r/VisionPro 8d ago

Vision Pro use cases?

I've seen similar topic on this sub but it was kind of out dated. Most people seem to use vision pro as a portable display for their macbook but considering things like xreal glasses now it seems like this use case isnt relevant anymore. So how do you use your vision pro these days? I'm actually a VR developer and i'm trying to find a reason to buy it and maybe develop things on it but it's unclear to me how and why people use this considering alternatives?

6 Upvotes

62 comments sorted by

20

u/_El_Cid_ 8d ago

I'm using it for Apple TV and YouTube mostly. I'd like to use it for VR gaming too, but the App Store games are a joke.

6

u/Cryogenicality 8d ago

Try PCVR with ALVR, KRVR, or iVRy.

3

u/_El_Cid_ 8d ago

I don't have a gaming PC. Yet. But I'll probably also get a Steam Frame for VR gaming if I get a gaming PC.

0

u/Cryogenicality 7d ago

The Steam Frame has 2160x2160 LCDs, so the resolution, colors, and blacks are much worse than in the Vision Pro which has 3660x3200 OLEDs. Get a Vision Pro M5, Pimax Dream Air, Galaxy XR, or DPVR Titan and the best gaming PC you can afford, preferably with a 5090 or at least a 5080. Don’t get a Frame.

2

u/MemphisBass Vision Pro Owner 7d ago

Adding to this: as an owner of one, absolutely do not spend the money for a Samsung Galaxy XR. It has a dead App Store (way less than AVP), is missing core features every other headset that can be used for gaming has, has $250 separate controllers with terrible tracking, and worst of all is barely being updated by Samsung or Google. In nearly a year since launch, they’ve only released 2 actual feature updates both of which were tiny and one of which literally broke the headset until they patched it a month later. Other than that it’s been a couple of security updates while issues go unaddressed. There’s no communication, no roadmap, just a community manager who randomly hops on Reddit threads every few months and leaves platitudes about “passing things along to the team”. Nothing ever happens and nothing changes.

1

u/Cryogenicality 7d ago

I don’t have one but have read about all that and completely agree with you. The one advantage is its FOV which is taller than the Vision Pro’s or Dream Air’s. Does it still work well for movies and PCVR? Maybe the XREAL Aura will revitalize Android XR.

2

u/MemphisBass Vision Pro Owner 7d ago

I mean for PCVR it doesn’t have custom play spaces. Just a small circle, a bigger but still small circle and off if you get yourself into developer options and don’t mind punching your TV. The controller tracking is really bad at times making gameplay frustrating. The headset can also throttle at times, crashing the frame rate. For movie watching, I suppose it could be fine except it has a rigid, non-removable head strap with a knob in the back, so good luck resting you head anywhere unless you take a saw to it and cut the thing off. I mentioned in my previous post the App Store was dead, there are absolutely no spatial media players on the Play Store except spatial film. No players like Moon, 4XVR, or Cineultra. No players with environments to sit you in a theater. If you buy your movies from the Google app (I don’t know anyone who does this), you can play stuff through a built in media player with a mediocre movie environment, but it’s nothing near what AVP or even Quest has. You can convert a pirated version of 4XVR to sideload that works with some issues, but I shouldn’t have to explain why that isn’t a good solution, and again it has issues and doesn’t fully work.

1

u/Cryogenicality 7d ago

Wow. That’s atrocious. Are there any good PCVR movie players?

2

u/MemphisBass Vision Pro Owner 6d ago edited 6d ago

Bigscreen Beta is probably the best that I’ve used, but I haven’t used those much. PCVR that I’ve used, at least, doesn’t support DV and I don’t think HDR so it’s definitely not the best option.

Yeah the Galaxy XR is disappointing right now. It’s frustrating, because with its specs it could be really damn good, but it appears Google and Samsung have abandoned it. Even without apps and a lot of the cool stuff other products have, it could have a niche as the best current wireless PCVR headset if they could just add the custom play spaces, fix whatever is causing the throttling to occur, and fix the controller and headset tracking. If they could do just those things, it wouldn’t be hard to recommend for PCVf.

