visionOS is the operating system for Apple’s spatial computer, the Apple Vision Pro AR/VR headset. Below are all the details about the first visionOS version, including when it arrived and how it works.

visionOS Release Date

Apple first introduced the Vision Pro operating system on June 5 at WWDC 2023. Rumors initially called it xrOS and realityOS, but its final name is visionOS. It was released with the Vision Pro in February 2024.

visionOS Price

visionOS is free, available to Apple Vision Pro users.

visionOS Features

visionOS is similar to Apple’s other operating systems, like iOS and iPadOS. The main distinction, of course, is that it’s designed specifically for a headset. This difference makes interacting with apps fundamentally unique.

There’s a Home View to start you off, similar to the home screen on an iPhone or iPad. This is where all your Apple Vision Pro apps are located. A dedicated visionOS App Store is how you download compatible apps and other content.

The overall setup is similar to what we’re all used to on our smartphones. But instead of interacting with the OS through a traditional screen, like a phone, the interface is superimposed onto the real world. Apps make use of a 3D interface and can be positioned right in front of you as if they exist in the same room.

The Vision Pro operating system can show several open apps at the same time, similar to a computer screen. visionOS apps can be resized however you see fit, meaning they can be stacked on top of one another and moved anywhere within your vision.

In fact, Apple says the headset “creates an infinite canvas for apps that scales beyond the boundaries of a traditional display.” This means you can put apps anywhere: front and center to focus on just one, next to each other like a multi-monitor setup, or layered on top of each other at different depths. You can also bring a single app into focus that takes up the whole space.

If you don’t want to see any of the real world, maybe to focus 100 percent on a single app, you can make use of the Digital Crown. This is a physical button on Apple Vision Pro that you can twist to switch between AR and VR. Instead of being present in the room, you’re transported to a purely virtual landscape Apple calls Environments. You get to pick the scene; a few of these are named Yosemite, Sky, Joshua Tree, The Moon, and Winter Light.

Vision Pro can integrate with your Mac so you can use a larger, virtual display in place of the physical one. In fact, an original display isn’t even necessary. Seeing this work honestly feels like magic; just look at a compatible computer to spin up a private 4K display that you can arrange anywhere you like in your digital space.

Apple’s headset doesn’t have a built-in mouse or keyboard, so you might be wondering how you interact with apps. Without a screen to touch, Apple has designed new ways to open and use apps. In addition to eye tracking and voice control, specific hand gestures are mapped to certain actions, letting you do things like tap to select and flick to scroll.

Here are some other noteworthy features:

• A virtual movie screen automatically darkens the room when you start watching, and it can be resized to feel 100 feet wide.
• Access Apple Immersive Videos, which are 180-degree 3D 8K recordings, captured with Spatial Audio, that the company says will transport you to places you’ve never been.
• Create a persona so that when you’re video chatting, recipients will see your digital representation instead of you wearing the headset. It even mimics your face and hand movements in real time.
• Use the multi-use Digital Crown to adjust the immersion level, recenter content, adjust volume, open Accessibility settings, or exit an app.
• EyeSight displays your eyes through the headset if someone enters your direct field of view, and hides your eyes as they walk away.
• All your Safari tabs are easy to see at a glance.
• Play media, open and close apps, and more with Siri.
• Although there’s a dedicated App Store for visionOS-compatible apps, you can still access the full library of existing iOS apps, even if they’re not updated for the 3D UI.
• Optionally, use a keyboard, mouse, or another Bluetooth device to interact with visionOS. For example, you can play Apple Arcade games with a controller.
• Connect to iCloud so your content is synced with your other Apple devices.
• Interact with text in the real world to do things like run translations, copy text into an app, and open a link.
• Much like Face ID and Touch ID, authentication in visionOS is through Optic ID. Iris scanning supports all the same things as those other biometric systems, meaning you can buy things and log in to the headset and apps simply by having your eye scanned.
• View panoramas that wrap around you to feel like you’re right there where they were taken.

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