VisionOS 2 — all the new features coming to Vision Pro

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple kicked off WWDC 2024 by announcing the newest version of its operating system for the Apple Vision Pro headset, highlighting new features and capabilities that will be rolling out later this year.

Photos

Currently, you can view spatial photos — photos that are in 3D — in the Vision Pro, but only ones that have been taken with the iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max. However, Apple is opening the Photos app so that any image that you've taken can be reimagined as a Spatial Photo; machine learning will create a 3D-like image from your 2D picture.

And, SharePlay will also be brought to Photos, so you can look at photos together with someone else who has a Vision Pro headset.

New gestures

Apple is tweaking and improving gesture controls in Vision 2.0, so that it's easier to bring up commonly used features and menus. For example, you'll be able to hold your hand up and tap to go back to Home Screen, flip hand over and tap to see battery life and time, and tap to open the Control Center.

Larger virtual display

For those who use the Vision Pro as a productivity device in conjunction with their Macbook, the Mac Virtual Display feature is being expanded, so that it will look like you can have two 4K monitors side-by-side.

Immersive photos and video

If you don't want to use your iPhone, Apple said that Canon would offer a new spatial lens for the EOS R7 so you can take spatial photos.

Additionally, a new Vimeo app will be coming to the Vision OS this fall, so that you can watch immersive video — 100-degree 8K video — on the headset.

A new immersive movie, "Submerged," will be coming to the Vision OS this fall.

Available in more countries

The Apple Vision Pro is also going to be released outside the U.S. Pre-orders for China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore will start this Thursday, June 13, at 6 p.m. PT and will be available on Friday, June 28.

Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom can pre-order the Vision Pro staring Friday, June 28, at 5 a.m. PT, and it will be available on Friday, July 12.

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Michael A. Prospero is the U.S. Editor-in-Chief for Tom’s Guide. He oversees all evergreen content and oversees the Homes, Smart Home, and Fitness/Wearables categories for the site. In his spare time, he also tests out the latest drones, electric scooters, and smart home gadgets, such as video doorbells. Before his tenure at Tom's Guide, he was the Reviews Editor for Laptop Magazine, a reporter at Fast Company, the Times of Trenton, and, many eons back, an intern at George magazine. He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, where he worked on the campus newspaper The Heights, and then attended the Columbia University school of Journalism. When he’s not testing out the latest running watch, electric scooter, or skiing or training for a marathon, he’s probably using the latest sous vide machine, smoker, or pizza oven, to the delight — or chagrin — of his family.