Apple Vision Pro is now on sale—though if you’re ordering it now, you’ll have two to three weeks to wait. But before you can use the headset, there’s something you need to do: update the software to the just-released VisionOS 1.0.2 version. And now we know exactly what that will look like.
Scott Stein, Editor at large for CNet, has updated the software on his Vision Pro and has just posted to X a short video of what it looks like. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it uses the front display of the Vision Pro—an element that many said would not appear on the headset.
Of course, it’s mostly there so anyone in the room while you’re wearing the new device can tell how immersed you are: if you’re watching a movie, say, blue lights show through the front, but if you’re looking at your neighbour, they’ll see a digital approximation of your eyes peeping through.
When an update is happening, Apple needs to tell you that it is, and ideally how far along it is. It would be a pain if this information only showed up on the twin 4K displays inside the headset, so instead, Apple is using the outer screen and a design language that’s familiar to Apple users.
As Scott reveals, as the update begins, the display shows the Apple logo, exactly as it does on an iPhone, iPad or Mac update. These devices also show a progress bar that slowly changes from light gray to white as the update nears completion.
Things are only slightly different here, with the Apple logo vanishing after a while to be replaced with a big, unmissable progress bar.
Stein says on X that the Apple logo and progress bar don’t have any depth, “But the eyes seem to,” referring to that virtual representation of your eyes peeking out.
Other commenters point out that this display suggests Apple will keep the external display on later versions, which is something that has been predicted as a way of bringing the cost down.
If Apple needs this to show updates, it will have to have a display, though perhaps a smaller one would suffice if the eye effect were ditched in future.
The Apple logo also appears as the device restarts once the update is done.
Since the new devices won’t have VisionOS 1.0.2 installed just yet, this process is going to be the first thing that users will have to do, delaying their experience of the joys of VisionOS just a little.
