X
Tech
Why you can trust ZDNET : ZDNET independently tests and researches products to bring you our best recommendations and advice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Our process

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

Close

Apple adds spatial Personas to the Vision Pro. Here's how to try the feature

The spatial Personas feature could soon let you take a cooking class around a virtual table with other classmates or interact with family members across the world as if they were sitting in your living room.
Written by Maria Diaz, Staff Writer
Vision Pro on blue background
Jason Hiner/ZDNET

Apple has added spatial Personas to the Apple Vision Pro's Persona beta, letting up to five participants interact with each other in a virtual environment.

By showing an interactive virtual rendering of a user, leveraging spatial audio, and keeping track of where everyone is in the virtual space, spatial Personas makes the Apple Vision Pro an even more immersive experience. Vision Pro users can engage friends, family, and coworkers with Vision Pro headsets to perform actions together through FaceTime, like writing or drawing on Freeform, watching movies, or playing games as if they were hanging out in the same room. 

Also: Apple Vision Pro is on sale for the first time ever, but there's a catch

A sped-up look at what spatial personas look like.

Apple

Apple explains that SharePlay-enabled apps let all users interact with VR content collaboratively while still maintaining some control over their individual viewing experience. Users can reposition content to their liking without affecting other users' experiences.

With spatial audio, Vision Pro users can also keep track of other Personas' direction and distance in the virtual space.

Also: I watched Apple's newest Immersive Video on the Vision Pro, and it was my 'aha' moment

Currently, you can only enable spatial Personas during a FaceTime call. Apple said that developers are working on games and collaborative apps that would allow Vision Pro users to interact with multiple spatial Personas as if they were sitting around the same table.

How to enable spatial Persona

Spatial Personas are now available on the Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 1.1. Here's how to use spatial Personas:

  1. Start a FaceTime call and tap on the spatial Persona option to switch from a FaceTime tile to the immersive spatial view.

  2. Interact with other users in the same virtual space through SharePlay.

  3. Switch between your spatial Persona and the FaceTime tile at any point.

If you have a Vision Pro running visionOS 1.1 but can't see the spatial Persona option during a FaceTime call, you may need to reboot your device.

Editorial standards