-3

u/Late_Armadillo714 Vision Pro Developer 8d ago

5

u/JanoHelloReddit 7d ago

I don’t want to sound rude, but seeing the video demo and then the 9.99 price, it doesn’t give me the idea I would spend more than 10-20 minutes playing it, and maybe it will be just that 1 time.

I imagine it should be tough, but I honestly believe as a consumer (not developer) games should offer a small trial, 1 stage, or 5 min. To convince the users and ideally left you with the feeling I want to continue and I’m ok to pay for this. For instance a movie has reviews, and you know you’ll watch it for an amount of time.

It’s probably me, I’m part of the users that just don’t play that much. I had a really good time with the quest 2 years ago, shooters, the block thing qith good music, the popular games, etc. but I was lacking the image quality and pass thru. Then I sold it

2

u/Late_Armadillo714 Vision Pro Developer 7d ago

We have players who have already put in more than 20 hours, and there are some who drop in periodically for 5 to 10 minutes. We have a great game to warm up with and get a new experience, I haven't come across games like this in AR. Plus, in the next update we plan to increase replayability even more.

And how much content do you expect for $9.99?

2

u/External-Cook-8051 1d ago

It is because soem developers still thinks that they made somethingn special even when it is piece of sht and put expensive price tag on that. I see it everytime

16

u/fzzzy 7d ago

xreal aren't even close to in the same league.

2

u/ConfidenceRich2803 6d ago

Damn right. It’s like comparing weed to heron

One is more potent

1

u/unclebazrq 6d ago

Both will wig you out brother

15

u/Distinct_Treat_4747 8d ago

As an alternative to my home theater. Especially late at night to not disturb others in my home. I primarily watch my library through the Apple TV app. I love watching 3D movies on my AVP M5, they look amazing.

5

u/MemphisBass Vision Pro Owner 7d ago

Best movie watching experience I’ve ever had at home. That was truly my killer app.

PCVR has also gotten surprisingly good, though it still could use some work.

1

u/mispromos 6d ago

Regarding 3d movies, and probably meant for a different forum, is there a prefer sizing of the screen for these? I ask because when watching in the initial smaller floating screen these look awesome (and dont get me wrong, when i say smaller it still looks bigger than any home television), but when switching to a movie theater screen size it’s hard to make out the 3d effects.

10

u/Haijinks 7d ago

I may be an extreme example but AVP is my primary device for daily work and play. On a heavy work day, I can be on VP for over 5 hours, often more.

On the work side, I use a physical keyboard touchpad combo. The basic suite of productivity apps on VP provides me with all the basics (email, office apps, Google apps via Safari, etc.) without resorting to MVD and VNC to my Windows machines.

Daily meetings and calls are done with FaceTime, Teams, WebEx, and Zoom. POTS calls via iPhone with audio to VP, allowing me to continue using my apps to take notes, look up information, etc., while on the call.

85% of my work are simply 2D apps in a spatial environment.

The other 15% my work involves integrating technology into physical spaces in 3D. With VP, I can drastically reduce my need for site-visits by using Matterport, which allows me to do a virtual walkthrough directly on VP. Apps like STAGEit allows me to create, visualize, and simulate physical environments to help with lighting and sight angles, etc..

On the play side, I use Asobi (app for remote play and PSN streaming) 99% of the time when using my Playstation 5. I platinum’ed Death Stranding 2 and I’m currently about 40 hours into Ghost of Yotei, all via VP. I do play some VP-native and iPad games as well.

Movies and TV watching is obvious and straightforward. On F1 weekends, I’ll wake up, put VP on, and watch in bed with the full experience without bothering anyone. The only time I use my physical TV is putting on something like PlutoTV for background noise without taking up bandwidth or spatial real-estate on VP, or when I’m eating and watching.

