Apple Unveils visionOS 26: A Leap Forward in Mixed Reality with Enhanced Personas and Spatial Experiences

From spatial widgets to realistic Personas: All the visionOS updates Apple announced at WWDC | TechCrunch

Apple's updates to visionOS 26, the operating system powering its mixed reality headset, build on last year's Apple Vision Pro spatial computer that blends digital content with the physical world. At WWDC, Apple announced a range of updates for both consumer and enterprise customers, from new spatial widgets and content to more realistic Personas and more. Apple's widgets offer personalized and useful information at a glance. With visionOS 26, they become spatial, integrating into your space. You can customize the widgets to the size, color, and depth you like, and place them where you want. New widgets include a clock that you can decorate, weather that adapts to the weather outside near you, music for quick access to tunes, and photos that can transform into a panorama or a "window to another space." An update to the visionOS Photos app uses a new AI algorithm that leverages computational depth to create multiple perspectives for your 2D photos, bringing images to life. Apple says it will feel like you can "lean right into them and look around." Spatial browsing on Safari can also make web browsing a more immersive experience. With certain supported articles, spatial browsing can hide distractions and reveal inline photos that "come alive as you scroll." Developers can also add spatial browsing to their own apps. Apple released Personas, an AI avatar to represent you on video calls, on the Vision Pro as a beta feature last year. With visionOS 26, Apple says Personas "more realistically represent you." The new Personas take advantage of "volumetric rendering and machine learning technology" to enhance everything from how you look in full side profile view to delivering more accurate-looking hair, eyelashes, and complexion. Personas are all created on-device in a "matter of seconds," Apple says. VisionOS 26 lets you and another headset-wearing friend watch a movie or play a spatial game together. This capability is also being marketed for enterprise clients, allowing users to collaborate. For example, 3D design software company Dassault Systèmes is leveraging the ability with its 3DLive app to visualize 3D designs in person and with remote colleagues. VisionOS 26 also lets organizations easily share a common pool of devices among team members, and even securely saves your eye and hand data, vision prescription, and accessibility settings to your iPhone so users can quickly use a shared team device or a friend's Vision Pro as a guest user. Apple said it would add more APIs so enterprises can create apps designed for visionOS. There's a new "for your eyes only" mode that ensures only those who have been given access can see any confidential materials. Finally, Apple announced Logitech Muse built for Vision Pro, a spatial accessory built for the headset that lets you draw and collaborate in 3D with precision. More Apple Intelligence features are coming to the Apple Vision Pro. VisionOS 26 supports new languages like French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, along with support for English in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, and the U.K. Users can also now "look to scroll" using just their eyes to explore apps and websites. They can also now unlock their iPhone while wearing the Apple Vision Pro, even when wearing the headset, and visionOS supports relaying calls from iPhone so you can accept a call from the Apple Vision Pro.

Apple's VisionOS 26 Hands-On: Virtual Me and 3D Memories Are Stunning

Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps My virtual Scott Stein persona is hauntingly real, spatial scenes feel like living 3D memories and even the experience of sticking widgets to virtual walls - and virtual windows - is better than I ever thought. Hey. That's me. My first experience in Apple's new Vision OS 26, announced Monday at WWDC, was making my new 3D-scanned Persona, a feature that Apple says is finally out of beta. I used to find its uncanny style funny, but not anymore. I find it unsettlingly real. Like, I feel like I'm watching myself. New Personas are one of several upgrades to Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro headset announced at this year's WWDC, but there's more that surprised me. There's 3D-converting Spatial Scenes mode that also works in iOS and looks absolutely wild in-headset. The new widgets in VisionOS can be stuck to walls - even into walls - and looked so convincingly real in my demo at Apple Park. I felt like I could stick my head through a virtual window into a panorama photo of Tokyo that wasn't there. None of these improvements are game-changers, but they all far exceeded my expectations when I actually tried them. Apple's on-stage demos during its keynote really didn't do them justice. As usual I had to experience them in the actual headset to appreciate the impact. Unfortunately Apple still hasn't made any headway in camera-enabled AI for Vision Pro, something Google is already planning for Android XR, and an extra I can't wait to see in action. But Apple's skill at adding other features to its Vision AR/VR platform, once it actually does them, is impressive. If updates continue to be this eye-popping, I'm really curious where things go next, as Apple heads towards what should be a lower-priced, lighter version of Vision in the next year or two. Maybe by then it will finally work in camera-supported AI too. Apple says its Personas in Vision are now officially out of beta with VisionOS 26, and it shows. The previous versions of Personas, the 3D-scanned avatars Apple uses in VisionOS, have improved over time but their uncanny vibe remained off-putting. The new scanning now includes more of the sides of people's heads, and Apple's not windowing off Personas in FaceTimes anymore in the headset. They're popping into your room. I scanned myself using the Vision Pro like always, but this time I was greeted with a more realistic version of me, for better and for worse. I saw the bags under my eyes. I saw my beard's salt-and-pepper details. I looked like me. Personas can't be scanned while wearing glasses, so my specs still can't come aboard, but the virtual glasses options are far better now. I could pick from a variety of frames, colors and materials and size them up, too. That feature alone felt like a preview of potential Vision glasses-shopping apps to come. My expressions feel right, too. I couldn't make every expression, but I tried a bunch and I didn't see many fail. Sadly, my hands were still just ghostly things that vanished as I put them closer to my face. I also recorded a test clip of myself using a third-party app, and the result was good enough that I think it captures me now. Will people think it's me? I started wondering about how Personas could be used as virtual stand-ins for myself - not just in Vision, but in 2D apps. Will Apple bring Personas everywhere across iOS and Macs someday? I think it will. Apple is finally living up to the initial Vision Pro ads, where people watched photo memories in 3D like they were moments from Minority Report. A previous auto-converting tool turned 2D photos into 3D, but the Spatial Scenes upgrade lets you actually move back and forth and even deeper into a photo. The frame's larger field of view feels like a window into a museum diorama. A few demo examples made my jaw drop. They're not the same as full volumetric 3D scans, but the tool magically fills in some fuzzy details at the fringes as I shift my point of view, making it feel like the whole thing is really a window into somewhere else. That scene in Ready Player One where Wade visits a museum full of 3D memories of James Halliday's life? It's sort of like that. But this is only for still photos. Spatial Scenes also work in iOS, but I'm telling you, the effect isn't nearly as compelling. Another demo showed me how Apple's widgets can be pinned to walls and other surfaces. I walked into a virtual room and found widgets suddenly popping up everywhere: a music poster on the wall, a window on another, calendars and clocks somewhere else. The OS update can also recognize and remember room layouts and turn off the virtual overlays until you enter, preventing bleed where you might see other rooms' screens through the walls. I've seen pinned displays and windows before in other headsets, glasses and apps, but these still surprised me with their fidelity. An Apple Music poster looked convincingly real and added extra details as I approached, then played music if I tapped it. Clocks look like actual wall clocks. And widgets can be virtually inset into walls, which is wild. The panorama window, which adds photos from your library, had reflective detail around the white curved pane that made it feel really there and inset. The 3D effect was convincing enough that I felt like I could walk up to it and feel really transported - it was even better at closer range. Would I actually use these widgets? I don't know, but I feel the mixed reality blend more than ever. There's more. A 3D "spatial browser" turns Safari into a larger reading mode that auto-converts the images inside to 3D. There's also a new interactive environment in the headset that shows Jupiter viewed from one of its moons, with an interactive panel that can change time of day. The interactive features aren't coming to Apple's other Vision 3D environment backgrounds yet, but I hope they will. Apple has other updates that are useful, too. Collaboration in apps can work with other people in-room now, or mix in others coming in as Personas. And I didn't get to try any spatial controller support, which will work with PlayStation VR 2 controllers and third-party styluses. That's coming later this year, I was told, likely because the apps aren't there to work with it yet. Apple still has a long way to go to make its Vision really feel like a face-mounted computer for everyone, but the updates in VisionOS 26 are more impressive than I expected. Apple is pushing boundaries that competitors like Meta and Google, with their focus on AI, are not even tapping into yet.

