Apple is previewing visionOS 2, the next-gen operating system coming this fall for its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. The new system includes a Mac Virtual Display that creates the ultra-wide equivalent of two side-by-side 4K monitors. The new OS updates navigational hand gestures and adds a Photos app feature that turns existing 2D pictures into spatial images. At WWDC Apple also announced that Blackmagic Design will release the URSA Cine Immersive, the first commercial camera system designed to capture images for the Vision Pro, and Canon unveiled a dual-lens optical setup for APS-C cameras.

The moves come as “Apple is pushing immersive video harder,” reports PetaPixel, writing in an article focused on the new Canon lens attachment that “in addition to the ability to capture immersive video using an iPhone, which has been an option since the Vision Pro launched, Apple is also promoting additional ways to capture content.”

“The Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive will work with an updated version of DaVinci Resolve, the industry-leading post-production software, that will give professional filmmakers the ability to edit Apple Immersive Video for the first time,” ProVideo Coalition writes, exploring at length the camera specs and creative possibilities for Apple Immersive Video, “a brand-new storytelling format that leverages 8K, 3D video with a 180-degree field of view, and spatial audio to transport viewers to the center of the action.”

For developers, visionOS 2 adds new tools to help build apps that are “more volumetric and shareable.” Apple says there are already more than 2,000 apps available for the Vision Pro after five months on the market.

But The Verge suggests the new ultrawide virtual display is the “most significant” OS update. VisionOS 2 facilitates connection of the Vision Pro with a Mac to create the virtual equivalent of adjacent 4K curved displays. Currently, the Vision Pro virtual display feature is limited to a single 5K curved display, The Verge notes.

Apple has also tweaked the home screen. The Verge calls “the ability, at long last, to rearrange apps on your homescreen — and that includes iPad and iPhone apps” — a “deeply needed” improvement.

New hand gestures have been added for conjuring the home screen, navigating to Control Center, and checking battery life or the time (“using a very clever wrist roll that’s not dissimilar from looking at your watch,” The Verge says). For those who would like to share their Vision Pro experience with friends or family, they can be added as a Guest User and have their eye and hand data saved for 30 days.

More good news for productivity enthusiasts, “to create the perfect workspace, visionOS 2 also adds mouse support for additional workflow options, and Vision Pro will now reveal the user’s physical Magic Keyboard — even when they are fully immersed in an environment or app,” Apple details in a newsroom post.

Related:
Can Apple Rescue the Vision Pro?, The New York Times, 6/11/24
Canon Is Making a New Lens to Capture Spatial Video for Apple’s Vision Pro, Engadget, 6/10/24