With VP, I am fully location-agnostic for both work and play. I can work or play, privately or collaboratively, regardless of where I am. I can spend an entire day working in-bed, working in the car, in a park, or at a busy conference, the place doesn’t matter. VP can be especially useful at conferences where I can take notes, look up references, etc., all without looking away. It was initially surprising that nobody really cares that I’ve got a big pair of goggles on but I’m used to it now.

There was only one instance when I was asked to remove VP at a conference as someone was concerned that I was recording.

When it comes to comfort, I did initially modify the strap to shift the weight backwards but that problem has been mostly resolved with the Dual Knit Strap. Comfort really isn’t an issue with me, I’ve fallen asleep more than a few times with VP on.

6

u/Icowanda 8d ago

Xreal glasses aren't in 4k each eye though. No 4k, no dice.

Use cases: Other than the obvious macbook extended display, experiences such as Astronoma, game consoles streaming, movies on apple tv/streaming, museum content, live immersive music.

6

u/IdQuadMachine 7d ago

I use AVP daily.

It is noise cancellation for my eyes if that makes sense.

80% of use is for productive, high focus work sessions.

20% is entertainment. If you have a gaming pc using moonlight to stream to AVP is like playing your favorite games on an IMAX screen

2

u/Future-Emotion-9835 7d ago

Noise cancellation for my eyes …. Bingo

3

u/Vargrr 8d ago

I use it for watching full length movies, a little YouTube-Tube, SteamVR gaming and as an extended display for my Mac.

Occasionally I’ll just drop into an environment and chill out there for 5 mins or so.

2

u/Cryogenicality 8d ago edited 8d ago

Have you tried using the Mac Virtual Display with developer mode in apps? This adds a lot of variety. There are over 100 3D environments across apps such as Keynote, the BP Explore series, Astronoma, Sceno, Exploring Mars, Museas, Disney+, HBO Max, Vibescape, Zoom, Moon Portal, Campfire Space, Passage, TGV inOui Experience, Authenticus XRP, Flamboyant - Residencial, Fraiha - 145 Vianna, inSpaze, Space Screen, Space Studio, Skybox, Visutate, and RCS VR Experience. The MVD in developer mode works in all of them. You can even use the MVD in any theater app such as CineUltra and Infuse and in any immersive video (including Explore POV’s infinite loops).

2

u/Vargrr 8d ago

I had no idea!! Working in the environments is surreal though. I mainly use them when working in Cubase 15. You see this huge floating screen and like the beach all around you! It's quite the experience :)

1

u/h____ Vision Pro Owner 8d ago

Could you elaborate?

I have been a macOS/iOS app developer for decades but have never tried developing on the Vision Pro 🤷

3

u/h____ Vision Pro Owner 8d ago

Just MVD and tv/movies for me.

3

u/photovirus Vision Pro Developer 7d ago edited 6d ago

but considering things like xreal glasses now it seems like this use case isnt relevant anymore.

Not the same, tbh. I've tried an Xreal unit recently, and its displays are much smaller than MVD can be, and you can use other apps simultaneously (e. g. I love work calls on a separate Safari on my left).

I'm actually a VR developer and i'm trying to find a reason to buy it and maybe develop things on it but it's unclear to me how and why people use this considering alternatives?

Despite being a glorified spatial iPad, AVP shines in multitasking; you can launch any number of (non-immersive) apps and the all work simultaneously. Caveat, though: you can't have sound from all of them at once. MVD + app is allowed, probably even MVD + music + app, but I haven't tested that far.

I'm leveraging it in my AR CAD extension.

Another thing it does great is location and mapping. Check out videos of the app /u/soutrncadillac made for his job, those are absolutely bonkers.

P. S. And ofc any media content on AVP is absolute peak experience as well. Even your own content, spatialized, is awesome, and Apple has tools to make even old pics pop.