Praise be, my visionOS 26 persona is significantly less cursed!

Victoria Song is a senior reporter focusing on wearables, health tech, and more with 13 years of experience. Before coming to The Verge, she worked for Gizmodo and PC Magazine. For several months, my Slack avatar was a screenshot of my incredibly cursed Vision Pro persona. My virtual avatar's head was cocked back, cackling into the pixelated void, her hair one solid unmoving block. It wasn't good -- but it also wasn't the end of the world. Everyone else's Persona looked just as horrible, and honestly, it was funny. So I was skeptical when, at the WWDC keynote, Apple announced that visionOS 26 had improved the system's floating avatars. And then I got to make one. The process to make Personas hasn't changed, but the end result is vastly improved. (Full disclosure: The video you see above was recorded by Apple and provided to me after my demo.) It doesn't completely erase the uncanniness -- the bottom half of your face is still more expressive than the top, it got my nose a bit weird in certain angles, and some microexpressions feel stiff. But hair looks more like hair now. You can see eyelashes and skin texture. It was even able to capture my nose contour makeup. Side profiles have also been improved -- something I noticed in a FaceTime with our old weekend editor Wes Davis, a fellow Vision Pro owner who also downloaded the visionOS 26 beta. Previously, if you turned your head to the side, you could look flattened, something akin to a PlayStation 2 era, non-cut scene video game character. It's easier to tweak your Persona now, too. You can customize lighting, skin tone, and get granular with eyewear if you're a glasses wearer. The biggest thing for me, though, is when I laugh and my eyes scrunch up, I no longer look like a caricature of myself. After spending a few weeks experimenting with AI image and video generation, I've been subjected to numerous demoralizing renders of my monolids. You might not know this if you're not Asian, but monolids aren't considered a desirable feature under traditional Western and Eastern beauty standards alike. I'll acknowledge that the fact they're often terribly rendered is a first-world problem. Nevertheless, it can be hurtful when blepharoplasties to reshape eyelids are an incredibly common procedure in my community. It might seem like a trivial thing to fixate on, but if the future is really meant to be lived inside headsets -- I want my virtual self to actually look like me. In my brief hands-on, I also got the impression that Personas in visionOS 26 are also much better at capturing a variety of expressions. I know that the average person isn't going to be winking, making goofy faces, or purposefully contorting their face as if they were a Disney cartoon. But, if you are that type of person, I can say I was impressed at how much better the new Persona system is at handling my facial gymnastics. (Alas, Wes' new Persona still has an unflappably weird mustache.) But enough of my yammering, you can judge for yourself in the video above, compared to screenshots of my old Persona I've included below. I got a few other demos in my hands-on. I yeeted myself to a virtual moon of Jupiter. I saw a few examples of improved spatial videos taken on action cams. Apple is still convinced we all want even better spatial photos. But aside from Personas, the other demo I was pleasantly surprised by was widgets. I stand corrected. In our liveblog, I mocked an ever-present virtual wall clock. Having experienced a demo, however, I can see the appeal of a permanent-but-editable wall panel where I can hang digital album art, a Reminders app interface, and maybe recreate my own smart home control hub. It requires conceptual buy-in that these kinds of virtual spaces are a worthwhile endeavor, but if you're already onboard? Trust me, you'll like the widgets.

