First look at the Apple Vision Pro’s VisionOS? Kind of?
Apple made computers before it started to make some of the best phones on the market. And it only took 31 years for that transition to happen. So it’s probably a good thing that it took 16 for the company to be able to expand to a new product category through the Apple Vision Pro.
Let’s call it how it is: the VR market is stagnant and what we call “innovations” are just minor stepping stones. But the Apple Vision Pro — along with its insane price tag — may just be the giant leap that we’d been hoping for. Especially in terms of AR.
Because, let's be honest, if headsets are to become more widely adopted, they'd require more than questionable "immersive gaming" as a selling point.
But as of now, Apple's headset, and the VisionOS operating system it runs on, are limited only to developers. And a limited group of developers at that. But then someone recreated parts of VisionOS on Unity and made it run on the Meta Quest Pro.
Okay, the best part of NovaUI Unity — the name for this fan-made project — is that it’s actually open-source and as widely available as it can be, as long as you have a Quest Pro unit lying around. Which is, still, quite the limiting factor, but at least non-owners can check out the video above.
And you need that AR/VR headset specifically, because it has eye-tracking support. That, in turn, allowed the developer to utilize eye-tracking for targeting of apps, while pinching selects them. Which is pretty close to what Apple showcased during WWDC of 2023!
The demo isn’t that substantial when it comes to content, as you obviously can’t run any of the apps — they are pretty much just placeholder icons. But what you can do is just browse around to get a feel of what Apple is actually doing for VisionOS.
Let’s call it how it is: the VR market is stagnant and what we call “innovations” are just minor stepping stones. But the Apple Vision Pro — along with its insane price tag — may just be the giant leap that we’d been hoping for. Especially in terms of AR.
But as of now, Apple's headset, and the VisionOS operating system it runs on, are limited only to developers. And a limited group of developers at that. But then someone recreated parts of VisionOS on Unity and made it run on the Meta Quest Pro.
Okay, the best part of NovaUI Unity — the name for this fan-made project — is that it’s actually open-source and as widely available as it can be, as long as you have a Quest Pro unit lying around. Which is, still, quite the limiting factor, but at least non-owners can check out the video above.
The demo isn’t that substantial when it comes to content, as you obviously can’t run any of the apps — they are pretty much just placeholder icons. But what you can do is just browse around to get a feel of what Apple is actually doing for VisionOS.
And this is the place I'd describe what that feels like, but explaining AR/VR sensations is really difficult. Also, I don't have the Meta Quest Pro, so there's that too.
So, how close is it to the actual Apple Vision Pro? Well, at this point, only a few people can actually tell you and most of them would likely rather just continue on tinkering with the Vision Pro itself, so... No clue.
So, how close is it to the actual Apple Vision Pro? Well, at this point, only a few people can actually tell you and most of them would likely rather just continue on tinkering with the Vision Pro itself, so... No clue.
And it’ll probably take until the headset actually releases — which is scheduled for next year — before a solid comparison is made. But until then? NovaUI is certainly a cool little project!
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