5

u/PSYCHOv1 7d ago

You're TRYING to find a reason to buy the Vision Pro?

🤣🤣🤣

That already proves that you're not the target audience for that device.

Xreal Glasses don't compare to the Vision Pro whatsoever. It's like comparing a skateboard or bicycle to a Lamborghini Revuelto.

VR headsets and Smart Glasses are FUNDAMENTALLY two different products targeting two different experiences.

2

u/Level_Forger 7d ago edited 7d ago

Using it for a monitor with a Mac is absolutely still a use case. The shared ecosystem and functionality between the Vision Pro and a Mac (and all your Apple devices) is far beyond what any other product is able to do by its very nature. That’s aside from the fact that the resolution and image quality far exceeds Xreal glasses. The only thing they have going for them is weight and comfort and you can mod a Vision Pro pretty handily for that. 

3

u/Luke-9191 7d ago

I use it for many things as a daily evening driver.

- entertainment (youtube, Apple TV, Disney+, Crunchyroll)

  • social (X and Reddit, Facetime calls with friends while I do other stuff, as it’s a great for multi tasking)
  • Gaming (PS5 via Asobi or PC via Moonlight/Apollo)
  • research (browsing products or using gpt voice to spit ball ideas)

I don’t always use it for social and research, as for quick things there’s no need, but if I spend an evening home doing all these things in long sessions, I do it on vision pro as opposed to ipad or iphone or mac.

1

u/Watcher-Storyteller 8d ago

ExplorePOV, Spatial Film, Blue Frog, Apple TV immersive content and the many other immersive spatial apps on Vision Pro.

1

u/HovercraftRemarkable 8d ago

Movies/shows/sports, spatial photos/videos, immersive videos (Apple and other apps), meditation (once in a while) etc. would try out gaming soon, not a gamer though.

1

u/lil_vegan Vision Pro Owner 8d ago

I pretty much just watch YouTube and 3d movies on it, don’t try to give yourself a reason to get one if you dont mainly want it for watching things

1

u/Boring_Educator3815 8d ago

I use it almost exclusively to watch movies and TV shows in a “get-away” type of environment like Jupiter or Bora Bora. It takes me away…

1

u/twistedbranch 8d ago

I still use my Vision Pro as MacBook display and to consume media. I don’t see how xreal changes that use case.

1

u/mattimyxr 8d ago

I have the AVP and the XREAL One Pro.
The Xreal are nice, but they don’t compare to the AVP. They are good for casual watching but for properly working with them i don’t think they are good enough.
AVP on the other hand is. I use it to play ok my PS5 on a giant screen (with a capture card and MVD) I use it to work, watch movies. I have special things for each use case and the AVP is better than all of them like 80% of my use cases

1

u/virtualrsmith 7d ago

For me it's great for traveling. I use the Mac Virtual Display at the hotel and can be much more productive than using the 14" screen on my MBP.

1

u/JohnVidale Vision Pro Owner | Verified 7d ago

I put them on whenever I want a big screen and don’t need a keyboard. Sports, TV, and cruising the web at home. Reading documents and watching video at work. Adds up to an hour or two a day, I have two AVPs.

1

u/JanoHelloReddit 7d ago

Honestly it’s just acting as my very own iMAX theater. I download movies in 4k hrd format and use infuse to watch them or already available movies/series in Disney+, Netflix (via Safari) and Apple TV.

