Apple Vision Pro – The Killer App No One is Talking About

The more I use Apple Vision Pro, the more it blows my mind, and the more clear it becomes that this is our future. It is truly tomorrow’s technology today. It is the closest thing we have to Ready Player One, the novel that inspired so many of us to jump into the XR industry.

I say this with both excitement and anxiousness, as we straddle the line between dystopia and utopia. The world inside Apple Vision Pro is dimmer and noisier and hurts my eyes after more than 20 minutes, but it is filled with the most glorious technicolor dreams. Apple finally made a headset worth keeping on your face for extended periods of time. Here's why:

Apple Vision Pro is a paradigm shift for communication because it is social by default. There are no third-party apps or complex processes required to connect with other people, both inside and outside the headset. It takes apps like FaceTime to new heights, allowing us to communicate with each other in profound ways. Freeform and SharePlay take on an entirely different context far more meaningful than the one on flat screens.

I've had three FaceTimes with fellow Vision Pro owners so far, each one more incredible than the next. Seeing someone's persona on a phone is strange and uncanny, but talking persona to persona inside the headset is completely different. Friends I haven't seen in person for years appear as near photorealistic 3D versions of themselves within a square frame. Sure, that’s cool, but here’s what’s mind blowing:

- I can pick up the frame and take my friends around my space from my kitchen to the living room. I can place them above my kitchen counter or on a wall like a talking painting from Harry Potter.

- I can share a livestream view from my first person perspective, so they can see through my eyes and vice versa.

- SharePlay allows us to seamlessly collaborate in apps like Freeform so we have a giant collaborative whiteboard we can add photos, drawings, and even spatial media to. I called Forest Gibson and he added a 3D scan of his baby, which leapt off the flat canvas into my world. Wow. ??

I hear people complain that VR isolates you, and this admittedly has been one of the big reasons why I rarely used my Quest. Apple has gone to great lengths to address this social challenge.

Apple chose to include the external display, EyeSight, because it provides a subtle yet important effect that humanizes the experience of looking at someone wearing something that occludes your eyes. It helps people around me feel like they're looking at me even though I'm wearing a headset. Besides that, when I’m in a fully immersive experience, people in the real world that require my attention will subtly emerge into my view, allowing me to easily interact with them.

This is but one sliver of the overall experience. I have waited so long for this moment, and it is finally here. Time to build!

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