One Month with the Apple Vision Pro
Reflecting on a Month with the Apple Vision Pro: A Long-Time Apple Developer's Perspective #
I've been using the Apple Vision Pro for a month now and I wanted to share my initial thoughts. And of course, I'm writing this while wearing the Apple Vision Pro, while watching YouTube videos to provide some background motivational music, and typing on my MacBook Pro connected virtually to the Apple Vision Pro. For background, I've been a long time Apple developer. I went to my first WWDC back in 2005, learned how to make Mac apps with Objective C and Cocoa, saw Steve Jobs introduce the iPhone live at WWDC 2007 and then started developing apps in 2008 after the App Store opened. That Objective C and Cocoa knowledge came in handy!
The Simulator is not the Same #
I've been programming with ARKit and RealityKit for a few years now. I ported an app along with a coworker of mine to the Apple Vision Pro Simulator last year but soon found the limitations of the Simulator. The Simulator didn't really provide much of the understanding of the world, didn't track hands, didn't have eye tracking, and just was very limited compared to the iPhone Simulator. I realized that to understand what it would do, I had to buy the actual hardware. So I woke up early on the day it went on sale and pre-ordered it. I really wanted to get it launch day fitted at the Tysons Corner Apple Store, but alas I was a little too slow (9:15am EST). Still, I got it February 12th.
!!! #
The Apple Vision Pro is amazing. Mind-bending. Reality-warping.
Living in the Future #
Whenever I put on the Apple Vision Pro, I feel like I'm living in the future. The hardware is just that advanced and the initial software stack integrates everything seamlessly together. You don't feel like you're wearing a VR headset with a bunch of cameras and sensors. You feel like you've put on magical goggles that give you complete and utter control over your environment. You live in a world that's completely digital. Yes - you can see the outside world, if you want. But it's been digitized, mapped with LIDAR, photographed with cameras, and now you can interact with it in ways that were previously only possible in science fiction. And when you realize that, you realize that this isn't just another device. That it has opened a portal into what we can do with technology in the future.
We've moved forward the first few centimeters into a vast depth that we can't fathom yet.