visionOS 26: Everything coming to the Vision Pro

Apple announced a number of changes across the board to all of its operating systems with the Liquid Glass expression, which features rounder icons and more translucent controls. As mentioned during the keynote, the Liquid Glass changes affecting other software like iOS 26 was inspired by the look and feel of visionOS. To start, Apple shook up the naming conventions for its software, so instead of visionOS 3 we're getting visionOS 26. Read on for the other changes coming to Apple's headset. The "expansive" update is filled with new spatial experiences and features that are meant to make apps in the Vision Pro "more immersive and personal." visionOS 26 is adding support for 180-degree, 360-degree and "wide field-of-view" content from some of the best 360 cams. "We're incredibly excited for users to enjoy features like apps and widgets that they can arrange in their spaces, spatial scenes that offer a brand-new viewing experience for their photos, and dramatically enhanced Personas on Vision Pro," Mike Rockwell, Apple's VP of the Vision Products Group said in a press release. Widgets are getting more personalized with Apple saying that they're getting more spatial that will appear every time you put on the Vision Pro. You can change frame width, color, and depth on widgets for apps like Clock, weather, music and more. You can also add spatial photos and panoramas. Think of them almost like decor in your Vision Pro space. If you're with other people donning Vision Pro headsets you can share in spatial experiences including watching movies, playing games or collaborating. With visionOS 26, there is a new 3DLive app from Dassault Systèmes that enables you visualize 3D designs in person and for remote colleagues. Additionally, Personas are getting "more natural and familiar." They're getting more expressive and sharping with side profile views and more accurate "hair, lashes, and complexion." Spatial photos are supposed to get more realistic with visionOS 26 using generative AI and computatinal depth to add multiple perspectives so that you can "feel like [you] can lean in and look around." visionOS 26 is introducing support for the PlayStation VR2 sense controller and giving developers the ability to design experiences around using the controllers. Additionally, spatial browsing is coming to Safari where it will "hide distractions and reveal spatial scenes." This means that developers can add 3D models to web pages that you can interact with when browsing in Safari. So you can manipulate 3D objects in the web browser. There are a number of updates for business focused APIs and working with coworkers alongside some smaller updates including more Apple Intelligence features. All of the features are available in a developer beta now and will likely launch to the public later this year.

visionOS 26 Announced With Spatial Widgets, Shared Experiences, Enhanced Personas, and More

Apple at WWDC announced visionOS 26, bringing spatial widgets, dramatically improved Personas, and new collaborative experiences to Apple Vision Pro users. Apple says the update transforms widgets into spatial objects that integrate seamlessly into users' physical environments. These customizable widgets - including Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos -offer unique interactions and persist in space each time users don Vision Pro. Users can decorate their surroundings with panoramas, spatial photos, distinctive clock faces, and quick access to Apple Music playlists. The new Widgets app helps discover compatible widgets from iOS and iPadOS apps, according to Apple. Elsewhere, Personas receive their most significant upgrade yet, leveraging volumetric rendering and machine learning for striking expressivity and sharpness. The enhanced avatars now display full side profiles with remarkably accurate hair, lashes, and complexion details. Users can preview their Persona spatially during setup and choose from over 1,000 glasses variations. Apple is touting a standout feature, Spatial Scenes, which uses generative AI and computational depth to transform regular photos into multi-perspective experiences. Users can lean in and look around these enhanced images in Photos, Spatial Gallery, and Safari. Zillow is already implementing the Spatial Scene API in their Immersive app for rich property visualizations. In a big addition, visionOS 26 enables shared spatial experiences between Vision Pro users in the same room. Multiple users can watch 3D movies together, play spatial games, or collaborate on projects while adding remote participants via FaceTime. Meanwhile, Safari gains spatial browsing mode, transforming articles and revealing spatial scenes while scrolling. Also, web developers can embed 3D models directly into pages for immersive shopping and browsing experiences. Gaming expands with PlayStation VR2 Sense controller support, offering high-performance motion tracking, finger touch detection, and vibration feedback. The platform also now supports native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon cameras. There are new enterprise capabilities with team device sharing, allowing organizations to manage shared Vision Pro pools. Users can securely save eye data, hand patterns, vision prescriptions, and accessibility settings to iPhone for seamless device switching. The Protected Content API ensures confidential materials remain secure while preventing copying or screen sharing. Additional updates include Look to Scroll for eye-controlled navigation, iPhone unlocking while wearing Vision Pro, call relaying from iPhone, and Home View folder support. Lastly, Apple Intelligence features expand with Image Playground updates and new language support for French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. visionOS 26 enters developer beta today with general availability planned for fall 2025.

