visionOS 26 brings spatial widgets, better Personas and new accessories

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visionOS 26, the next major software release for the Apple Vision Pro, will bring spatial widgets, better Personas, new accessories, more integration with iPhone, more immersive content, Look to Scroll and so much more to the powerful headset.

Apple Vision Pro is “a revolutionary spatial computer that seamlessly blends digital content with the real world,” says Mike Rockwell, Apple’s vice president of the Vision Products Group. “With brand-new ways for Vision Pro owners to connect, explore, work together, and enjoy content,” visionOS 26 is a huge update.

Announced after iOS 26, watchOS 26 and macOS Tahoe at WWDC25 on Monday, visionOS 26 will be available today as a developer beta and will release publicly for everyone this fall.

visionOS 26 announcement: Widgets in the real world, more Spatial content, better Personas

The Apple Vision Pro was released nearly a year and a half ago on February 2, 2024. The headset lets you run familiar apps like Safari, Mail and Keynote in augmented reality, plays 3D immersive movies and AR games. Its high $3,499 price has limited its commercial sales, but Apple is playing the long game with plans for lower-cost models and lightweight AR glasses based on the platform.

From 2 to 26

While the version number is now visionOS 26, this is the third major version of the OS. Starting this year, the next major updates will all be iOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, etc. This will bring all the platforms in unison, with easy-to-remember year numbers. Otherwise, they would have been iOS 19, macOS 16, visionOS 3 and watchOS 12.

Widgets in the real world

Widgets are now in the real world. You can place iOS-style widgets for Calendar, Photos, Weather, Clock and more in your room, as if they were real objects. You can customize design elements like widget frames, size and color.

Widgets can either have frames, or can appear inset into a wall. They remember their position in your environment, so you can have them pinned around the house.

Photos can “transform a stunning panorama into a window to another time or place,” said Rockwell. In addition to all of Apple’s widgets, third-party apps can create their own as well, using WidgetKit.

Rockwell noted that apps, just like widgets, will also appear in the same place when you put your headset back on — “even after you restart it.”

Spatial Scenes and browsing

Spatial Scenes, also introduced on iOS, are a more powerful way to turn your photos 3D. Not only does it add depth to your images, but it “creates multiple perspectives from your 2D photos, making your images more lifelike,” according to Haley Allen, Apple’s senior director of visionOS program management. Spatial Scenes can also be viewed in the Spatial Gallery app, “where you can explore fresh and exciting content curated by Apple.”

In Safari, in supported articles, you can enable Spatial Browsing. This is like Reader on other platforms — creating a distraction-free reading environment. Images will appear as 3D scenes as you scroll through the article. Developers can add Spatial Scenes into their third-party apps, too.

Developers can also embed 3D objects into web pages as well. You can preview them in Safari, or “pull them right into your space for a closer look,” said Rockwell. This “marks the beginning of the spatial web.”

Vastly improved Personas and sharing features

Personas, a feature that was somewhat derided on the Vision Pro launch, are in for a huge upgrade. Personas appear when you’re wearing a Vision Pro and you join a FaceTime call, Zoom meeting, or SharePlay session with someone else. “These enhancements are striking — hair, lashes, complexion all look remarkably accurate,” bringing them out of the uncanny valley.

If multiple people have a Vision Pro, you can share spatial experiences in the same room, locally. This can be great for watching TV shows and movies on a theater-sized screen at home. For enterprise users, you can “visualize 3D designs both in person and with remote colleagues,” according to Apple’s press release.

You can share your saved eye data, hand data, vision prescription information and accessibility settings to your iPhone. This will let you easily pick up a shared device at work or a friend’s Vision Pro, as a guest user.

New third-party spatial accessories

Two new accessories “enable input in six degrees of freedom,” according to Rockwell. Logitech Muse is a 3D pencil tool built just for Vision Pro. It can “let you draw and collaborate in three dimensions with precision” in various apps.

Sony is also bringing support for the PlayStation VR 2 Sense controller to Vision Pro. Games will be able to use the additional buttons and precise motion tracking for higher-quality gameplay.

More integration with iPhone

The Vision Pro is now more tightly integrated with the iPhone — which before was a bit of a pain to use from inside the headset.

You can now unlock your iPhone while you’re wearing a Vision Pro, even while fully immersed in an environment or watching a show. This saves you the pain of entering your passcode in every time. The feature requires an iPhone with Face ID running iOS 26.

Phone calls can also be relayed from your iPhone into the headset, just like on the Mac, iPad, Apple Watch and other devices.

Other new features

• A new Jupiter environment lets you see the gas giant from the surface of Amalthea, one of the planet’s many moons. You can fast-forward through time, to see Jupiter’s storms swirl around.
• The visionOS interface is controlled by a mixture of hand tracking and eye tracking. Currently, you can scroll by pinching fingers together and flicking your hand up or down. With Look to Scroll, you can “explore apps and websites” with just your eyes, according to Apple’s press release.
• The Home View now lets you organize apps into custom folders.
• Control Center has been redesigned again, so that “features like Guest User, Focus, Travel Mode, and more are conveniently displayed in one view,” according to the press release.
• visionOS now supports native playback of 180°, 360° and other wide field-of-view videos. Apple has partnered with Insta360, GoPro and Canon to support their video formats.

This article is being updated as the event continues. Refresh for the latest information.