Apple brings productivity and collaboration updates to Vision Pro

During its 2024 Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote, Apple announced a wave of new productivity and collaboration updates for its Vision Pro augmented reality headset.

The launch of Apple’s next Vision Pro operating system, VisionOS 2, will unlock new enterprise features, including an ultra-wide Mac display and mouse and keyboard support.

As part of Apple’s keynote: Mike Rockwell, vice president of the Vision Products group at Applereinforced the company’s long-standing message about Apple Vision Pro as an enterprise productivity tool:

Apple Vision Pro and VisionOS open up completely new possibilities for entertainment, productivity, collaboration and much more.”

“Vision Pro has inspired developers to create amazing and unique spatial applications that are not possible on any other platform.”

Rockwell continues: “(You can) bring your data to life with SAP, and physicians can even reimagine simulation and surgical planning.”

Coming soon to Vision Pro

The new ultra-wide virtual display feature is arguably the biggest productivity update, providing users with a huge space that can accommodate multiple windows, effectively eliminating wasted time switching between tabs.

Haley Allen, director of VisionOS program management at Apple, gave an idea of ​​what to expect: “People love Mac virtual displays. It will get even better later this year with a higher resolution and size, and can be expanded even further to create an ultra-wide display that wraps around you, equivalent to two 4K monitors.”

VisionOS 2 will offer mouse support for the Vision Pro, which was strangely absent during the initial launch of the Vision Pro.

In addition, a physical keyboard is to be added, which will naturally significantly increase the productivity of AR device users.

VisionOS 2 also brings various updates, including spatial computing improvements, a photo app, a new “Bora Bora” digital experience, additional online video players such as YouTube, Amazon and Netflix, and additional content will be available through “Apple Immersive” videos “.

Allen outlined the latest photo capabilities: “VisionOS 2 lets you do something truly amazing with the photos already in your library.

“Advanced machine learning extracts the left and right eye views from a beautiful 2D image at the press of a button, creating a 3D photo with natural depth. Now you can watch all your panoramas, 3D photos and videos with your loved ones using SharePlay in the Photos app.

She also commented on the headset’s intuitive control system:

People are surprised by how easy the Vision Pro is to use.”

“Now you can simply raise your hand and tap to open the Home View, or flip your hand to view the time and battery life, then tap again to open Control Center.”

The VisionOS 2 update is ready for Vision Pro users after a series of beta tests. Apple plans to release the update this fall, free to all users. The tech giant is yet to announce the full feature set of the operating system.

Apple Vision Pro will launch internationally on June 28 in China, Japan and Singapore, followed by July 12 in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK.