I’m FaceTiming with one of my dear friends when he suddenly pops out of his static call window from a finished state and lands right in my living room. We arranged space to sit next to each other to watch a trailer for Sugar, the upcoming Apple TV Plus series starring Colin Farrell that we’re both excited to see. Then we switched to TikTok and spent some time watching videos, laughing together at the ones we both found funny.
But then I get some texts that I need to respond to, so I pick up my friend with my finger and move him to the other side of the room like he’s as light as a feather. Of course, I’m not actually adjusting the location of his physical body, but of his virtual Persona who just gained spatial freedom through the latest visionOS beta feature released for Apple Vision Pro.
Spatial Persona takes Vision Pro’s face-tracking avatars and makes them feel truly 3D. Now, when you’re on a FaceTime call with another person who is using Vision Pro, you’ll see an icon on their tile that looks like a transparent person. If both members of the call activate this icon, you will reset within a shared meeting space that each of you can control.
When we first launched Space Person, I was briefly worried that my friend, who was now right in front of my face, could actually see my living room. He hadn’t planned on having company and my space certainly could have looked tidier. They assured me they couldn’t, but that’s how real I sensed its location in my field of vision.
As two people who have used the Apple Vision Pro for a few weeks, we are mostly numb to the persistent fear of Persona. Our FaceTime calls with headphones were no longer unpleasant. However, it is a completely new experience to have this virtual version of my friend who can walk in circles around me in my vicinity.
But what’s the use case for Space Person besides making catching up with friends feel more real? You could simply enable the feature so that the people you call can sit between the apps you have open; However, it is best to demonstrate it in conjunction with screen sharing and/or SharePlay.
Whether you want to show what you’re looking at in your view or want to collaborate within a SharePlay-compatible app, doing so with a Space Person feels much more natural than you’d expect. Spatial audio makes someone’s avatar sound relative to their direction and distance from you.
If there’s one strange aspect of Space Persona, it’s that anyone on the call has the power to move other Personas in space. When my friend realized they had been replaced far back in space while he was responding to the text messages I mentioned earlier, he gasped in shock. I’m not sure you necessarily need to get permission before moving your friends, but be wary of someone materializing inches from your face without warning.
It’s up to developers to make their apps more adaptable to SpacePerson. Game Room, one of our favorite Vision Pro apps, now lets you play while sitting at a table next to others. You can use Space Person with up to five call members as long as everyone’s headsets are on visionOS 1.1 or later.
All kinds of devices since the Covid era have promised to bridge the physical gap between people communicating remotely. If you ask me, Apple has finally given us the best option besides being together.
