Apple Vision Pro app development guide

Apple headset Vision Pro features an eye and hand tracking control system that allows users to interact with digital environments and apps. The input system also enables you to use natural language commands to control your favorite apps, messages, and notifications. 

The Vision Pro headgear seamlessly blends digital content with the real-world environment to create an immersive experience. The system allows users to display and rearrange images and apps in 3D spaces beyond screens.

The Vision Pro’s FaceTime leverages spatial computing and spatial audio to create a virtual meeting space. FaceTime life-sized video tiles make the experience more immersive. You can also use other collaboration apps and simultaneously work with the team on the same documents.

A movie-like experience, fuelled by immersive video and spatial audio, is one of the device's greatest strengths. The headset introduces you to over 250 brand-new spatial games and works with popular game controllers.

The mixed reality headset offers a brand-new App Store, hosting over 600 apps specifically designed for Apple visionOS. Yet, the actual number of apps accessible on the Vision Pro isn't limited to this, given its compatibility with additional iOS and iPadOS applications.

Environments is a unique Apple feature that lets you replace your physical surroundings with VR stunts or mixed-reality backdrops. Environments come with their soundscapes that breathe life into immersive photos and videos.

Vision Pro headset turns you into a hyper-realistic digital avatar that represents you on FaceTime calls and other apps. Excitingly, the device’s EyeSight feature mimics headset users' eyes and helps them remain connected to the world around them. 

From a technology standpoint, Apple's headset leaps and bounds ahead of the pack in virtual reality solutions. Let’s review the Apple Vision Pro specs and see why it's recognized as something greater than a virtual reality headset.

As Apple’s first spatial computer, the Vision Pro headgear is mainly associated with entertainment and VR gaming. But all fun aside, this device is poised to become a potent instrument with high applicability across industries and domains:

• Remote collaboration: The device reshapes the world of remote work by enabling immersive video calls that offer unmatched connectivity and collaboration capabilities to remote teams.

• Architectural design: Vision Pro enables architects to interact with their designs in new ways via 3D virtual setup, streamline visualization development, and create realistic material representation.

• Retail: From assisted shopping to realistic product views to immersive virtual stores, Apple’s spatial computer completely transforms both the in-store and online buying experience.

• Education: The headset enables students to modify the scale and level of immersive interaction with educational materials, adjusting the experience to different learning styles.

• Healthcare: surgery training, vision therapy, telemedicine, medical education — the capabilities of Vision Pro are untapped when it comes to healthcare.

• Sport: Individuals can receive virtual coaching and simulate various training scenarios by overlaying virtual elements onto real-world environments.

• Tourism: The headset powers virtual tourism experiences and allows travel agencies to bring their travel marketing into the immersive realm.

VisionOS, a true beast among operating systems, offers a user experience unlike any Apple OS before it. Specifically designed for spatial computing, it allows developers to craft and innovate a new breed of immersive apps. Here’s what you should know about visionOS:

VisionOS sits on the frameworks and technologies used for iOS and iPad apps and supports new hardware. Developers can use well-known SwiftUI, UIKit, ARKit, RealityKit, and other frameworks to create visionOS apps that provide powerful, intuitive spatial experiences.

With their current knowledge of Xcode IDE, developers can build applications for visionOS. This includes starting from scratch or incorporating visionOS into existing applications, with the ability to iterate on and test UI elements through Xcode Previews and engage with apps in the visionOS simulator.

The Reality Composer Pro tool facilitates Vision Pro app development by providing an environment for designing and editing 3D content and preparing it for spatial computing apps. Importantly, it’s possible for developers to import 3D compositions from Reality Composer Pro to XCode.

Unity's support for visionOS includes the visionOS Template that lays the foundation for spatial experience development in Unity. Developers can also use all Unity’s core features without modifications, build spatial experiences in RealityKit, and build on visionOS with Unity PolySpatial.

The submission process is pretty standard: Make sure your visionOS app meets the specific guidelines of the new App Store and submit the app for review. Existing iOS and iPad apps become automatically available on the Vision Pro App Store.

App icons in VisionOS feature a three-dimensional design, showcasing depth between layers and centered imagery. It's mandatory for spatial apps to include motion information, which denotes the app's suitability for users prone to motion sensitivity.

Over 600 new and shiny apps have recently entered the Vision Pro App Store. Although it might seem like a lot of offerings for a fledgling device, it's still a mere fraction of the extensive App Store catalog of over 4 million apps. (Translation: A huge market opportunity has arrived, waiting to be tapped by global companies.)