Forget Apple Vision Pro -- visionOS 26 sets the stage for killer smart glasses

We called the Apple Vision Pro a revolution in progress in our review, but visionOS 26 proved the $3,500 headset is a warm-up for the real revolution. Don't get me wrong, the new features announced at WWDC 2025 look (mostly) great -- jury's still out on the uncanny valley of Personas -- but from widgets you can anchor around your room and spatial browsing giving you a 3D web browser experience in Safari look so cool. But with each new feature announced, I came to a realization: visionOS 26 is built for glasses, not goggles. These would make for a breakthrough pair of smart glasses. On the face of it, visionOS 26 is purpose-built for spatial computing at home. It's an all-encompassing 360-degree experience that is designed to turn an entire room into a virtual smart space. Beyond the nice add-ons for viewing and playing like support for 360-degree video captured from the likes of Insta360 or a Go Pro and PlayStation VR2 controller support, spatial widgets can be placed anywhere in a room with customizability to match a room's vibe and accurate anchoring. Plus, new Shared Spatial Experiences mean you can all be watching or doing the same thing (either in the same room or remotely via FaceTime), Spatial Scenes bring a new AI algorithm to turn 2D content into 3D, and that comes to Safari too for 3D web pages too. Other nice-to-haves include relaying calls from iPhone, using your eyes to scroll apps and websites, and that enhanced Apple Intelligence feature set. Take all of that from above and think about it in something the size of spectacles. I'm not for one second saying you're going to pin spatial widgets on the Long Island Railroad train to Penn Station. But this kind of versatility from glanceable information to interacting with immersive content is huge. It's the golden goose that the likes of Meta's Project Orion and Android XR are chasing -- all with that dash of Apple's "it just works" shine. Throw in the local AI model too with all the developers putting in their app intents for an agentic experience too, along with visual intelligence to answer questions about the world around you, and this could be the breakthrough we've all been looking for. One thing is clear right now -- standalone smart glasses are not fully possible yet. To get there, we need the computational power, display tech and battery capacity to evolve a whole lot further, while also being small enough to fit in a pair of specs. The main workaround for now is a separate device, and that smartphone you're probably reading this on is a damn powerful device for this purpose. You already see this in the companion apps to the likes of the Viture Pro XR Glasses, or even standalone devices like the Xreal Beam Pro that look a whole lot like a smartphone. And if anyone has really shown its chops in being able to make lightning fast wireless connectivity between its own devices, it's Apple. Continuity could lead the way here to open up visonOS on glasses and become that screen that means you keep that iPhone pocketed. That would be the way to do it in the next 12 months -- unless Apple has figured something out that we don't know about. The company has possibly been buying up AR glasses and reverse engineering them, so we could be on the cusp of something massive. Apple's smart glasses play is no secret if you follow the rumor mill closely. Reportedly, Tim Cook "cares about nothing else" but beating the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses to the AR punch. And if you track that to what we saw here, visionOS 26 is Cupertino showing pretty much its entire hand -- with the ace up the sleeve being these much-hyped glasses. Everything is falling into place like I expected, and unless there's another Apple Intelligence-sized bump on the road, I think we can safely say that Vision Pro has been a rather tasty amuse-bouche to what will be a revolutionary main course.

I just tried visionOS 26 -- and the most exciting thing is actually not the Vision Pro

Apple famously does not talk about future products (delayed Siri notwithstanding), but I couldn't help but look ahead as I tried out all of the new features in visionOS 26 for the first time, which is in developer beta now and arriving this fall. Yes, the new visionOS will launch on the Vision Pro, and as far as we know there's no new spatial computing hardware coming from Apple this year -- although there's rumors of a lighter Vision Air headset on the way. But as I stared at a panoramic photo widget of Japan and Mt Fuji on the wall in front of me -- just like a window -- I was thinking a lot more about the implications of visionOS 26 for the rumored Apple Glasses. During one visionOS 26 demo, I was able to play around with the new spatial widgets, which I think have huge implications for a pair of Apple smart glasses. I opened the new Widgets app in visionOS and then placed a clock on the wall I was staring at, and I could adjust the color and width of the frame. But with another tap I could then make it appear like that widget was literally sunken into the wall, adding an almost freaky sense of depth. I also walked from one room to another to demonstrate the fact that you can pin widgets and make their locations persistent. So, for example, your music widget could always be in the same spot. And as I walked up to that widget I could see more info on the Lady Gaga album and start playing my music. All of this is cool if you happen to have $3,500 to burn on a Vision Pro and don't mind wearing a 1.3-pound headset all day. But I think use cases like this get much more interesting when you can shrink the technology down to work on a pair of smart glasses. The Vision Pro could turn 2D photos into 3D before, but it was doing so by displaying information differently to your left eye and right eye. The new Spatial scenes feature works differently and quickly turns your flat pics into something much more immersive, thanks to generative AI. In one image I could literally peek behind a rocky outcropping and see more of a body of water that wasn't even there in the original photo. Apple is using a new AI algorithm that leverages computational depth to crate multiple perspectives from your 2D photos. The result is that it feels like you can get various perspectives of the images just by leaning into the shot and tilting your head. Again, I can see slipping on a pair of glasses to get this effect, but I don't know if the payoff is worthwhile if we're talking about a bulky headset. Easily the most jaw-dropping moment of my visionOS 26 demo was being able to see someone paraskiing, thanks to 8K footage captured by an Insta360 3D video camera. The point of this demo was to show that visionOS 26 supports native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree and wide FOV content from 3D cameras. Apple's new Apple Projected Media Profile takes these shots and remap them into a sphere around you. As the paraskiier essentially floated down a mountain and screamed his head off, I was both excited to live vicariously through him and relieved I was not him. Honestly, I think this format is fine for the Vision Pro and might be tough to pull off in Apple Glasses, as they would have to give you a very wide field of view. But the demo was still impressive. There was only moment I laughed out loud during WWDC 25 -- other than seeing Craig Federighi's CGI-enhanced windblown hair after emerging from an F1 race car. And that was Apple showing two people wearing a visionOS headset together watching a movie on a couch. First, who is going to do that when you're in the same room? And, more important, who the heck can afford $7,000 worth of hardware for that sort of experience? But there was a more compelling shared experiences demo for visionOS 26. An Apple rep loaded up a 3D version of Neil Armstrong's space suit and I could then zoom in on in and walk around it. This could be a great learning tool, for example, for parents trying to explain concepts to kids. But I had to remember to take the Vision Pro's battery with me before I got up and walked around the space suit to inspect it, which puts a damper on the experience. This would be much more compelling with smart glasses. Last but not least, I wanted to mention that I tried the new Persona in Vision Pro with visionOS 26. The virtual me definitely looks more realistic now, especially when you turn your head. Before the side view was a real challenge. You'd turn your head, and it almost looked like you turned into a ghost with the missing detail. My hair and skin both looked more realistic, and Apple paid closer attention to little details like eyelashes. Frankly, I still don't really love how my Persona looks. I wish I could smooth out my skin a bit and maybe whiten my teeth slightly. But you can enhance your Persona by changing the portrait effect, as well as accessorize with glasses. I could see myself perhaps dialing into a video call in the future if Apple could pull this off with smart glasses. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I like a lot of the features in visionOS 26, but until I see a lighter, more affordable spatial computer from Apple, I think Vision Pro will continue to be a tough sell. I believe Apple's ultimate goal is to create a pair of smart glasses that can deliver all of the above experiences and then some. Earlier this year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple's Tim Cook was keenly focused on "lightweight spectacles that a customer could wear all day" -- offering AR elements that "will overlay data and images onto real-world views." In fact, Apple is reportedly "hell-bent on creating an industry-leading product before Meta can." For me, visionOS 26 provides a very good starting blueprint for what Apple glasses could offer.

