Last Week in AVP #71: visionOS 26 to Fully Support PlayStation, Xbox and Spatial controllers, visionOS Rumored to Have a Big Emphasis On Gaming, The future of Sports in AVP is here and more!
I hope that you find my weekly updates on AVP fun, interesting and useful! 😀
If you enjoy the content, please consider supporting me with a paid subscription 🙏
This will help sustain my work and keep this going! 💪
And continue to bring you fresh content every week!
visionOS 26 to fully support PlayStation, Xbox and Spatial controllers (source)
9to5Mac has learned that Apple is preparing to expand controller support on visionOS to natively include not just the usual suspects like PlayStation and Xbox gamepads, but also a new class of input device: spatial controllers.
This builds on support that, while technically has already existed under the hood since visionOS 1.0, has not been widely adoptedy by developers due to its limited scope. Still, when a game requires a controller to be played on apple Vision Pro, the app gets a dedicated “controller required” badge on the Apple Vision Pro App Store.
visionOS 26 at WWDC rumored to have a big emphasis on gaming (source)
visionOS 26 could emphasize spatial gaming
Since there isn't going to be a redesign for visionOS, all eyes will be on features and app updates. There has been a tiny trend in rumors recently that could indicate the biggest focus for visionOS 26 outside of UI tweaks — gaming.
Apple has never had a strong grasp of the gaming market, which was emphasized by Apple Vision Pro's initial reveal and launch. Instead of showing off Beat Saber or Superhot, incredibly popular VR games, Apple showed a user playing NBA 2K in iPad compatibility mode with a physical controller.
visionOS 26: Everything we know about Apple Vision Pro's next major update (source)
VISIONOS 26: UPDATED USER INTERFACE
According to MacRumors, visionOS 26 will deliver some minor design changes to its user interface. Not much is known about what these changes could be, but it will hopefully bring a fresh coat of paint for cleaner, smoother navigation.
VISIONOS GAMING APP
This is the big one. The Apple Vision Pro does have its mix of VR/AR games, such as Vacation Simulator, Thrasher, Proton Pulse Vision and more, but it hasn't exactly expanded its venture into gaming like other headsets, like the Meta Quest 3.
How about being in Cupertino for WWDC without being in Cupertino? (source)
How about being in Cupertino for WWDC without being in Cupertino? 👀
Here’s a little teaser from the immersive WWDC livestream experience we’ve been building for Apple Vision Pro.
By leveraging spatial backdrops, 3D models, and the ability to post reactions in real-time, we’ve been creating a shared, interactive viewing experience uniting XR folks from around the globe.
If you own a Vision Pro, tune in! ᯅ
9:45am PT / 12:45pm ET / 6:45pm CET
Comment below and we'll send you the link to the experience once we're live.
5 Features We Want In The Next Version Of Apple's visionOS (source)
Since launching Vision Pro and visionOS in February of last year, Apple has regularly updated the operating system to add new features and improvements. The first feature update arrived in visionOS 1.1 in April, the Spatial Personas that deliver groundbreaking telepresence. Then, in September, Apple released visionOS 2, the first major update with dozens of changes and improvements. visionOS 2.2 in December then brought Wide and Ultrawide modes for Mac Virtual Display, while visionOS 2.4 in March brought Apple Intelligence, a Spatial Gallery app, an iPhone app for remote installs, and a new iPhone/iPad-driven guest flow.
While Apple's traditional versioning scheme would suggest that the next major version will be called visionOS 3, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has reported that Apple plans to change to a year indicator instead, claiming that it will thus be called visionOS 26.
Quick update on Be There: - Launch date of mid September 2025 - Rights agreements moving into place - Ability to stream 16K/60fps at 25Mbps - Very early, university sports preview of Be There running on older streaming infrastructure. DM for more details.
http://oneeightydegrees.co.uk
4D Gaussian Splatting on Apple Vision Pro (source)
Wow! 4D Gaussian Splatting on Apple Vision Pro looks INSANE 🤯 This feels like the future
You can view it on any device in a browser: https://4dv.ai/en
But of course, experiencing it in full 3D and life-size through a headset is a whole different story.
Why Surgeons Are Wearing The Apple Vision Pro In Operating Rooms (Time.com)
Twenty-four years ago, the surgeon Santiago Horgan performed the first robotically assisted gastric-bypass surgery in the world, a major medical breakthrough. Now Horgan is working with a new tool that he argues could be even more transformative in operating rooms: the Apple Vision Pro.
Over the last month, Horgan and other surgeons at the University of California, San Diego have performed more than 20 minimally invasive operations while wearing Apple’s mixed-reality headsets. Apple released the headsets to the public in February, and they’ve largely been a commercial flop. But practitioners in some industries, including architecture and medicine, have been testing how they might serve particular needs.
The VisionOS Professionals Survey 2025 is now available (source)
The VisionOS Professionals Survey 2025 is now available to download! We asked developers and designers working on Apple Vision Pro to share their honest experiences with visionOS. What’s working? What’s frustrating? And how do they feel about the platform’s future?
Check it out! I'm proud to unveil CellWalk 2 for Apple Vision Pro. Bring beautiful and immersive biology learning into your space.
Seamlessly zoom from a cell down to the atoms within DNA. Groundbreaking technology enables billions of atoms on Apple Vision Pro.
Enjoy a stunning, free exploration of a bacterial cell. Go deeper with Pro lessons – explore HIV or the molecular machines behind thought.
Imagine working from your own private theater (source)
Imagine working from your own private theater. That’s exactly what it feels like using Mac Virtual Display with immersive apps like Moon Player and Theater. It’s my new favorite way to work on Vision Pro. It’s kind of addicting.
While this may look like cheap chinese copy of Vision Pro, from many points of view I'm actually impressed. This may be the best VR headset on the market right now...
Spatial Benders – control fire, water, earth & air (source)
Spatial Benders – control fire, water, earth & air 🔥💧🪨☁️
I just launched Spatial Benders, an elemental experience built for Apple Vision Pro — inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Download the app for free on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spatial-benders/id6741721230
#AppleVisionPro
Seeing Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera in person (source)
I'm at cinegear, and thought I'd see the Blackmagic cam in person!
Tracking the teleoperator’s head and hand poses using Apple Vision Pro (source)
‘CLONE’ – whole-body teleoperation of a humanoid. Intuitive control signals are captured by tracking the teleoperator’s head and hand poses using AppleVisionPro. A Mixture-of-Experts policy takes the sparse input and synthesizes the corresponding whole-body humanoid pose.
