Apple updates the Vision Pro headsets with "Spatial Personas"

With its Vision Pro headsets, Apple has introduced "Spatial Personas," which are first restricted to FaceTime and Zoom. This function represents a major breakthrough in immersive communication technology and is now available on headsets with visionOS 1.1 or higher. Users hope that FaceTime will be able to be integrated into other apps through SharePlay, so it will be more than just chat platforms.

The Spatial Personas feature utilizes Vision Pro's built-in sensors to position the Persona within the user's environment. This is further augmented by spatial audio, which assigns a specific location to each Persona in relation to the user. Apple has illustrated this with an example where two Personas are positioned on either side of a window displaying the Freeform app, simulating a real-life office collaboration scenario.

The Spatial Personas feature is not limited to work-related activities. It can also be used for recreational purposes like watching movies or playing games, accommodating up to five users simultaneously. Spatial Personas are designed to mimic a user's facial expressions and hand movements to make interactions in spatial computing more natural. By pressing the Digital Crown button atop the Vision Pro, users can exit the immersive space to perform other tasks on their headset. Apple has upgraded Vision Pro avatars to capture diverse facial expressions and hairstyles.