Last Week in AVP #91: Apple Releases visionOS 26.1, Apple Held Press Briefings for the M5 Vision Pro using Spatial Personas, Logitech Muse Hands On and Demo and more!
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Apple Releases visionOS 26.1 With Vision Pro App for iPad (source)
visionOS 26.1 adds a Vision Pro app for the iPad, allowing users to discover Vision Pro content and spatial experiences. The app also now supports AirPlay for viewing experiences from the Vision Pro on both iPhone and iPad.
Apple’s release notes for the update are below.
This release includes improvements and bug fixes, including the expansion of the Apple Vision Pro app to iPad, and updates to Spatial Gallery.
Discover new content, spatial experiences, and quickly access information about your device using Apple Vision Pro app for iPad when you upgrade to iPadOS 26.1
Apple Vision Pro app on iPhone and iPad now allows you to turn on AirPlay to view experiences from Apple Vision Pro
Videos in Spatial Gallery will show playback controls and video length while in immersive view
Apple held press briefings for the M5 Vision Pro using Spatial Personas
In this video, I got the incredible opportunity to FaceTime two Apple executives. Jeff Norris, Senior Director of Apple’s Vision Products Group and Allessandra McGinnis from Apple’s Worldwide Product Marketing team.
Video: Testing the New M5 Apple Vision Pro (source)
Apple recently refreshed the Apple Vision Pro, adding a new M5 chip for improved performance. There aren’t design changes, but Apple did introduce a new Dual Knit Band that’s supposed to be more comfortable. MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera picked up one of the new Vision Pro headsets to see how it compares to the prior-generation M2 versions.
Apple Vision Pro’s Best Feature Is an Incredibly Realistic Avatar of You (CNET)
Buried inside Apple’s $3,499 Vision Pro VR headset is a feature that continually wows me, but you’ve probably never heard of it. The feature, called Personas, involves two or more users, all wearing Vision Pros, chatting with one another in real time but as virtual replicas.
Now out of beta, Personas are part of Apple’s avatar system for the Vision Pro, creating replicas of yourself via a 3D photo scan.
Taking a scan of myself isn’t a new thing. Some five years ago, I tried telepresence with 3D-scanned avatars on Nreal AR glasses with a company called Spatial. I’ve gotten peeks at Meta’s realistic codec avatars. I explored cartoon avatar telepresence with Microsoft in HoloLens. And I’ve even scanned myself into all sorts of bizarre AI deepfakes using OpenAI’s Sora phone app.
How Apple Built The New Spatial Personas in Vision Pro
NEW VIDEO! First-Ever Interview w/ @Apple in Spatial! How Apple Built The New Spatial Personas in Vision Pro + Hidden Easter Eggs w/ @ijustine!
Coloring Book v1.2 with Muse support and gradient brushes just got approved and is available on the App Store now. Promo codes giveaway in the comments
I’m really enjoying the Logitech Muse! The Crayon app is set to fully support the pencil soon, bringing lots of awesome features. Plus, the pen’s accuracy and how the AVP tracks it without any lag are just fantastic. Being able to pin the app menu on the wall like widgets is fantastic. It’s definitely the future. Happy Hallowe(e)n✏️ #AppleVisionPro #apple
Apple Vision Pro + Logitech Muse + Vision3D = unlimited spatial creation ability (source)
Apple Vision Pro + Logitech Muse + Vision3D = unlimited spatial creation ability.
This video shows more advanced capabilities of the Muse in Vision3D, such as 3d shape creation, grab, collisions, and more! Coming in the next Vision3D update.
World’s first brand commercial in Apple Immersive Video (source)
Sandwich may have just made the world’s first brand commercial in Apple Immersive Video on Vision Pro.
While filming the standard 2D spot, they captured the whole thing again in 16K 90fps stereo and developed a workflow that layers the 2D spot inside the immersive version.
I love how they combined it all. It could be a glimpse of what’s coming for brands wanting to immerse customers.