Apple announces Vision Pro overhaul with visionOS 26 - here are the 6 biggest updates headed to Apple's VR headset

At WWDC 2025 Apple has announced its next-generation of software including visionOS 26 - with Apple skipping ahead to version 26 for all of its software to unify its numbering system. For Apple Vision Pro users this new software will bring with a bevy of excellent upgrades to your mixed reality experience, including plenty of new spatial tools to make photos, apps, and webpages more immersive than ever. Apple's also adding a much-needed gaming feature. To help you get up to speed here are the 6 most important Apple Vision Pro updates you need to know from visionOS 26. With visionOS 26 the Apple Vision pro can now support 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view videos and photos captured with Insta360, GoPro, and Canon devices. In other words, it's now a much better companion for the best 360 cameras. This will allow you to better immerse yourself in the action cam content you've captured on vacation so you can relive the adventure you went on when you're back home. Following months of teases from leakers, Apple has finally announced that you can use PlayStation VR 2 Sense controllers with the Vision Pro - with Apple explaining they will allow developers to "deliver even more engaging gameplay experiences." Perhaps this means we'll finally see more VR games finally get visionOS ports. Interestingly, Sony doesn't sell its PSVR 2 controllers separately from the headset - at least not at the time of writing. That may change following this reveal, but for now you'll need to spend $399.99 / £399.99 / AU$649.00 on the full PSVR 2 setup to get controllers to take advantage of this update. Thanks to a new generative AI algorithm, visionOS 26 is set to make spatial photos even more realistic - according to Apple. The AI will create new perspectives from your shots so you can lean into the immersive snaps you've captured with your iPhone 16. It's also improving the API for developers so they can enhance the Spatial scenes in their apps - such as improvements for Zillow's Immersive app which will allow users to better digitally explore homes and apartments using their Vision pro headset. Beyond improved spatial photos, Apple is bringing several other spatial upgrades to Vision Pro through visionOS 26. Customizable widgets are on their way. You'll be able to adjust their frame, color, and depth, plus Apple says they will integrate into your space, and reappear every time you put on your headset. So far it has confirmed the Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos apps will support widgets on visionOS. So you can decorate your space with a beautiful spatial panorama, or hang a distinctive digital clock up to keep track of the time you've spent immersed. Beyond widgets, Apple says visionOS 26 will introduce new options for Safari. Developers can now embed 3D objects and spatial scenes directly into web pages, and Apple says you'll be able to cut out distractions as you use Safari to help you focus. If you and other Apple Vision Pro users are in the same space you'll now be able to share the same spatial content and see it as if it were a real object in the room with you all. This means you can all sit on the couch and enjoy the same 3D blockbuster, or collaborate with your coworkers on a project. You can also add remote participants via FaceTime. Okay, enough spatial updates. With visionOS 26, Apple is also set to make Personas look and feel more natural, and the difference is striking. Personas look a lot less ghostly and have better hair, more well defined features, and generally look more like you rather than some kinda scary uncanny-valley dweller. A few smaller updates are on their way too, and I've recapped the most interesting ones here as a bonus seventh entry on this list. Apple Intelligence will now support French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, along with non-US English in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, and the UK. 'Look to scroll' will allow you to use just your eyes to navigate apps, and you can better organize them with new folders tools.

First look - Apple's visionOS 26 fixes my biggest Persona problem and takes the mixed reality headset to unexpected places

