Apple's new Vision Pro headset can scan a user's face and use advanced machine learning to create a photorealistic "Persona" of them for video calls. And in a future visionOS update, these avatars will become even more realistic.
Spatial Persona on Vision Pro
In its Platforms State of the Union video for developers this week, Apple announced that it is working on "Spatial Personas" that will allow Vision Pro users to "break out of the familiar FaceTime tile and feel more present, like they are gathered in the same physical space." Spatial Personas will have a transparent background and be able to display more movement and body language for a more lifelike experience.
A regular Persona on Vision Pro
Spatial Personas will be available on FaceTime calls, including for SharePlay sessions.
"In a SharePlay session, Spatial Personas let you feel present with others in a way technology has never enabled before," said Apple, in a related WWDC video. "You can look your friends in the eye, express yourself naturally with movement and body language, and best of all, enjoy a shared activity together using your app."
Apple said a developer preview of Spatial Personas will be available later this year, but it did not indicate when the feature will be publicly released. Vision Pro does not launch until early 2024 in the U.S. and will be priced at $3,499.
Tuesday October 13, 2026 5:26 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Apple on Monday announced Remnants, an immersive horror film that will be released exclusively on the Vision Pro on Friday, October 16.
The film will be in the Apple Immersive Video format, meaning it will be a 3D video recorded in 8K resolution with a 180-degree field of view and Spatial Audio.
Apple shared a short video of people reacting to the film while wearing the Vision Pro....
Monday October 26, 2026 10:46 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today released visionOS 27.2, the first big update for the visionOS 27 operating system that runs on the Apple Vision Pro.
visionOS 27.2 can be downloaded by opening the Settings app, selecting the General section, and choosing Software Update. Installing the update requires the headset to be removed, and a progress bar appears on the EyeSight display.
The visionOS 27.2 update...
Monday October 19, 2026 10:25 am PDT by Juli Clover
Alongside new betas of iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, and macOS Golden Gate 27.2, Apple has seeded the release candidate versions of watchOS 27.2, tvOS 27.2 and visionOS 27.2. The RCs come a week after Apple released the fourth betas.
Registered developers can download the betas through the Settings app on each device.
There's no word on what's being added in visionOS 27.2 and tvOS 27.2, but...
By all means let’s combine “Spatial Personas” with “Personal Voice” and then our AI-generated images and sounds can just talk to each other over FaceTime long after we’re dead.
This is an impressive forward-thinking technology but I'm not a fan of 3D Spatial Personas'. It just looks creepy. No matter who it's going to be. It will always remind me of Zuckerberg.
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