Apple Vision Pro Lab — First touches with visionOS, Apple’s spatial operating system

For its first augmented reality headset, Apple is introducing a brand new operating system: visionOS, which the brand describes as the first spatial OS. visionOS is both very different and very familiar. To describe it very simply, it’s something like Apple took iPadOS and exploded it into volumetric space. It actually seems more relevant to us to compare the Vision Pro’s operating system to iPads than to Macs. We’ll be back later. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you won’t be distracted by the graphics language of visionOS. Icons, system sounds, apps, animations are very similar. Of course, the new space operating system has some minor refinements, but the spirit remains the same. Like the design, you would have guessed it was an Apple product, even if someone stuck it over your head without telling you what it was.

But for a truly spatial operating system, Apple couldn’t settle for a pre-existing control mode. The brand is therefore introducing eye control. Just look at something interactive in the interface, then make a pinch motion with your index finger and thumb to click the arrow. The fact of being able to control everything just by looking is very confusing at first glance. We find ourselves turning our heads in the direction of the element to choose, when all things are the direction of our gaze.

A helping hand to take

It takes time to fully understand visionOS. But once you get used to it, handling the first space operating system is a bit of a treat. Which should not obscure the fact that the first draft is pending. A remarkably successful first, but a first nonetheless. The system actually lacks functions to quickly navigate through all open windows. We’d love to have the equivalent of the Expose function on macOS, which allows you to display all open windows in front of you with one click. As it stands, you sometimes have to move a little painfully between different open apps to find what you’re looking for. You will quickly get used to it and find solutions quickly. But that doesn’t make it pleasant.

What we didn’t immediately realize was that all the windows floating in space were… tactile too! Let’s face it, it was a bit of an epiphany for us. Web pages, for example, can be manipulated as if you were on a much larger tablet. Just click your finger to open a link, swipe up and down to scroll, etc. Of course, gestures aren’t as precise as actual touch surfaces. But it’s enough to select, for example, a sentence in text, copy it, long press on a link to simulate a right click, zoom in/out and perform all other tactile actions you can imagine. Along with eye tracking, this tactility is clearly the feature that impressed us the most and gives the Vision Pro interface a feel straight out of the future.

To continue in this vein, the system invites you from the start to create a persona, i.e. a virtual representation of yourself. The way this avatar is created is also very futuristic as you have to hold the headset in front of you, while it scans your face and upper body. The persona thus created is quite disturbingly realistic. However, not to confuse her with you.

Virtually never far away

There are so many little things that you find out for yourself. At first, we objected to the very rough control of the video progress bar launched in Safari… before realizing that it was very easy to manipulate it by “pinching” it and scrolling it forward or backward.

Looking up brings up the notifications area. From there, we can find some parameters that may not be useful for everyone, but which may prove important depending on your usage. In fact from this area you can launch the Mac Virtual Display function that merges the headset with the Mac, video recording of your screen, mirroring the Vision Pro display to a compatible device AirPlay, the Notification Center and even the application menu. And volume management, if you don’t feel like clicking physical buttons.

After all, the transition from real to virtual is amazing. The default mode is the reality view, which is rendered by the Vision Pro camera. However, gradually turn the dial on the digital crown to switch to a fully virtual environment. This shift is gradual. If you turn the wheel just a few notches, only the space directly in front of you will tilt. The more you turn, the more the virtual eats into the real, with absolutely stunning animations that give a truly futuristic feel.

As mentioned above, visionOS is more inspired by iPadOS than macOS. The first consequence of this is that the operating system is double-closed like iOS and iPadOS. For example, it is possible to install an application only from the App Store. And if the European Union succeeds in creating an Apple band for the iPhone store, there is no guarantee that this opening will one day come to visionOS.

Apple’s Vision Pro tests are being refined. We’ll see you tomorrow to find out our full test.