Apple will soon allow users to upload their own spatial videos to Vision Pro demo units in hopes to really drive home the headset’s value proposition.

When it comes to plonking down $3,500 for Vision Pro, seeing truly is believing, as anyone who wants to buy Apple’s first mixed reality headset can sign up for an in-store demo. That is, anyone in the US, as the company still hasn’t announced when it’s launching Vision Pro internationally.

As reported by 9 to 5 Mac, it was discovered in the iOS 17.5 beta 2 software release that Apple will not only be serving up its regular slate of pre-loaded Vision Pro spatial videos during in-store demos, but also allow users to upload their own content soon.

Spatial videos captured on a prospective owner’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will be transferred to Vision Pro, which will notably have a limit to keep the whole process snappy. According to message obtained by 9 to 5 Mac, all files will be deleted immediately after the demo session for privacy reasons.

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“We recommend selecting shorter videos and up to X items to ensure quick transfer times,” the message reads. “Your items will be deleted off of Apple Vision Pro at the end of the demo and will not be accessible to anyone else. You will have the option to delete your items on Apple Vision Pro at any time during the demo.”

It’s been widely rumored that spatial video capture will be a more prominent feature moving forward on successive iPhone models, reportedly arriving on a wider swath of iPhone 16 models in the near future.

Although we’re not expecting a specific announcement as such, we’ll be following Apple’s WWDC 2024 when it kicks off in June, which is said to showcase updates to visionOS in addition to the regular deluge of software feature updates for the company’s wider family of devices.

In the meantime, you can actually already watch your iPhone-captured spatial videos on Quest, as Meta has officially supported the MV-HVEC video codec involved in Apple’s spatial video capture.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.

  • ‘kay.

  • ViRGiN

    It appears like all hype of AVP has fully died, and that there is nothing really going with development for it.
    It’s all gimmicks.

    • Arashi

      Did you even try it yourself? Definitely not a gimmick.

      • ViRGiN

        No, since it’s USA exclusive.
        What’s there to try? Micro OLED displays? I know they are the best. Software/OS is pretty much Apple exclusive, so I have nothing to carry my work over to. Other than that, it’s just hyper uncomfortable 2D ipad wore on your face. It’s kinda supposed to be productivity device, and it’s just impossible for it to replace even a single 24″ 1080p monitor.
        Haven’t seen any development of any desirable apps – it’s all gimmicks exclusively.

        • Arashi

          I 100% understand where you’re coming from. I was like that before trying it. But this thing is just EXTREMELY well executed. It’s just so much better than anything else out there, believe me, I own pretty much all of them. Sure, it s*cks that there’s no native SteamVR, it would have even been SO much better with it. But honestly, you’ll need to own a VERY high end expensive oled TV if you want to beat this video quality. I own one but for the first time I enjoy video’s on a headset just as much. And you can watch it literally anywhere, big thing, at least for me. Same for productivity. And spatial video’s is a HUGE thing, I didnt think it is. But for example if you have young kids, shoot a spatial video of them and watch it back, it will do something to you, 100% guaranteed. It’s really like recording a memory, it’s quite insane. Is it worth the money? For most I guess not, it’s really expensive. But it’s 100% not a “gimmick”. I really love mine.

          • ViRGiN

            So much better than anything else out there?
            In terms of OS support+apps, maybe. But my work does not consist of running tablet apps.
            It’s completly pointless for me as media theather, because it is uncomfortable and heavy – and this is something no headstrap can ever solve. I can put up with some discomfort for getting immersed in virtual worlds – but for movie watching? This thing barely supports sideloading your own.
            I don’t have iphone so I can’t record “spatial” videos, but I’ve seen them on Quest 3 – and yeah, cool, not cool enough to dump my entire history of computing to switch to Apple.
            I’d rather be in a moment, and use 360 camera to capture everything around me instead – yeah in 2D, but everyone, no matter the device can access it.

            So in summary – it’s not a productive device, there is very little content to consume, all vision os apps are super basic, it’s too heavy, it requires battery attached etc etc etc. There is literally zero value here for me, regardless of price. To even develop for it you need to buy a special adapter about the price of Quest lol.

            You aren’t really going to convince anyone that wieght isn’t an issue – apple isn’t even offering proper straps themselves, they went out of their way to not have over the top strap because it does not look cool.

            I just don’t see how or why actually trying AVP would change my mind on anything here. I’ve been into VR since 2012 and saw it nearly all.

          • Arashi

            Haha not even trying to convince you, why would I. Enjoying mine a lot. If you really care about VR in general it might be a cool idea to take a demo at an apple store near you when it releases. That’s why I did it in the first place and then it blew me away.

          • ViRGiN

            I will demo it, and likely can appreciate the displays and eye tracked interaction, but that’s it. I do my work on triple 48 inch oled monitors, the entire space does not fit in my field of view. Doing any work in avp would be a pure downgrade in every sense.

      • Tajima Tenshin

        Spatial = 3D video ahahahah!

  • Tajima Tenshin

    Yoi! You mean “3D stereo videos”. Nothing Spatial about them. All hype and CG trickery on the marketing videos