Apple is rolling out the first update to its Vision Pro in beta. Among the new features, there are the now “spatial” Personas. If you chat with another owner of the headset, you will now see their “hands”, to have a more natural and human look.
The Apple Vision Pro has been out for two months already and it is receiving its first update, in beta for the moment, with visionOS 1.1. The main change: the Personas become spatial, which will mainly be useful to people who have the mixed reality headset and who communicate with each other.
Your virtual double created by Apple Vision Pro incorporates your hands
For videoconferencing, it’s complicated with an Apple Vision Pro on your head. Fortunately, the headset is able to scan you and track your facial movements. The rendering is somewhat strange and not very natural, in a sort of photorealism. This allows you to use FaceTime to chat with someone with an iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc. A Vision Pro owner can chat with another headset owner using Personas.
With the spatial Personas, Vision Pro users will be able to “ get out of the familiar FaceTime tile and feel more present, as if they were together in the same physical space », as Apple described it last June, during WWDC 2023, when the company presented its headset. In a video for developers, Apple described the space Personas in more detail: “ you can look your friends in the eye, express yourself naturally through movement and body language and, above all, enjoy a shared activity together “.
Watch out for the smart guys who also have a Vision Pro
Up to five participants can be present in a conversation with Personas. We see their heads as before, but now we can also see the upper part of their bust as well as their hands. In reality, the interlocutors are no longer enclosed in frames, but seem to float in the air and are integrated with a gradient of opacity.
Participants in a FaceTime call can move around on your screen, moving closer or further away from you. Be careful about the friends you choose, as they might play little jokes on you. Space Personas, however, require interlocutors who are also equipped with a Vision Pro. Moreover, if the helmet is only sold in the United States, we know that it will arrive in China since Tim Cook has made it official. We also hope that the headset will eventually arrive in Europe.