The unmatched capabilities of the spatial computing headset are a great fit for app categories like fitness, education, entertainment, and healthcare. And those who will be fast to grasp this opportunity can deliver solutions that pack next-level experiences into immersive applications.

The Vision Pro functionality can significantly upgrade your offering if your application is designed to fuse virtual objects with real space through AI, XR, and/or IoT.

Let’s have a quick look at the types of apps that go well with Apple Vision Pro:

• Productivity apps: Applications for virtual meetings, project management tools, apps for presentations, and planning apps.

• Fitness and wellness apps: Guided workouts in AR environments, simulations, mindfulness, and yoga apps.

• Educational and training apps: Apps that provide immersive learning experiences and self-practice sessions, professional training applications.

• Gaming and entertainment apps: Immersive games and storytelling experiences incorporating spatial audio and visual capabilities.

• Healthcare and medical apps: Apps for medical training, patient education, or therapeutic uses.

• Target audience research: Gain a deep understanding of your target users' needs and pain points to build a high-value spatial app. 

• Market analysis: Gauge the competition to spot gaps and uniquely position your app in the market. 

• Planning: Define the project scope and plan your resources accordingly to ensure the project's success.

• Technical chops: Find an experienced app development team well-versed in AR/VR/XR, IoT, and Apple-native technologies.

• Design and user experience: Design your app to accommodate immersive and spatial experiences and take into account the best design practices for Vision Pro. 

• Performance optimization: Optimize your app’s use of system resources to make sure it delivers a seamless VR experience.

• Compliance: Make sure your Vision Pro app meets the applicable technical, content, and design criteria.

• Security and privacy: Your application must comply with Apple’s data privacy policy and adhere to relevant industry-specific regulations.

With the extensive suite of developer tools and resources provided by Apple, third-party developers can get a head start on their visionOS development projects. VisionOS SDK helps developers understand Vision Pro's capabilities and provides unique tools such as a visionOS simulator to design all-new experiences.

Here’s how Apple helps developers ease their way into the world of spatial computing: 

• Developer documentation for visionOS: guides and instructions for developing apps.

• Design kits and human interface guidelines: tools, guidance, and best practices for designing immersive user experiences.

• Developer labs — located in Cupertino, London, Munich, New York City, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo — offer hands-on consultations from Apple engineers.

• Dev kit program: Eligible developers can apply for the kit to build apps directly on the hardware.

Moreover, each developer framework has built-in dedicated accessibility features, making immersive experiences both groundbreaking and inclusive.

Although the exact lineup of tools, technologies, libraries, and frameworks depends on the type of your visionOS app, we’ve rounded up an essential software stack based on Apple’s recommendations.

Here’s how to develop for Vision Pro — the Apple way:

You might also need to employ the following technology solutions to build a Vision Pro app:

• Data and backend services: Enable you to connect your Vision Pro app to third-party cloud services like AWS to host data storage, databases, and backend logic.

• Accessibility features: Incorporate assistive technologies into the app to make it accessible to all user groups.

• TestFlight and App Store Connect: For beta testing and tracking your app’s performance on the App Store.

Partner with Vention to give your innovative idea a real turn and leverage our extensive 20-year expertise in AR/VR. With over 350+ Apple-related projects in our portfolio, we know how to make your spatial apps user-focused, secure, and truly accessible. 

Our workforce, which includes 70% senior developers, has significant experience with the Vision Pro Developer Kit, positioning you to take full advantage of the opportunities within the spatial app marketplace.

According to Apple, the headset is backward-compatible with both iPadOS and iOS apps. To ensure compatibility with visionOS, you can submit your Vision Pro app for a compatibility check. Before making a request, validate the performance and core functionality of the app with the visionOS simulator. Additionally, take into account the specs and limitations of each platform to get your app’s design and functionality right.

Yes, Vision Pro apps can support external game controllers such as DualShock 4, DualSense, and Xbox, but you should integrate the Game Controller framework into your app to add explicit support. 

All support documentation is available on Apple’s official developer website. Here, you can learn everything you need to know about visionOS and the headset, including technical documentation, best design practices, developer tools, and more. You can also attend (online or in-person) WWDC sessions to get a first glimpse of new visionOS updates.

According to spatial UI design principles, your app’s UI should consider the depth and scale of visionOS, focus on intuitive interactions, and prioritize ergonomics. Concise labels, clear feedback for user actions, and consistent visual styles will also make spatial interactions more natural and contextually relevant for the end users.

VisionOS has data protection mechanisms similar to iOS, macOS, and iPadOS, including passkeys, Keychain, on-disk encryption, and Apple CryptoKit. Check out Apple’s security framework to see the full list of data security measures to be implemented in Vision Pro apps.