In the run-up to WWDC next week, Apple has once again leaked a reference to its xrOS software platform of the Reality Pro headset. As spotted by Steve Troughton-Smith, the latest xrOS reference from Apple has popped up in App Store Connect for developers…
Apple Store Connect is the platform through which developers can manage and distribute their apps for platforms including iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. In a post on Mastodon, Troughton-Smith showed off how he attempted to trick App Store Connect and submit an app for xrOS.
App Store Connect then threw up an error message that reads: “Incorrect Platform. You included the xros arm64 executable in your ios bundle. Only ios executables can be included.”
What this means, according to Troughton-Smith, is that Apple has already updated internal tools to spot xrOS binaries. “It suggests App Store Connect is using AppleInternal versions of the linker tooling which already have been updated to recognize xrOS binaries,” he explained.
Troughton-Smith also pointed out that you can’t just submit a binary with any random operating system name. Instead, developers choose a number based on Apple’s platforms and App Store Connect comes up with the name of that operating system itself.
Once again, this also shows that Apple at one point considered calling the software platform for its headset “realityOS” rather than xrOS.
Bloomberg has reported that Apple plans to market xrOS as meaning “extended reality.” The company has registered various wordmarks and trademarks for xrOS around the world using shell companies. As 9to5Mac first reported back in March, Apple has also openly (and often) referenced xrOS and realityOS in its open source code.
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