Apple Vision Pro is unquestionably one of the most powerful pieces of consumer hardware Apple has ever built, but the pricey gadget is still struggling to connect with consumers. And that's a shame because the generational-leaping visionOS 26 adds even more eye-popping features to the $3,500 headset, which I think you'd struggle to find with any other mixed reality gear. Apple unveiled the latest Vision Pro platform this week as part of its wide-ranging WWDC 2025 keynote, which also introduced a year-OS naming system. For some platforms like iOS, the leap from, say, 18 to 26 wasn't huge, but for the toddler visionOS 2, it was instantly thrust into adulthood and rechristened visionOS 26. This is not a reimaging of visionOS, and that's probably because its glassiness has been amply spread across all other Apple platforms in the form of Liquid Glass. It is, though, a deepening of its core attributes, especially around spatial computing and imagery. I had a chance to get an early hands-on experience with the platform, which is notable because Vision Pro owners will not be seeing a visionOS 26 Public beta. Which means that while iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV owners are test-driving OS 26 platform updates on their favorite hardware, Vision Pro owners will have a longer wait, perhaps not seeing these enhancements until the fall. In the interim, developers will, of course, have access for testing. Since much of the Vision Pro visionOS 26 interface has not changed from the current public OS, I'll focus on the most interesting and impactful updates. During the keynote, Apple showed off how visionOS 26 Personas radically moves the state of the art forward by visually comparing a current Persona with a new one. A Vision Pro Persona is a virtual, live, 3D rendering of your head that tracks your movements, facial expressions, and voice. It can be used for communicating with other people wearing the headgear, and it's useful for calls and group activities. Apple has been gradually improving Personas, but visionOS 26 is a noticeable leap, and in more ways than one. You still capture your Persona using the front-facing 3D camera system. I removed my eyeglasses and held the headset in front of my face. The system still guides you, but now the process seems more precise. I followed the audio guidance and looked slowly up, down, left, and right. I smiled and raised my eyebrows. I could see a version of my face faintly on the Vision Pro front display. It's still a bit creepy. I then put the headset back on and waited less than a minute for it to generate my new Persona. What I saw both distressed and blew me away. I was distressed because I hate how I look without my glasses. I was blown away because it looked almost exactly like me, almost entirely removing the disturbing "uncanny valley" look of the previous iterations. If you ever wonder what it would be like to talk to yourself (aside from staring at a mirror and having a twin), this is it. There was a bit of stiffness and, yes, it fixed my teeth even though part of my setup process included a big smile. It was easy enough to fix the glasses. The Personas interface lets you choose glasses, and now the selection is far wider and with more shades. I quickly found something that looked almost just like mine. With that, I had my digital doppelganger that tracked my expressions and voice. I turned my head from side to side and was impressed to see just how far the illusion went. One of the most intriguing moments of the WWDC Keynote was when they demonstrated visionOS 26's new widget capabilities. Widgets are a familiar feature on iPhones, iPads, and Macs, and, to an extent, they work similarly on Vision Pro, but the spatial environment takes or at least puts them in new and unexpected places. In my visionOS 26 demo experience, I turned toward a blank wall and then used the new widget setup to pin a clock widget to the wall. It looked like an actual clock hanging on the wall, and with a flip of one setting, I made it look like it was inset into the wall. It looked real. On another wall, I found a music widget with Lady Gaga on it. As I stepped closer, a play button appeared in the virtual poster. Naturally, I played a little Abracadabra. Another wall had multiple widgets, including one that looked like a window to Mount Fiji; it was actually an immersive photo. I instinctively moved forward to "look out" the window. As the vista spread out before me, the Vision Pro warned me I was getting too close to an object (the wall). I like Widgets, but temper the excitement with the realization that it's unlikely I will be walking from room to room while wearing Vision Pro. On the other hand, it would be nice to virtually redecorate my home office. The key to Vision Pro's utility is making its spatial capabilities useful across all aspects of information and interaction. visionOS 26 does that for the Web with spatial browsing, which basically can turn any page into a floating wall of text and spatially-enhanced photos called Spatial Scenes. visionOS 26 handles the last bit on the fly, and it's tied to what the platform can do for any 2D photo. It uses AI to create computational depth out of information it can glean from your flat image. It'll work with virtually any photo from any source, with the only limitation being the source image's original resolution. If the resolution is too low, it won't work. I marveled at how, when staring at one of these converted photos, you could see detail behind a subject or, say, an outcropping of rock that was not captured in the original image but is inexplicably there. It's such a cool effect, and I'm sure Vision Pro owners will want to show friends how they can turn almost all their photos into stereoscopic images. I love Vision Pro's excellent mixed reality capabilities, but there's nothing quite like the fully immersive experience. One of the best examples of that is the environments that you enable by rotating the crown until the real world is replaced by a 360-degree environment. visionOS 26 adds what may be the best environment yet: a view of Jupiter from one of its moons, Amalthea. It's beautiful, but the best part of the new environment is the control that lets you scroll back and forth through time to watch sunrises and sunsets, the planet's rotation, and Jupiter's dramatic storms. This is a place I'd like to hang out. Of course, this is still a developer's beta and subject to significant change before the final version arrives later this year. It's also another great showcase for a powerful mixed reality headset that many consumers have yet to try. Perhaps visionOS 26 will be the game changer.

