The iPhone 15 Pro can officially capture spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro
iPhone 15 Pro users can now set up their video capture to record spatial video for Apple Vision Pro thanks to a new iOS 17.2 update released yesterday. The feature is officially widely available to all iPhone 15 Pro users who update to iOS 17.2.
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Spatial video wowed viewers during Apple's WWDC 2023 in June when Apple showcased how the video perspective changes as the viewer moves, creating a visual stereo effect of sorts. Imagine recording a spatial video of a family vacation on an iPhone 15 Pro and being able to relive the experience months or years later through the Apple Vision Pro, as if you were back in the moment it was captured.
To record spatial video on the iPhone 15 Pro, users should access the Settings app on their phone, select Camera, and toggle on the Spatial Video for Apple Vision Pro to enable it. The next time the Camera app opens, a "Spatial" option will appear when the camera is set to Video.
According to the Settings app on the latest iOS 17.2 beta update, spatial video recorded on the iPhone 15 Pro is done so at a rate of 30 fps and a 1080p resolution, and one minute of spatial video takes up about 130MB of storage.
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Spatial video has six degrees of freedom (6DoF), a technology that creates an immersive experience that feels similar to how we move in the real world as video is captured and then experienced in all directions. This includes capture of the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal axes (three-dimensional axes), as well as rotation around each one.
Video with 6DoF makes VR technology feel natural and realistic while users navigate a virtual space. The iPhone 15 Pro records spatial video by recording from both the Main and Ultra Wide cameras simultaneously, and scaling the UW camera's field of view to match the Main Camera's. Once done, the iPhone 15 Pro saves this as a single video file.
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As attractive as it all sounds, iPhone 15 Pro users won't be able to fully enjoy any captured spatial video for some time, as the Apple Vision Pro headset is set to release in early 2024. Until then, spatial videos will appear as regular videos that can be watched on iPhones and other devices and shared with others.