Vision Pro apps: the good, the bad, and the ridiculous

4 weeks ago 7

The Vision Pro NBA app turns some games into a miniature 3D diorama
The NBA has introduced a new AR feature for its Vision Pro app this week called Tabletop, which places a floating render of a basketball court in your space during “select” live games, according to an NBA help page describing the feature. On the court, digital avatars mirror the game’s actual players as they move, pass, and shoot — but only for live games that you can watch or listen to with NBA League Pass.
The feature even works for local market games that are otherwise unavailable to stream video of in the app. It was about 45 seconds behind the announcer audio during a local game I tested it with, but Vision Pro owner Justin Ryan reported about a half-second delay after using a toolbar option to sync with the live feed. The feature wasn’t available for any out-of-market games when I tested, so I only had an audio feed to compare with.
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The Vision Pro’s ultrawide Mac display is very close to being a killer app
Since its release, I’ve mostly used Apple’s Vision Pro like a movie theater. The VR headset is an amazing way to watch Dune — but beyond that, it hasn’t really lived up to its potential as a general-purpose computing device.
Today, that’s finally starting to change. With the update to visionOS 2.2, Apple is seriously upgrading the headset’s ability to work with a Mac. It’s probably the closest thing the Vision Pro has to a killer app.
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Vision Pro’s viral Lapz app put on hold after F1 complaint
Image: Lapz
Lapz, the Apple Vision Pro app that puts Formula One races in mixed reality, is on hold after F1 asked it to stop using its content, as reported by UploadVR. In a message posted to its Discord channel, Lapz says it halted distribution through TestFlight while it explores “licensing opportunities with various racing leagues and tech partners.”
“F1® have respectfully asked us to discontinue the use of their F1®TV broadcast rights in our platform for the time being while we continue to advance our roadmap and enhance the beta experience,” the message says.
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Watch this one-minute preview of Apple’s first scripted Vision Pro short
Apple just released the trailer for Submerged, the first scripted immersive video for the Vision Pro. The short, written and directed by Edward Berger, is set inside a WWII submarine as its crew deals with “a harrowing torpedo attack.”
The trailer for Submerged consists of behind-the-scenes shots and fisheye-looking clips from the short, along with a voiceover from Berger, who claims that the immersive format will “change the future of filmmaking.”
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Christian Selig’s unofficial YouTube app for the Vision Pro just got taken down
Image: Christian Selig
Disney Plus now takes you to Iceland.
In the Apple Vision Pro, that is. Disney Plus has rolled out a National Geographic edition virtual environment for its visionOS app that lets you watch movies in a snowy corridor in Iceland’s Thingvellir National Park.
The environment uses “3D models captured on-site using photogrammetry,” according to Disney’s announcement. When you watch a movie, it turns dark and shows you the Northern Lights!
Foggy.
Apple has released Lake Vrangla, one of two Vision Pro Environments that have spent months marked “coming soon,” and boy is it moody.
So what is Lake Vrangla? Well, it’s a small lake roughly 25 miles west (as the crow flies) of Oslo, Norway. You can see it fog-free on YouTube. Seems pretty!
Ladies and gentlemen, The Weeknd (on Apple Vision Pro)
Image: Apple
Apple is launching new “immersive” video content for the Vision Pro over the next few months, including one from The Weeknd, a close-up view of the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, and “the first scripted short film captured in Apple Immersive Video.” The new series and film will come exclusively to the Vision Pro, allowing wearers to watch 3D video with a 180-degree field of view.
The immersive performance from The Weeknd will arrive on the Vision Pro later this year, while you can expect a short film featuring events from the NBA All-Star Game this fall, such as the Rising Stars Challenge, the slam dunk contest, and the All-Star Game.
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The Vision Pro needs a macOS-style dock.
I’m now convinced of that after adding one using the free Dock Pro app. Now, some of the Vision Pro apps I use most (along with time and battery percentage) are just right there, waiting. Adding third-party apps is tricky and involves finding app URL schemes, though.
Don’t get me wrong; I like the hand flourish to open apps in the visionOS 2 beta. But sometimes, a dock is just better.
The visionOS 2 beta enables web-based VR.
However, the outlet writes that AR experiences do not seem to work quite yet, limiting it to fully-VR ones for now.
Marvel’s What If…? Vision Pro app is an awkward mix of video game and movie
Besides watching movies, there’s not all that much to do with Apple’s Vision Pro once you get over the novelty. That’s why I was eager to try Disney and Marvel’s new What If…? An Immersive Story experience / TV show / video game… thing that’s available on May 30th. The companies promised a mixed reality show that would “push the boundaries of technology.” But what I experienced, while very pretty to look at, ended up feeling like an overlong, no-stakes video game tutorial — with no game to follow it.
You’ll go through the Vision Pro-exclusive app either by standing in one spot in a virtual environment, watching things play out and participating when prompted to, or in passthrough, where you can move around while cell-shaded 3D AR characters talk to you. You play the “Hero of the Multiverse,” a nameless character who is recruited by The Watcher, narrator on the Disney Plus series, to save the multiverse by acquiring the Infinity Stones.
