Starting today, Vision Pro personas will be able to do more than hover like a ghost in FaceTime calls. Now, you can use them in SharePlay-enabled apps to collaborate, play games, or watch media with other people.
Apple is calling this a “spatial Persona.” The idea is to make it feel like you’re in the same physical space as another user. It was part of what Apple showed in developer previews last year but hasn’t been available in the actual Persona beta until now. It’s a bit hard to imagine, but you can see what it looks like in the video below.
Each user will purportedly be able to control what they see and reposition where an object is without impacting what another user sees. Spatial audio will also supposedly help you sense where the other person is in the virtual space.
To enable the feature, you’ll have to make sure you’re on at least VisionOS 1.1 and select the spatial Persona option during a FaceTime call. Up to five people can participate in a spatial Persona session at a time.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/16019274/acastro_181017_1777_brain_ai_0003.jpg?w=100&resize=100,100&ssl=1 "OpenAI says ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users")
We’ll have to test how well the feature works, especially since it relies on SharePlay and the Vision Pro app store is still a bit bare bones. Whether I feel less lonely by inviting another ghostly Persona buddy with me while I watch a movie remains to be seen.