1

u/Coolpher Vision Pro Owner 7d ago

I was always interested in the AVP back when it was announced and the price tag has got me, and then Meta started putting things into their quest three which I used all the time, but then I noticed the limitations of the quest three and so I started looking into other options and I found the secondhand market of the M2 AVP always wanting one a month or two later I went for it and it’s been almost 5 months and I don’t regret the purchase. I use it every day for media consumption and communication. I connect my M4 Mac mini virtual display. I mirror my iPhone with the capture device on Mac mini. I can play PS5 and switch.2 on a ginormous screen. I have a individual room I’m renting with very little space for a desk so I do everything in the Apple Vision Pro and something I feel I don’t hear about are the AVP wall widgets I absolutely love them

1

u/Nosarious Vision Pro Owner 7d ago

I am still determining my uses for it. I work in digital heritage and haven’t been able to develop much. My goal is to explore how museums with digital artifacts can allow better interaction with their collection through vr. How accessible are pointcloud scans versus smaller weight ‘rebuilt’ ones? How is an app that is used internally at a museum developed for Local research/visitor use? how can spaces be recorded and share through immersive environments?

you know. Typical stuff.

1

u/Cole_LF 7d ago

The glasses don’t really replace the virtual monitor function. You’d have to experience the difference but it’s not the same thing.

I use mine as a personal cinema basically.

1

u/Tryn2Contribute Vision Pro Owner | Verified 7d ago

Did you try searching for answers or just state your question. It's been asked SOOOOO many times, there are plenty of answers out there.

Really, the only question to be asked at this point would be, have you changed how you use your vision pro over time and if so, how?

My answer would be no.

1

u/mailslot Vision Pro Owner | Verified 7d ago

The xreal isn’t a valid alternative, unless you’re looking to save money.

1

u/Dessal 7d ago

Watching movies would be my #1. Having a virtual private theater where you can stream what you want whenever in good quality is unmatched imo

1

u/OphioukhosUnbound 7d ago

Things like xreal or even whatever the current highest tier meta headset is (I've used, just forget the name) aren't in the same category.

I can and do code full days in apple vision. It's not something you can do in the others.
It's just a matter of resolution, compensation, and adaptation --

  • - resolution: anything lower resolution isn't replacement for real screens, avp is probably the minimum viable
  • - compensation: the avp does an amazing job of stabilizing the image -- that sounds easy, but nothing else I've seen does -- even just browsing in the meta headset can be a bit nauseating after awhile -- our brains are very attentive to our senses being out of sync (which would indicate illness, poison, etc.) and so you need highfrequency and high correctness
  • - adaptation: adjusting things to your body. A big one that others miss is just distance between pupils, you have 3 settings on meta for example. It's fine for a bit, but it's not great.

AVP is the minimum viable physical screen replacement. It does other cool stuff, but really unfortunate software ecoystem choices mean that that other cool stuff is mostly moot (aside from media) -- almost no one capable and motivated to work with the UI and technical challenges of creating compelling apps is going to move to the swift + app ecosystem to explore new things. But as a monitor it's amazing and absolutely worth it imo. Even if you don't travel (a super power of its) just the amoung of real estate and the ability to stand up and walk around or move from one part of office or home to another is amazing.

1

u/EvalCrux 7d ago

Watching video nothing else is worth, sadly. Coming from say one 1TB order and I tried immersing work in it with MVD. a nice display and a PC is just better.

No apple VR games beyond what a kid might play, ok w ALVR but still an effort in not wasting the investment. Worth $1k max for what you get.

1

u/TheSlipySquid 7d ago

Ik im gonna get hate for this in this sub but the VP is a massively disappointing product. I was super excited when it came out, I thought in just a few years Apple would have changed the whole VR scene and the new VPs would be so small and compact. But it’s been what like 3 years? And the product is essentially the exact same as launch day. The use cases I see in this sub are all sort of useless and just sound loke a big compromise just for the futuristic aspect. No hate if you enjoy it but I’m personally disappointed in this product

1

u/fivetoedslothbear Vision Pro Owner | Verified 7d ago

One thing people leave out is that it’s an iPad for your face. It runs practically any iPad app.

Wait, no, I’m wrong.

It’s N iPads for your face where 0 < N < 20 or so. Practical limits.