Run & gun immersive video rig for AppleVisionPro (source)
Overkill? 🤔Our new run & gun #immersivevideo rig for #AppleVisionPro on
@Blackmagic_News URSA Cine Immersive. From 1 - 10, rate my build
Elu Legend is another game to get full PSVR2 controller support (source)
Elu Legend is another game to get full PSVR2 controller support on Apple Vision Pro. It also introduces a new way to explore the world, battle, and capture new Datemons. A well-crafted and completely free game!
New Apple Vision Pro experiment with Logitech Muse – the new ‘spatial accessory’ (source)
NEW Apple Vision Pro experiment with Logitech Muse – the new ‘spatial accessory’. This time: Spray Paint! 👻🤯
How Spatial Analogue Rethought Collaboration (Apple)
Big congrats to Spatial! Their Analogue app just landed an AppStore editorial feature. 👏 I’ve had a lot of fun working with their team on something new, and I’m excited to share more about it soon!
Today on World Polio Day, we’re excited to release an update to Polio’s Last Mile (source)
Today on World Polio Day, we’re excited to release an update to Polio’s Last Mile on @Apple Vision Pro. Interactive data visualizations bring decades of progress to life, while VisionOS 26 powers a new spatial photo gallery that pulls you deeper into the story.
CellWalk is a great way to test the performance of the new M5 Apple Vision Pro (source)
CellWalk is a great way to test the performance of the new M5 Apple Vision Pro. I just updated it for M5! On M5 we’re rendering at >1.5× the resolution and detail of M2 (and I’ll push it further once I get an M5). Billions of atoms, it should look super sharp. The Apple Intelligence powered features in the app will also be way faster. I don’t have an M5 yet, still on M2, so please share your experience.
I tested Flight Sight by Rogue Labs combined with the Blackmagic URSA Immersive camera — it literally puts you inside a helicopter flying over the city. The app is perfect for pilot training or simply enjoying an amazing immersive aerial view, with full-scale aircraft models for realistic training.
Idea #6 Twister but on VisionOS, on the the walls, floors and all surfaces (source)
Experiencing synthetic GaussianSplatting on your VisionPro (source)
Synthetic Gaussian Splatting are wildly underrated.
Unlike 3D meshes, they allow you to create complex particle visualisation, have ultra-realistic lighting effects that are view-dependent and do not rely on a costly render engine and it all comes in a compact “package” light enough to be hosted on any website or be viewed in VR.
That’s all for now, know someone who might enjoy this newsletter? Please share with them! 🙏
The M5 chip upgrade shows Apple taking Vision Pro seriously for the long haul. The Spatial Personas using gaussian splatting tech is transformative for remote collaboration and could be the killer feature that justifies the price. Logitech Muse integration across multiple apps proves Apple's betting on spatial computing accessories as a new category, which should drive third-party accesory innovation once developers see the potential.
I know they are working on glasses too.... We’re not all the way there yet. We’re still constrained by power, compute, cost, size, weight, and battery life. The comparison is that today’s headsets are the clumsy, archaic brick phone, and the ultimate, seamless smartphone-level goal for the entire category is the lightweight, stylish glasses.
The glasses will become a kind of co-pilot for daily life, sitting in the background until you need it, and then showing up exactly when you do.
The M5 chip upgrade shows Apple taking Vision Pro seriously for the long haul. The Spatial Personas using gaussian splatting tech is transformative for remote collaboration and could be the killer feature that justifies the price. Logitech Muse integration across multiple apps proves Apple's betting on spatial computing accessories as a new category, which should drive third-party accesory innovation once developers see the potential.
I know they are working on glasses too.... We’re not all the way there yet. We’re still constrained by power, compute, cost, size, weight, and battery life. The comparison is that today’s headsets are the clumsy, archaic brick phone, and the ultimate, seamless smartphone-level goal for the entire category is the lightweight, stylish glasses.
The glasses will become a kind of co-pilot for daily life, sitting in the background until you need it, and then showing up exactly when you do.