Apple Vision Pro Will Show Lifelike Personas With visionOS 26

visionOS 26 was previewed by Apple at the keynote session of its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025. The upcoming major update to the operating system for the Vision Pro introduces new features and enhanced spatial experiences. The operating system also significantly improves Personas, adds spatial effects in Widgets, and brings a new Spatial Scenes feature. Apart from this, the Cupertino-based tech giant has also added new Apple Intelligence features and quality-of-life improvements. visionOS 26 developer beta is now available to download, and the first public beta is expected to arrive sometime next month. Unlike Apple's other operating systems, visionOS 26 will not undergo any drastic design changes, as the new Liquid Glass user interface (UI) is based on the spatial interface of visionOS. However, with this iterative update, the company has focused on refining the existing features and adding new ones that add to them. The tech giant has also focused on expanding the range of spatial (augmented reality or AR) experiences to bring cohesiveness to the OS. Apple is now making the widgets in visionOS 26 spatial. This means widgets such as Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos all support AR elements. Users can now immerse these widgets into their spaces, and these widgets will reappear at the same spot whenever they use their Vision Pro. The company says these widgets are customisable with a large number of options for frame width, colour, and depth. Vision Pro users can also decorate their mixed-reality spaces with widgets by adding spatial photos, clocks with unique watch faces, and quick access to playlists and songs on Apple Music. Personas are getting a major upgrade with visionOS 26. The tech giant says it used volumetric rendering and machine learning technology to improve the expressiveness and sharpness of the digital avatars. Personas will also show a full side profile view, and are said to feature accurate hair, eyelashes, and complexion. While creating a Persona, users can now also preview it and make adjustments to it. Notably, Apple has added more than 1,000 options for glasses. Shared spatial experiences are also getting an update. Apple Vision Pro users can now invite other users to their space to watch a movie in 3D, play a spatial game, or collaborate for work. Users can also add remote participants via FaceTime. Spatial Scenes can be understood as an enhanced version of spatial photos that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to add depth and increased perspective to an image. As a result, these images appear lifelike, where users can slightly lean into the scene. The new Spatial Scenes can be viewed via the Photos app, the Spatial Gallery app, and the Safari browser. The Safari browser is also getting spatial capabilities. With a new button, users can make the browsing and article reading experience more immersive. Safari will also support spatial scenes, enabling users to take full advantage of the experience. Additionally, Apple confirmed that visionOS 26 will support native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view (FOV) content from devices such as Insta360, GoPro, and Canon. Even if the content is 2D, users can now view these videos in a more immersive manner. The upcoming OS update will also add support for the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller. Apart from these major introductions and improvements, visionOS 26 is also getting new Apple Intelligence features, including updates to Image Playground. The AI features now also support new languages, including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, as well as English in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, and the UK. You can read more about the AI features here. Other quality of life improvements include Look to Scroll, which lets users explore apps and websites using their eyes. Users can now customise scroll speed, and developers have the option to integrate the feature into third-party apps. Control Centre is also being redesigned to display features such as Guest User, Focus, and Travel Mode in a single view. Additionally, users will now be able to unlock their iPhone while wearing their Vision Pro. This can be enabled in Settings for Face ID-supported iPhone models. The mixed-reality headset can also relay calls from a nearby iPhone and answer directly within Vision Pro.

visionOS 26 for Apple Vision Pro Brings New Spatial Experiences (WWDC 2025)

At WWDC 2025 Apple has introduced visionOS 26, a major update for the Apple Vision Pro, featuring enhanced spatial computing capabilities, immersive experiences, and expanded developer tools. The update includes spatial widgets, lifelike Personas, generative AI-powered spatial scenes, and new enterprise-focused APIs. It also supports advanced content playback, gaming controllers, and collaboration tools, further expanding the Vision Pro's functionality for personal, professional, and entertainment use. One of the standout features of visionOS 26 is the introduction of spatial widgets, which seamlessly integrate digital elements into the user's physical environment. These widgets, including Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos, adapt to the user's surroundings and reappear in the same location when the Vision Pro is used again. Users can customize the frame width, color, and depth of these widgets, tailoring them to their preferences and needs. This functionality creates a more personalized and contextually relevant experience, effectively blurring the boundaries between digital and physical spaces. By making information more accessible and visually integrated into real-world environments, spatial widgets enhance both productivity and convenience. VisionOS 26 introduces enhanced Personas, offering more lifelike virtual representations for digital communication. Using volumetric rendering and machine learning, these avatars now feature sharper details, full side profiles, and customizable glasses. This improvement significantly enhances the realism of virtual interactions, particularly in applications like FaceTime. By providing a more engaging and authentic experience, Apple is redefining how users connect and communicate in digital spaces, making virtual interactions feel more natural and immersive. Generative AI plays a pivotal role in visionOS 26, allowing the creation of spatial scenes that add depth and perspective to static images. This feature is integrated into native apps such as Photos and Safari, allowing users to transform traditional media into immersive experiences. Additionally, Apple has extended this capability to third-party developers through the Spatial Scene API, encouraging the development of innovative applications. By pushing the boundaries of content creation and consumption, visionOS 26 offers users new ways to engage with media, enriching the overall experience of digital storytelling. Collaboration receives a significant boost with the introduction of shared spatial experiences. This feature allows multiple Vision Pro users to work or enjoy entertainment together, whether they are in the same physical space or connected remotely via FaceTime. For instance, the Dassault Systèmes 3DLive app enables real-time collaborative 3D design visualization, streamlining teamwork on complex projects. This capability highlights Apple's commitment to fostering seamless collaboration across both professional and personal contexts, breaking down barriers to teamwork and shared experiences. VisionOS 26 enhances the Vision Pro's media playback capabilities, supporting 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide field-of-view content. This functionality is compatible with devices such as Insta360, GoPro, and Canon, allowing users to experience media in a more immersive way. Developers can integrate these playback features into their apps and websites, broadening the scope of immersive content available to users. This update caters to both content creators and consumers, enriching the Vision Pro's entertainment ecosystem and solidifying its appeal as a versatile media platform. Gaming on the Vision Pro is elevated with support for the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller, which offers precise motion tracking, touch detection, and vibration feedback. These features deliver a deeply immersive gaming experience, aligning the Vision Pro with established gaming platforms. By integrating with popular gaming hardware, Apple is positioning the Vision Pro as a competitive option for gamers seeking high-quality, immersive gameplay. This move underscores Apple's efforts to expand its presence in the gaming industry while enhancing the overall user experience. VisionOS 26 introduces several features tailored to enterprise users, focusing on security and productivity. New APIs enable secure content sharing and team device management, while personalized settings for shared Vision Pro devices improve workplace efficiency. The addition of the Logitech Muse accessory provides precise input for collaboration apps, further supporting professional use cases. These tools demonstrate Apple's commitment to addressing the needs of enterprise customers, making sure that the Vision Pro is a valuable asset in professional environments. VisionOS 26 includes a range of usability enhancements aimed at improving accessibility for a diverse audience. The "Look to Scroll" feature simplifies navigation by allowing eye-based interaction, while a redesigned Control Center introduces functionalities such as Guest User and Travel Mode. Integration with iPhone allows users to unlock the Vision Pro and relay calls seamlessly. Additionally, the Home View now supports app folders, offering better organization and ease of use. Expanded language support, including French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, ensures that the Vision Pro is accessible to a global audience, further broadening its appeal. VisionOS 26 represents a comprehensive evolution of Apple's Vision Pro headset, combining innovative technologies with practical tools for collaboration, content playback, and gaming. By integrating spatial computing, generative AI, and volumetric rendering, Apple continues to push the boundaries of AR and MR innovation. This update addresses the diverse needs of individual users and enterprises alike, reinforcing Apple's position as a leader in immersive technology. With visionOS 26, the Vision Pro is poised to redefine how users interact with digital content, collaborate with others, and experience entertainment in both personal and professional contexts. Find more information on Spatial Computing by browsing our extensive range of articles, guides and tutorials.