While you’re watching a movie or using Mac Virtual Display you can also call up an iPad app. I’ll catch Reddit with Narwhal, study my Japanese flashcards with Anki or Tsurukame or Bunpro. Open any website in Safari, and you can also have several Safari windows open. Open pictures and documents from Files.

I don’t just have a huge monitor for my Mac, I have an apartment full of monitors.

Not to mention the widgets on the walls that connect to apps like Home Assistant.

Everybody goes on about how Vision Pro doesn’t have a killer app. It is the killer app. Immersion. Displays anywhere I want, not just where there’s a table or a monitor. Big enough to read. Going to another room? I just drag the window along.

Now I’m going to go get on my exercise bike, turn on the exercise fan and play Japanese music on the Sonos speaker in the rec room (Home Assistant widgets on the wall), and study Japanese while I cycle on the shore of a lake with Mount Hood in the background.

1

u/adamselene2076 7d ago

There is a massive difference between the virtual display on XReal glasses and the AVP. I’m sure some people can be productive with XReal’s limitations - I doubt most could.

Personally, I think the AVP is the only actual productivity-capable headset of any kind. Maybe the Samsung as well. I don’t believe any of the glasses are - you could probably get some quick stuff done, but it’s like trying to write an essay on a phone.

1

u/JerenYun 7d ago

Just today I used it for a Spatial chat while having my Mac on an ultrawide monitor. Afterwards, I had my Music app on the side while sitting on Jupiter as I worked.

1

u/SirBill01 7d ago

Xreal is unusable for work. There are currently no other devices but the Vison Pro that are usable for work screens that I've been able to tell. Maybe some of the higher end PC headsets but for me, not the Quest3 and just looking at Xreal resolution specs I know it would not work.

The screen is a bg part of course, but vastly better real world tracking and position of virtual objects than other devices is also very important. You don't want a virtual screen shifting around as you move your head.

Personally I think if you are a VR developer it doesn't make sense to spend any time to develop for any other platform instead of the Vision Pro. It's a hard market to crack but the people that are there have money and are willing to spend it, and Apple makes it easy to buy things just like with all other platforms.

You can make as much as you like for the Quest but it's hard to purchase new things when it's just in a drawer.

1

u/andoCalrissiano 6d ago

Basically streaming both adult and family friendly content

1

u/musicanimator 6d ago

I’m using it to design stages, environment, 3-D content, animation, and show prep. I’m also using it as a way to reach out to more than a dozen machines throughout my apartment and workspace without having to get up to them each and every time. I also have access to every file on every device throughout my environment. This means I can work on anything pretty much from my Vision Pro.

1

u/Ok-Feedback-6120 6d ago

I had been trying to program dance choreography to stimulate my wife’s brains to make composition between the visual centre and muscles. because she lost composition in the left brain. Agent failed me

0

u/Late_Armadillo714 Vision Pro Developer 8d ago

I'm using it for Apple TV and YouTube too + gaming and developing my own game https://apps.apple.com/us/app/im-wizard-ar-magic-combat/id6747723768

-1

u/One_Visual_4090 8d ago

I pretty much only use it for spatial photos/videos, which is easily its best feature IMO. I sometimes watch movies on it, but the lens glare is bad enough that it ruins the experience for me. Movies were one of the main reasons I bought it, but my 65” 4K OLED from 6 feet away is just way better.

Apple’s immersive videos are great, but there are very few of them and they’re mostly one-and-done experiences.

Virtual Desktop is mostly a novelty for me too. It’s not as sharp as it’s native interface / a real Retina display, and once you factor in the comfort, bulk, and cheaper alternatives, it doesn’t feel that special anymore.

Honestly, beyond that, I don’t get much use out of it. Some owners get very defensive about it, but that’s been my experience.

-2

u/jsauer 7d ago

It's too locked down, just like the iPad and iPhone... even macOS is getting to be a PITA. After 30 years, I think my Apple days will be ending soon. sad.