This might be the first time you have heard of Apple’s Vision Pro headset and that’s fair — it’s only just come to the UK after all. But it isn’t just the lack of availability that makes the Vision Pro lesser known than the likes of the iPhone.
It’s also exceptionally expensive at £3,499, and virtual reality headsets are typically associated with gaming rather than anything else, making them difficult to visualise in day-to-day life. There’s something special about Vision Pro, though — and I say that as someone who doesn’t like virtual reality headsets (I’ve tried several in my time), nor gaming unless it’s Mario Kart.
I thought it had something the first time I tried out the Vision Pro in 2023 and that view has now been cemented after using it in my own home. So here is why the Apple Vision Pro is exciting and more importantly, what it offers that makes it worth at least trying for yourself before ruling it out.
Apple Vision Pro: At a glance
Key specifications
| Display | Micro-OLED, 23 million pixels, up to 100Hz refresh rate |
|---|---|
| Processors | Apple M2 and Apple R1 |
| Weight | Up to 650g |
| Battery life | Up to 2.5 hours |
| Storage | 256GB. 512GB, 1TB |
| Cameras and sensors | 12 cameras, 5 sensors |
| Operating system | visionOS |
Apple Vision Pro: Setup and use
As intimidating as it looks, the Vision Pro is incredibly easy to set up and use. The first time you put it on, you will be guided through a simple set-up process, with step-by-step instructions for setting up your hands and eyes for control, and a tutorial on using it, all of which takes a matter of minutes.
No physical controls are needed, while the gestures required are intuitive and recognised in natural positions too, so there’s no need for any dramatic arm waving.
You simply look to interact with something, with a light tap of your thumb and forefinger allowing you to select and move it around. You can also scroll and zoom or use Siri. Your hands need to be visible to the Vision Pro cameras, and you may occasionally need to recalibrate eye tracking for better accuracy but on the whole, it’s a great user experience.
Apple Vision Pro: How it works
The Apple Vision Pro puts a display system in front of your eyes with the equivalent of more pixels than a 4K TV per eye. What that means is when you put Vision Pro on, the space in front of you — whether that’s your living room, bedroom or a plane — is transformed into a huge display with exceptional detail. What you choose to view on that display is then up to you.
You could have your emails in the top right corner of your living room wall, a news feed where a window is, the Messages app next to you on the table, a presentation in the centre of your eye line, your Mac’s display off to the side, and photos from your most recent holiday on the ceiling.
All of these apps can be visible at the same time, surrounding you within your space while video passthrough allows you to still see that space through the glass.
The main home screen of the Vision Pro interface
The various apps can also be dragged around, scaled to whatever size suits you, and you can use “Environments” to expand the dimensions of your room and transport you to somewhere else entirely, like Haleakalā in Hawaii.
The “Digital Crown” (much like on an Apple Watch) allows you to gradually move between being fully immersed in a virtual world with those gorgeous landscapes, and your reality.
When you’re completely immersed, the landscape you picked will surround you wherever you look, which for meditation and focusing is incredible, especially if you add relaxing music. If someone approaches you, they appear in that landscape (depending on your settings), while they will see a representation of your eyes on the outside of your Vision Pro to indicate what you are looking at.
On the subject of immersive experiences, Apple Immersive Video offers content through Apple TV that transports you to somewhere you would (probably) never go, from a tightrope 3,000 feet in the air, to behind a basketball hoop, delivering an entirely different viewing perspective for sport. Immersive Video requires filming with proprietary cameras so you can’t buy a Vision Pro and watch the Euros final from inside the goal just yet, but there’s a huge amount of potential here, even if it isn’t fully realised yet.
Where potential is realised is viewing photos and videos, especially Spatial Videos that can be captured with iPhone 15 Pro. It’s a heartfelt experience, and for those with loved ones far away, it can bring moments to life.
Watching movies and TV shows is great too, even as a solo experience, but working using “Mac Virtual Display” was one of the things I found most enjoyable. It allowed me to see my Mac’s display as a huge screen in the Vision Pro virtual environment, and use my Mac keyboard to interact with both my Mac and the other apps I had open on Vision Pro.
I also loved playing a game called Sea Battle, which is basically Battleships. The execution of this classic game is excellent, and a fine way to give yourself a time out for 10 minutes. I played it on my own against the computer, as well as within a FaceTime call using SharePlay and both were great fun.
