If you’re expecting an Apple Vision Pro headset at the end of the week, you’ll probably know that you won’t be able to download a Netflix app. But you know what will be available? Zoom.
Of course, the Zoom app isn’t going to be the same as the one you’d find on an iPhone or iPad. This is a bespoke version of the best video calling app that takes advantage of all the hardware and features on the Apple Vision Pro — including the Persona feature.
The Persona is one of those features Apple is using to help Vision Pro users prevent being too cut off from the outside world. This means it will scan your face and create a “hyper realistic” avatar that can appear in video calls.
The general idea is that if you’re calling someone from FaceTime or Zoom, the avatar will display your facial expressions and hand movements for other callers to see. So if you’re the kind of person with a rather emotive face, or that likes to talk with their hands, you won’t miss out by calling through this headset.
Using a Persona avatar is optional, though. So if you’d rather stay off camera, so to speak, that’s still allowed. So long as your boss isn’t one of those micromanagers that insists everyone be on camera all the time.
Zoom claims that the Vision Pro app’s spatial experience can be “scaled to the perfect size," which means your Persona avatar should appear just like any other caller. Non Vision Pro users joining in will be presented as a floating tile. However, it will eventually be possible to use a feature called Team Chat, which lets you pin up to 5 other callers anywhere in your virtual space — and remove their background if you wish.
That way it apparently makes the call feel like a proper in-person meeting and helps a Vision Pro user “feel more connected." It’ll also be possible to share and view 3D objects within Zoom’s virtual space at some point in the Spring. That could, in theory, help Zoom on Vision Pro differentiate itself from FaceTime.
It’s not exactly the most thrilling app to be able to use on your pricey spatial computing machine, but it’s still a pretty important one. Apple is trying to push the Vision Pro as a dual-purpose entertainment and productivity device. For that to succeed it’s going to need the major players in the app world to be on board.
As much, as we don’t want to be stuck in Zoom calls all day, it does mean you can continue using your Vision Pro without having to switch to another machine.
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