The Apple Vision Pro is Apple’s first entry into the Mixed Reality industry, or as they call it, a Spatial Computing device meant for professional day-to-day use.
Unlike the Meta Quest 2, Valve Index, and other VR devices, this one is more of a Quest 3 adjacent device where the main focus relies on productivity in mixed reality instead of fully immersive Virtual Reality games.
Mixed Reality Timer App, Timersive
Shared and Exclusive Apps on the Apple Vision Pro
The AVP offers both Shared and Exclusive app formats, each with its quirks as seen on the Unity documentation.
Shared offers 3D mixed reality experiences that can coexist with other apps, for instance, you can be solving a 3D Rubik cube that is an app by itself and at the same time watching a small monster battle on your table or watching a Spatial Timer on your cooking stove.
Exclusive however takes over the entire space, focusing only on itself. Some experiences are meant to be shared and multitasked, others need your user’s full attention.
Mixed Reality Apps Require PolySpatial
As seen on Unity’s blog post about VisionOS, to be able to create proper mixed reality experiences on the Apple Vision Pro and to leverage all of its advanced features, developers should refer to PolySpatial.
To create both fully immersive games as well as flatscreen IOS apps and games, PolySpatial is NOT required. This is only for mixed reality content.
PolySpatial Requires a Unity Paid Subscription Plan
PolySpatial is not available on Unity’s Personal plan, therefore requiring an active paid subscription to take advantage of it’s more advanced features such as shared and exclusive mixed reality experiences.
Unity’s FAQ describing the paid plan requirement as seen here.
Do remember that Unity’s pricing plan is soon due to change with the release of Unity 6.
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