Apple Brings More Features To visionOS 26, Such As PSVR 2 Controller Support, First-Party Native Apps, Enhanced Widgets, And Unlocking iPhone With The Vision Pro

Those who spent a ludicrous sum on the Apple Vision Pro will be the first to enjoy visionOS 26, as the company has announced the new update to enhance the software experience on the mixed-reality headset. Starting with widgets, these can transform into spatial objects that integrate seamlessly into users' physical environments. Additions like Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos are not only customizable but also deliver unique interactions. The new Widgets app will also help discover compatible widgets from iOS and iPadOS apps. Next up is Personas, which has received a major upgrade since the last time Apple introduced a makeover. Now, the technology giant employs volumetric rendering and machine learning for bringing improved expressiveness, with incredible detail being spotted on avatars such as hair, lashes, and complexion details. With Spatial Scenes, Apple leverages generative AI and computational depth to transform regular photos into multi-perspective experiences, and visionOS 26 allows Vision Pro owners to watch 3D movies together, play spatial games, or collaborate on projects while adding remote participants via FaceTime, while donning separate AR headsets. An improved gaming experience can also be had with visionOS 26 thanks to PSVR 2 controller support, offering high-performance motion tracking, finger touch detection, and vibration feedback. The update also supports native playback of 180-degree, 360-degree, and wide FOV content from Insta360, GoPro, and Canon cameras. For enterprise customers, there is team device sharing, which allows organizations to manage shared Apple Vision Pro pools. A new security layer allows users to securely save eye data, hand patterns, vision prescriptions, and accessibility settings to their iPhone for seamless device switching. The company has also added a seamless way of unlocking your iPhone with the Apple Vision Pro, along with call relaying from iPhone. We also get Apple Intelligence features that offer new language support for French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish.

visionOS 26 brings spatial widgets, shared 3D experiences and more

Apple previewed visionOS 26 at WWDC 2025, a major update designed to enhance spatial experiences and add new capabilities to Apple Vision Pro. visionOS 26 elevates Apple Vision Pro with spatial widgets that blend naturally into 3D spaces, lifelike photo depth powered by generative AI, and more realistic Personas created using advanced rendering and machine learning. The update also adds support for PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, new enterprise tools, and expanded language options. Users can share immersive experiences -- such as movies, games, or FaceTime collaboration -- locally or remotely with enhanced tools. Apple highlights that visionOS 26 delivers more natural, connected spatial experiences by leveraging AI, spatial computing, and new hardware capabilities. Widgets in visionOS 26 are integrated into the user's space and reappear whenever Apple Vision Pro is used. These include Clock, Weather, Music, and Photos, each offering interactive features. Widgets are customizable and can be placed throughout the environment. Developers can also create custom widgets using WidgetKit. visionOS 26 enables shared spatial experiences in both local and remote settings. Dassault Systèmes, for example, uses this feature in its 3DLive app to help teams view and collaborate on 3D designs from different locations. Personas are now more expressive and natural-looking, with improved detail in hair, facial features, and side profiles. Users can quickly create a Persona on the device and make adjustments, including selecting from over 1,000 eyewear styles. visionOS 26 uses generative AI to add depth and multi-angle views to photos, explorable in apps like Photos, Safari, and Spatial Gallery, while Zillow Immersive enhances property listings with richer depth and perspectives. Safari now offers a spatial browsing mode that minimizes distractions and brings 3D elements into view as users scroll through content. Web developers can embed interactive 3D models directly into websites, allowing users to view and interact with objects in a more lifelike way. The update also adds native support for wide-angle, 180-degree, and 360-degree video formats from brands like Insta360, GoPro, and Canon, enabling immersive video playback on Vision Pro. The update adds compatibility with PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers, enabling advanced motion tracking, finger touch detection, and vibration for a more responsive gaming experience. visionOS 26 introduces enterprise-focused features such as team device sharing and cross-device profile syncing. Users can save vision-related settings to their iPhone and apply them on other Vision Pro devices. Support for Logitech Muse, a spatial input device, is also included for improved collaboration. The new Protected Content API helps businesses restrict access to sensitive content and prevent sharing or screenshots. visionOS 26 is now available for developers through the Apple Developer Program, with a stable update rolling out this fall. Apple Intelligence features require supported hardware, specific language settings, and regional availability. Certain features may not be accessible in all regions due to hardware compatibility, software needs, or local regulations, according to Apple.