visionOS 26 Announced With Spatial Widgets, Shared Experiences, Enhanced Personas, and More

[MacRumors]

Apple at WWDC announced visionOS 26, bringing spatial widgets, dramatically improved Personas, and new collaborative experiences to Apple Vision Pro users.

Apple says the update transforms widgets into spatial objects that integrate seamlessly into users' physical environments. These customizable widgets – including Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos –offer unique interactions and persist in space each time users don Vision Pro. Users can decorate their surroundings with panoramas, spatial photos, distinctive clock faces, and quick access to Apple Music playlists. The new Widgets app helps discover compatible widgets from iOS and iPadOS apps, according to Apple.

Elsewhere, Personas receive their most significant upgrade yet, leveraging volumetric rendering and machine learning for striking expressivity and sharpness. The enhanced avatars now display full side profiles with remarkably accurate hair, lashes, and complexion details. Users can preview their Persona spatially during setup and choose from over 1,000 glasses variations.

Apple is touting a standout feature, Spatial Scenes, which uses generative AI and computational depth to transform regular photos into multi-perspective experiences. Users can lean in and look around these enhanced images in Photos, Spatial Gallery, and Safari. Zillow is already implementing the Spatial Scene API in their Immersive app for rich property visualizations.

In a big addition, visionOS 26 enables shared spatial experiences between Vision Pro users in the same room. Multiple users can watch 3D movies together, play spatial games, or collaborate on projects while adding remote participants via FaceTime.

Meanwhile, Safari gains spatial browsing mode, transforming articles and revealing spatial scenes while scrolling. Also, web developers can embed 3D models directly into pages for immersive shopping and browsing experiences.

Gaming expands with PlayStation VR2 Sense controller support, offering high-performance motion tracking, finger touch detection, and vibration feedback. The platform also now supports native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon cameras.

There are new enterprise capabilities with team device sharing, allowing organizations to manage shared Vision Pro pools. Users can securely save eye data, hand patterns, vision prescriptions, and accessibility settings to iPhone for seamless device switching. The Protected Content API ensures confidential materials remain secure while preventing copying or screen sharing.

Additional updates include Look to Scroll for eye-controlled navigation, iPhone unlocking while wearing Vision Pro, call relaying from iPhone, and Home View folder support. Lastly, Apple Intelligence features expand with Image Playground updates and new language support for French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

visionOS 26 enters developer beta today with general availability planned for fall 2025.

Article Link: visionOS 26 Announced With Spatial Widgets, Shared Experiences, Enhanced Personas, and More

 

[Kylo83]

Expected more to be honest one 3d videos from 2d

 

[sza]

I thought Apple would cancel it…

 

[nfl46]

So ready to try out the new widgets and updated persona.

 

[rainingwilliam]

Me and the 5 other people who own a Vision Pro are so excited and happy! How about the millions of people jealous that they can’t afford one?

 

[spaxxedout]

Hope it gets the new iPad mouse pointer. Solid release.

 

[rainingwilliam]

I was hoping for this too! I had been hold out buying the lifetime membership for the Spatial Media Toolkit app, hoping for native support - but I guess I’ll be buying that instead for my 2D-3D spatial video conversions!

 

[rafark]

If only we could get an os (ios, macOS) that looked like this

 

[turbineseaplane]

I thought Apple would cancel it…

They have inventory to move still.

 

[jole]

Really useful sounding new features... widgets and permanently placed windows are a game changer

Still disappointed that they didn't release any new apps or discuss expansion of the functionality in currently released Apple apps. For example, Apple Maps should be a no-brainer. Where are the basics like pages and numbers? How about the new files app and preview?

One huge gap remains: one cannot be using Vision Pro for video conferencing in most places: when one cannot share screen with anything else on FaceTime, the only way of using Vision Pro for online communications as an external display for a Mac.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Me and the 5 other people who own a Vision Pro are so excited and happy! How about the millions of people jealous that they can’t afford one?

I'm so jealous
I wish I wasn't poor and sad

I'll have to make do with my wall clock from Target.

 

[Jensend]

Good to see support for PSVR 2 controllers. It would have been cool if they could have shown off something like Walkabout Mini Golf or Open Brush.
The controllers aren't currently available to purchase without the PSVR 2 headset. Will Apple or Sony be selling the controllers independently?

 

[damienDevZ]

They didn’t mention updating all the Apple compatible apps into dedicated native apps. Did they?

 

[tarkeybear]

If I am reading that summary slide right, "unlock iPhone with Vision Pro" will be sweet! There are times I need to look for something on my iPhone and it is a nuisance to have to lift the Vision Pro so that my iPhone can see my eyes. This will be a nice to have!

 

[Silverbird0000]

I use a Vision Pro every day for work with Mac mirroring. The thing I’m the most excited about with this announcement is unlocking your iPhone with Vision Pro. I don’t know how this wasn’t a feature from the beginning. I have to pick up my phone multiple times to look at something and unlocking the phone is a horrible process. Even with Apple Watch unlocking on, which 75% of the time fails, the phone takes forever to give me the keypad.

 

[PracticalMatters]

“…shared spatial experiences between Vision Pro users in the same room.”
🤔 has anyone actually seen two or more VP users in the same room (outside of the Apple Store)?

 

[anakin44011]

On a serious note - native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon cameras...

...that's actually a pretty big deal and a very welcome feature.

 

[Merlin65]

“…shared spatial experiences between Vision Pro users in the same room.”
🤔 has anyone actually seen two or more VP users in the same room (outside of the Apple Store)?

Yes, we have two.

 

[svish]

Good to know about all the updates. Would like to try it out. Unfortunately Vision Pro is still not available in my country.

 

[fatTribble]

On a serious note - native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon cameras...

...that's actually a pretty big deal and a very welcome feature.

Does Canon make a 360 camera? 🤔

 

[fatTribble]

How are Spatial Scenes different from the 3D conversion released in visionOS 2?

 

[anakin44011]

Does Canon make a 360 camera? 🤔

Canon makes two 180º-ish degree camera/stereo-lens combinations.

The less expensive one isn't full 180, but it is easier to use.

 

[Naraxus]

Me and the 5 other people who own a Vision Pro are so excited and happy! How about the millions of people jealous that they can’t afford one?

Can't you people come up with some new material instead of the tired old "X-numer of people......" nonsense?

 

[iosiseasy]

“…shared spatial experiences between Vision Pro users in the same room.”
🤔 has anyone actually seen two or more VP users in the same room (outside of the Apple Store)?

In my house all the time. That’s how we watched severance.

 

[iosiseasy]

On a serious note - native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon cameras...

...that's actually a pretty big deal and a very welcome feature.

As an owner of an Insta 360 I’m definitely looking forward to this.