New Apple Vision Pro update adds 'Spatial Personas' as a visionOS 1.1 beta feature

Beta software will let up to five Apple Vision Pro wearers utilize SharePlay in FaceTime

I can just see it right now: a psychiatrist asking: “These ‘Spatial Personas.’ Are they in the room with us right now?” The answer is “Yes, Doc!” Two months in, our updated Apple Vision Pro review has been tweaked yet again, this time to talk about the latest addition to visionOS 1.1 software, and it’s a boon for collaborative immersion.

Spatial Personas is a beta feature that allows up to five Apple Vision Pro wearers to share the same virtual space using FaceTime. Notably, it drops the frame around the digital avatar to make it feel as if other Personas are in the same room. You can even use the same ShapePlay apps or watch movies together, provided you have the same software and spent at least $3,500 each to buy the pricey headset.

More visionOS 1.1 features to try on Apple Vision

This new Spatial Persona beta is on top of the visionOS 1.1 update that made digital avatars look more realistic than they did at the Apple Vision Pro launch. According to Apple’s official release notes, it saw improvements to neck and mouth representation and hair and makeup appearance. There are also other enhancements in the recent update, like making the Mac Virtual Display look crisper and EyeSight renders look better through the Apple Vision Pro front display.

Battery life is still at two to three hours, according to my latest tests, so I still carry a 20,000mAh battery pack with me when using the Apple Vision Pro on an airplane – my go power source can be seen in my mophie powerstation pro review. And I’m keen on seeing Apple make bigger leaps into augmented reality gaming. The Apple Vision Pro has realpotential to go head-to-head with the more-gaming-centric Sony PSVR 2 and Meta Quest 3.

Spatial Persona and visionOS 1.1 in general is worth checking out this week, and further proves what we kind of figured all along: Apple Vision Pro is very much beta hardware and going to improve immensely over time.