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Marvel’s What If...? Vision Pro mixed reality story will debut on May 30th.
Marvel says What If...? – An Immersive Story will have viewers (players?) casting spells, fighting battles with Marvel characters, and using the infinity stones. Judging from the trailer, that means making Doctor Strange’s magic sparks with your hands.
This edition of What If...? will be “free for a limited time” when the app is available on May 30th.
Marvel is bringing a mixed reality edition of What If…? to the Vision Pro
The Vision Pro is about to get what sounds like an honest-to-goodness mixed reality video experience from Marvel Studios and ILM Immersive, something the platform sorely needs. The companies announced What If...? – An Immersive Story, which they say is Disney Plus’ “first-ever” interactive original content. It’ll come exclusively to Apple’s VR headset and use a mixture of augmented and virtual reality.
The hour-long What If...? episode is based on Marvel’s Disney Plus show of the same name. It’s a promising development for starved Vision Pro owners, and not just because it’s far longer than the small library of immersive films Apple has offered to date.
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The best worst way to play Metroid Prime.
What to do when Metroid Prime 4 still isn’t out.
Well, since nobody asked, I’ll tell you: it’s unexpectedly playable. Emulated Nintendo DS touchscreen aiming works well if you pinch and hold while looking at the upper screen. Sure, you could use buttons to aim in Hunters, but why would you?
Best Buy launches an augmented reality shopping app for the Vision Pro.
Just put on your Vision Pro, open the Best Buy Envision app and scroll through hundreds of options to see them appear digitally, right in front your eyes, in your physical space.
Now, all we need is a Netflix app for those virtual TVs.
The Supercut app brings good Netflix to the Vision Pro
Netflix said last year that it had no plans for a native app for the Apple Vision Pro — a disappointment for owners given how well-suited it is for the task. Now, a new app called Supercut brings Netflix streaming to Apple’s headset without letterboxing bars on the top and bottom of the video; it also supports 4K streaming with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.
Made by developer Christian Privitelli, Supercut offers playback controls — including subtitles, audio output, playback speed, and the ability to skip ahead or back a few seconds — plus the ability to switch between profiles on the fly. It even gives you a visual indicator telling you whether your video is outputting in one or both of the Dolby formats and what resolution you’re streaming at.
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Do I feel less lonely in the Vision Pro?
That’s what I kept asking myself when testing out spatial Personas with Wes. The short of it is your ghostly Personas are now free to interact in any SharePlay enabled app, so you can watch movies, play games, and collaborate on projects. It’s neat — and you can interact more with other people. But seeing Wes’ head just float in my office also reminded me he really wasn’t there.
Robots, virtually in disguise.
New, but not in 3D, are several other movies that probably should be — including the first three John Wick films, Armageddon, Taken, and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. The new crop of movies is available for between four and eight weeks, reports MacRumors.
Now Apple Vision Pro Personas can float freely across different apps
Starting today, Vision Pro personas will be able to do more than hover like a ghost in FaceTime calls. Now, you can use them in SharePlay-enabled apps to collaborate, play games, or watch media with other people.
Apple is calling this a “Spatial Persona.” The idea is to make it feel like you’re in the same physical space as another user. It was part of what Apple showed in developer previews last year but hasn’t been available in the actual Persona beta until now. It’s a bit hard to imagine, but you can see what it looks like in the video below.
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Is the MLB’s Vision Pro app ready for the big leagues?
Jason Snell of Six Colors details his experience with the MLB’s visionOS app now that the season is underway. Of the Gameday feature that puts a 3D-animated baseball field in your space during a game, he writes:
I couldn’t find support for Gameday when I first used the app, though later when playing back an archived stream, I did find Gameday available—from within the video playback, so you can’t use it for a game you’re not watching on the app. And it’s immersive, so you can’t put it up and then do something else, which is also probably a mistake.
The Vision Pro is getting some new Apple Arcade games.
Alto’s Odyssey: The Lost City, Gibbon: Beyond the Trees, and Spire Blast will each get Vision Pro “spatial” apps tomorrow, Apple shared in a release emailed to The Verge.
Also, rhythm game Synth Riders — aka the only game I’ve been coming back to besides bullet hell shooter Void-X — has been updated with Game Center leaderboards and a pass-the-headset Party Mode.
You can watch March Madness games for free in the Vision Pro.
The NCAA’s March Madness Live app is also getting a new, swipeable vertical video highlights feed.
The NCAA also says it’s offering “expanded live game radio” for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
You can now browse Vision Pro apps on the web.
It’s essentially the same thing you’d see if you were browsing the store in the Vision Pro itself — a few curated lists of native apps here, some recommended iPad apps there.
But at least there’s a way to casually cruise those sweet spatial apps without popping the headset on now.
You can watch these new IMAX documentaries on your Vision Pro headset.
It’s getting four: A Beautiful Planet 3D, Pandas 3D, Super Power Dogs 3D, and Deep Sky. You’ll also see trailers for new releases.
These are part of a wave of new spatial films on the Vision Pro. Apple debuted 150 3D movies at launch through Apple TV Plus and other streamers, including recent releases like Avatar: The Way of Water and Dune.