Apple is releasing the first beta of visionOS 2.4 today, and it just might be the biggest update yet for Apple Vision Pro users. The update brings support for Apple Intelligence, major improvements to Guest Mode, a new Spatial Gallery app, an Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone, and more. Here’s everything you need to know…
“Apple Vision Pro is helping users communicate, collaborate, and experience entertainment in entirely new ways — and we’re continuing to push the boundaries of what’s possible in spatial computing with visionOS 2.4,” said Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Vision Products Group. “With Apple Intelligence, Vision Pro users will be able to take their productivity and creativity to new heights using features like Writing Tools, Image Playground, and Genmoji. And we’re excited for users to discover and share incredible new experiences with Spatial Gallery.”
Apple Intelligence support
With visionOS 2.4, Vision Pro is adding support for Apple Intelligence, Apple’s suite of artificial intelligence features. When Apple Intelligence was introduced at WWDC last year, Apple told a clear story about the features on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple Vision Pro, meanwhile, missed out on the fun. That’s changing now.
Genmoji on Apple Vision Pro lets you make custom emoji based on text descriptions and people in your Photos library. Genmoji is accessible directly from the keyboard in various Apple apps like Messages.
Image Playground allows you to create images based on concepts, text descriptions, and people from your Photos library. You can access Image Playground with a dedicated app that has been designed specifically to take advantage of Vision Pro’s spatial computing interface. Just like on other platforms, it’s also integrated right into Messages.
visionOS 2.4 also adds the familiar Writing Tools feature to Vision Pro. Writing Tools lets you easily proofread and rewrite your text, with built-in options for making your text friendlier, professional, and concise. You can also generate summaries, key points, lists, and tables based on your text. Writing Tools on Apple Vision Pro can also tap into ChatGPT to create text from scratch based on your prompts.
Smart Reply identifies what’s in an email or Messages thread and suggests relevant responses. The update also includes the memory movie feature in the Photos app to create custom memory movies based on your description. Apple Intelligence then finds the best photos and videos to craft a storyline. Natural language search in the Photos app is also now available.
A few more tidbits on Apple Intelligence in visionOS 2.4:
visionOS 2.4 also includes support for Priority Messages in Mail, Mail Summaries, Image Wand in Notes, Priority Notifications in Notification Center, and Notification Summaries. Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing to protect users’ privacy whenever possible. For requests that require even larger models, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple products into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill the request. Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to continuously verify this privacy promise, and are already doing so.
As for now, Vision Pro retains its existing Siri experience without any further upgrades. For example, unlike on other Apple Intelligence platforms, you can’t access ChatGPT via Siri on visionOS 2.4. Apple says more features and languages will come to Siri on Apple Vision Pro throughout the rest of the year.
New Spatial Gallery app
Apple has other new features coming to Vision Pro with visionOS 2.4 beyond Apple Intelligence support. First, there’s a new Spatial Gallery app. This app aggregates spatial photos, spatial videos, and panoramas into a central place. All the content, curated by Apple for Apple Vision Pro users, is free and will be updated regularly.
The Spatial Gallery app includes content across different categories like sports, travel, entertainment, and more.
Here’s how Apple describes it:
visionOS 2.4 introduces Spatial Gallery, a new app that features a selection of spatial photos, spatial videos, and panoramas curated by Apple for Apple Vision Pro. With Spatial Gallery, users will enjoy breathtaking and intimate moments spanning art, culture, entertainment, lifestyle, nature, sports, and travel, with new content released regularly. At launch, users can discover remarkable perspectives from photographers like Jonpaul Douglass and Samba Diop; new stories and experiences from iconic brands including Cirque du Soleil, Red Bull, and Porsche; behind-the-scenes moments from Apple Originals like Disclaimer, Severance, and Shrinking; and special moments from top artists.
The Spatial Gallery app will be included when visionOS 2.4 is released in April.
Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone
In conjunction with iOS 18.4, visionOS 2.4 is adding a new “Apple Vision Pro” app to iPhone. In this app, Vision Pro users can discover content and spatial experience, find useful tips about their device, and more.
The app has a wide-ranging Discover page that showcases immersive video from the TV app, content from the Spatial Gallery app, and details on new apps and app updates. This is also where Apple will highlight new features coming to Vision Pro. The app also has a “My Vision Pro” section with information about serial numbers, optical inserts, AppleCare coverage, and more.
This app will appear on your iPhone automatically after you update your iPhone to iOS 18.4 and your Apple Vision Pro to visionOS 2.4. If you don’t have an Apple Vision Pro, you can download this app from the App Store to explore the Discover page and learn more about the spatial computing platform.
The app will be released when visionOS 2.4 ships to everyone in April.
Guest User enhancements
Guest User is a way for Apple Vision Pro users to share their headset with friends, family, and colleagues. The first version of the feature required the Vision Pro owner to put on the device and select which apps they wanted to share with the guest user. Then, the guest user would put on Vision Pro and go through the hand and eye tracking calibration.
With visionOS 2 last fall, Apple updated the feature to let a guest user save their hand and eye data for 30 days, so they wouldn’t have to go through that calibration process each time.
visionOS 2.4 makes another notable update to the experience. Now, the Vision Pro owner doesn’t have to put on the Vision Pro before sharing it with a guest. Instead, the guest can put the headset on, then request access from the owner. The owner of the Vision Pro will see a popup on their iPhone, where they can easily approve that request and select which apps to share with the guest.
During that flow, the Vision Pro owner can also turn on AirPlay so they can see what the guest is doing and help guide them.
Wrap up
Apple has a couple of other small updates coming to Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 2.4. The Dictation feature now supports editing your text using your voice. You can also now solve inline math equations in the Notes app, just like the functionality that came to iOS 18 last year.
The first developer beta of visionOS 2.4 is rolling out today. The update will be released to the general public in April.
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