Apple Vision Pro: Design, weight and comfort
When it comes to what the Vision Pro is like to wear, I’m just going to go ahead and say it; no one can make a headset look good. They always look ridiculous and that applies as much here as it does to Meta’s Quest 3 and PSVR2. But the Vision Pro is at least a very premium-looking device, even if it does resemble ski goggles.
Everything is tactile with a lovely finish, from the material headbands to the speakers positioned next to each ear that offer an immersive audio experience while blending real-world sound with no need for headphones. Those real-world sounds are also blocked out when you’re on a call, which is clever.
Something called the “Light Seal” magnetically attaches to the frame of a Vision Pro and conforms to your face for a precise fit to block out stray light, while the Light Seal Cushion also magnetically attaches to the Light Seal for comfort and easy cleaning. It’s these aspects that are user specific so if you have multiple people wanting to use the headset, you will need separate Light Seals for the best experience.
In terms of weight, it’s by no means light. My cheeks knew about it when I wore it for more than an hour, and while the alternative “Dual Loop Band” strap helps with weight distribution, it is still heavy for extended use.
Apple Vision Pro with Solo Knitted Band
Apple Vision Pro with Dual Loop Band
Apple Vision Pro: Battery life and power
The Vision Pro has a separate battery pack rather than the battery being built into the headset itself — that would have made it even heavier, which you wouldn’t want.
The battery pack is smooth aluminium, around the size of an iPhone 15, and you will need to take it wherever you go to use the headset away form home. It will give you around two hours of use depending on what you’re doing and while that isn’t much, you can charge it while you are using the Vision Pro.
Apple Vision Pro: Price
There is no getting away from the price of Apple’s Vision Pro. As great as it is, you pay a small fortune for it. The Vision Pro starts at £3,499 — that’s for its base storage and before any extras like accessories or ZEISS Optical Inserts.
It’s also worth keeping in mind that a Vision Pro is a one-person device and if you want to use it for the whole family (it’s only designed for those over 13 years old), then you’ll need to buy individual Light Seals for the best experience for each person.
Good Housekeeping’s verdict on the Apple Vision Pro
The Apple Vision Pro is one of the most impressive pieces of technology I’ve used in my 11 years as a technology journalist. The experiences it delivers are incredible, from expanding your workspace and offering immersive environments for a moment of calm, to transporting you to places you would never experience in real life and reimagining how you might watch sporting events or a concert.
It is unbelievably expensive, it’s heavy to wear and a lot of its potential hasn’t been fully realised yet. But none of those flaws take away from the fact that the Apple Vision Pro will take your breath away.
Whether it’s worth its huge price tag will depend on your circumstances, but I’d urge you to go into an Apple Store and try it out for yourself because there really is nothing like it and that’s worth experiencing.
Britta O’Boyle has been a technology journalist since 2003. She’s covered everything from phones, tablets and fitness devices, to smart home, and beauty tech. You’ll find her name on reviews, explainers, roundups and expert tips, covering Apple, Google, Samsung, Sonos, Dyson and many more.
She’s always tried to take a more simplified approach to products, focusing on what she thinks actually matters in use, rather than getting caught up in the jargon. She was one of the first journalists in the world to try Apple’s Vision Pro headset, she’s gone behind the scenes at Peloton and she can give you more than 40 fun facts about Mac.
Britta has a First Class Honours degree in Fashion Journalism from the University of the Arts London and prior to a 10-year stint as deputy editor of Pocket-lint from 2013 to 2023, she wrote about interiors for 3 years, covering the rise in technology in the home.
As a freelance journalist, she co-founded The Disconnekt and she’s Editor-at-Large for The Ambient. You’ll also find her byline on several prestigious titles including The Telegraph, British GQ, The Express, The Mirror, TechRadar, T3, Stuff, TechAdvisor, Trusted Reviews, Expert Reviews, Wareable and iMore.
She’s also been a guest on several radio stations, including BBC Radio, Siren FM and Academy FM, discussing features to implement on devices to keep children safer online. You’ll never find her without her Apple Watch on (usually alongside another fitness tracker she’s testing), aiming to complete her rings so she can justify the extra bar of chocolate. When she’s not recording the dog walk as an Outdoor Walk, she’s trying to keep up with her two young children.
