-airplay-content/
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: SFjohn
jimbobb24 said:
I was just trying to post this....this is interesting detail. You can see what the user is seeing making it possible to watch something "together".

Side note: apple has not ported numbers, pages, iMovie, etc to Vision OS. So not going to be too critical of Netflix or Youtube.
Click to expand...
So..kind of, though I feel it would be awkward because they would see things based on how your head is moving/tilted/turning.

My guess is if you want to watch something together, use SharePlay...it seems like it was designed for this, but no idea if it can sync up if you are in the same room (one person watching VP, other person watching Apple TV)
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimbobb24
jclardy said:
So..kind of, though I feel it would be awkward because they would see things based on how your head is moving/tilted/turning.

My guess is if you want to watch something together, use SharePlay...it seems like it was designed for this, but no idea if it can sync up if you are in the same room (one person watching VP, other person watching Apple TV)
Click to expand...
With iPhone you can mirror the entire screen or just Airplay specific video/audio, so I imagine you have the choice of mirroring the user’s entire POV or just Airplaying specific videos. But not sure if there’s a way to AirPlay a specific photo. Or you can probably just choose to airplay an entire single window, which wouldn’t move around.

But yeah I don’t think this is a way to watch anything longer than a short clip together. SharePlay would be better, but I’ve never needed to SharePlay with someone in the same room. Would probably just take off the VP and watch on the same screen at that point.
 
My Oculus does the same (albeit wired) and it can be useful for demo purposes I suppose. I'm not sure how compelling or interesting this would be for most use cases, however. VR is a personal vs. a shared experience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Shanghaichica and Surf Monkey
kagharaht said:
So two VP users can watch the same movie?
Click to expand...
I’m sure they can but probably don’t want to use Airplay for that. Apple hasn’t shown any multi-VP applications yet that I know of, but I’d bet they have some useful things up their sleeves. At minimum I’m sure you can share a window to collaborate or watch a movie together. Maybe 3D experiences can be shared too.
 
klasma said:
But you can’t mirror to other Vision Pros? That could have had a lot of interesting applications.
Click to expand...
That could be very interesting. Probably even more interesting applications streaming over internet though. Hopefully you can do both. Won’t be great for the queasy though haha.
 
CalMin said:
My Oculus does the same (albeit wired) and it can be useful for demo purposes I suppose. I'm not sure how compelling or interesting this would be for most use cases, however. VR is a personal vs. a shared experience.
Click to expand...
Airplay could also be used for sharing specific video or windows, not just the entire POV, probably.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CalMin
I'm expecting some weird hall of mirrors when people do this (unless the Vision Pro is smart enough for the image to not be seen on the TV, as in it blacks it out on the wearer's view only, but I doubt it entirely).
 
If you noticed from today's walkthrough video, you can hear the guy tap the spacebar on the MacBook Pro and his app instantly started. The keyboard's out of frame, and maybe it was dubbed, but it's looking like a very good connection. Airplay 2 to Apple TV is around 75ms from my experience. This seems WAYY better.

FWIW sound does travel at 330m/s, but the shot was apparently directly from VP and close to the Mac.
 
subjonas said:
That could be very interesting. Probably even more interesting applications streaming over internet though. Hopefully you can do both. Won’t be great for the queasy though haha.
Click to expand...
Since it says “up to 1080p”, it seems it’s limited to regular AirPlay. While a normal video image can in principle encode a stereo image (side-by-side), it wouldn’t be great, at effectively only half FHD. So I believe this is out of scope for the first generation.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Surf Monkey and subjonas
jimbobb24 said:
I was just trying to post this....this is interesting detail. You can see what the user is seeing making it possible to watch something "together".

Side note: apple has not ported numbers, pages, iMovie, etc to Vision OS. So not going to be too critical of Netflix or Youtube.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can watch content together that way but not experience it the same way.
 
CalMin said:
My Oculus does the same (albeit wired) and it can be useful for demo purposes I suppose. I'm not sure how compelling or interesting this would be for most use cases, however. VR is a personal vs. a shared experience.
Click to expand...
If you're trying to talk someone through something and they're wearing a VR headset, being able to see what they see is pretty valuable. Or if they're playing a game... Any time a group is involved in a VR activity you want to see what the person is seeing. Assuming the Vision gets used this way as I'm used to with other VR headsets.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CalMin and doelcm82
Am I the only one that thinks this feature is useless?

If you want to show other people what you're doing - not in VR but in 'spatial computing' - then just use a regular screen - in 4k resolution.

The Vision Pro is not being promoted as a gaming device or a VR device. It's a media consumption device. So what, exactly, are people going to be sharing that couldn't have just been on a regular screen anyway?
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: freedomlinux, arkitect, jclardy and 3 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back