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

For its first augmented reality headset, Apple is releasing 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 simplistically, it’s a bit like Apple took iPadOS and exploded it into the volumetric space. It indeed seems more relevant to us to compare the Vision Pro’s operating system to that of the iPad than that of the Macs. We will come back later. If you have an iPhone or iPad, you will not be disoriented by the graphics language of visionOS. The icons, system sounds, applications, animations are very similar. Of course, the new space operating system has some small refinements, but the spirit remains the same. As with the design, you would have guessed that it was an Apple product even if someone had stuck it on your head without telling you what it was.

But for a truly spatial operating system, Apple couldn’t settle for an already existing control mode. The brand is therefore introducing eye control. Simply stare at something interactive in the interface, then make a pinching motion with your index finger and thumb for the element to be clicked. The fact of being able to control everything simply by looking is very confusing at first glance. We find ourselves turning our heads in the direction of the element to select, when all that matters is 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 little treat. Which should not obscure the fact that there remains a first draft. A remarkably successful first, but a first nonetheless. The system actually lacks functions to quickly navigate through all open windows. We would have liked to have the equivalent of the Exposé 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 the different open apps to find the one you’re looking for. You quickly get used to it and quickly find workarounds. But that doesn’t make it pleasant.

We didn’t realize right away that all the windows that float in space are… tactile too! Let’s face it, it was a bit of an epiphany for us. Web pages, for example, can be manipulated as you would on a very large tablet. Just click your finger on a link to open it, swipe up and down to scroll, etc. Of course, gestures aren’t as precise as on a real touch surface. But it is enough to select, for example, a sentence in a text, copy it, do a long press on a link to simulate a right click, zoom in/out and all the 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 that feeling of coming straight from the future.

To continue in this vein, the system invites you from the start to create a Persona, that is to say a virtual representation of yourself. The way of creating this avatar is also very futuristic since you have to hold the headset in front of you, while it scans your face and upper body. The Persona thus generated is quite disturbingly realistic. Not to the point of confusing her with you, however.

Virtual is never far away

There are a lot of little things that you discover for yourself. At first, we railed against the very rough control of the progress bar of a video launched in Safari… before understanding that it was very simple to manipulate it by “pinching” it then scrolling it forward or backward. back.

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

Finally, the shift from real to virtual is striking. The default mode is the view of reality, rendered through the Vision Pro cameras. However, simply turn the dial on the Digital Crown to gradually switch to a completely virtual environment. This shift is gradual. If you turn the wheel just a few notches, only the space directly in front of you tilts. The more you turn, the more the virtual eats into the real, with absolutely stunning animation, which really gives a sense of futuristic function.

As said above, visionOS is much 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 only possible to install applications from the App Store. And if the European Union has succeeded in making Apple bend for the iPhone store, there is no guarantee that this opening will one day arrive on visionOS.

Apple’s Vision Pro tests are being refined. We’ll see you tomorrow to discover our complete test.