Discuss spatial computing on Apple platforms and how to design and build an entirely new universe of apps and games for Apple Vision Pro.

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How to Achieve Volumetric Lighting (Light Shafts) in RealityKit on visionOS?
Hello everyone, I am currently developing an experience for visionOS using RealityKit and I would like to achieve volumetric light effects, such as visible light rays or shafts through fog or dust. I found this GitHub project: https://github.com/robcupisz/LightShafts, which demonstrates the kind of visual style I am aiming for. I would like to know if there is a way to create similar effects using RealityKit on visionOS. So far, I have experimented with DirectionalLight, SpotLight, ImageBasedLight, and custom materials (e.g., additive blending on translucent meshes), but none of these approaches can replicate the volumetric light shaft look shown in the repository above. Questions: Is there a recommended technique or workaround in RealityKit to simulate light shafts or volumetric lighting? Is creating a custom mesh (e.g., cone or volume geometry with gradient alpha and additive blending) the only feasible method? Are there any examples, best practices, or sample projects from Apple or other developers that showcase a similar visual style? Any advice or hints would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
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Aug ’25
Request File Access from Unity for Apple Vision Pro
Hi, I am trying to load files from the Apple Vision Pro's storage into a Unity App (using Apple visionOS XR Plugin and not PolySpatial package). So far, I've tried using UnitySimpleFileBrowser and UnityStandaloneFileBrowser (both aren't made for the Vision Pro and don't work there), and then implemented my own naive file browser that at least allows me to view directories (that I can see from the App Sandbox). This is of course very limited: Gray folders can't be accessed, the only 3 available ones don't contain anything where a user would put files through the "Files" app. I know that an app can request access to these "Files & Folders": So my question is: Is there a way to request this access for a Unity-built app at the moment? If yes, what do I need to do? I've looked into the generated Xcode project's "Capabilities", but did not find anything related to file access. Any help is appreciated!
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Oct ’25
MainActor attribute on RealityKit APIs is causing problems
Hello, A lot of the RealityKit APIs (Ex. LowLevelMesh, LowLevelTexture, etc.) are marked with MainActor so they needed to be accessed on the main thread. This creates issues when we need to perform expensive GPU related operations since now we need to perform those on the main thread. This results in bottlenecks and hangs in our application. We would like to use a multi-threaded approach to solve these problems which is difficult to do here. We are constantly streaming data whether the app is just appearing or the user is interacting with our application so we need to be able to perform these operations on a separate thread. Any advice on how to achieve this using RealityKit? Thank you.
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Mar ’25
Scene not found after changes in Reality Composer Pro
randomly, the app does not work after small changes in Reality Composer. Small changes like scaling a object a tiny bit. to fix the error, i have to change another element in reality composer and hope for the best. if this does not help, i change (transform) something else, or deactive/activate something to get the project working again. I can't see a pattern why the Reality Composer Project sometimes gets in a state where it does not compile anymore.
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Issue in TabletopKit Sample scene + shared immersive space
Hello Community, I am currently developing an experimental VisionOS app, to investigate the social effects of the new Spatial Persona feature, for my bachelor thesis. My setup includes a simple board game for the participants, in which they can engage with their persona avatars. I tried to use the TabletopKit for this setup, but ran into issues when starting the SharePlay session. When I testes my app, I couldn't see the other spatial persona anymore, despite the green SharePlay button indicating the session started. The other person can see my actions in their version of the app on the board, but can not interact with anything. Also, we are both seat on the default side of the seat. I tried to remove the environment I added, because it doesn't seem to synch with the other player. When I tried the FaceTime feature in the simulator without the environment, I could then see the test robot avatar, but at a totally wrong place. It's seems like it isn't just my environment occluding the seats, but a flaw in the seating process as well. When I tried the FaceTime feature in the simulator on the official test scene (TabletopKit Sample), I got the same incorrect placement and the warning "role(for:inSeatNumber:): The provided role identifier does not match a role in the current template." So my questions are: What needs to be changed so the TabletopKit can handle seating correctly? How can I correctly use immersive scenes in combination with the TabletopKit? I tried to keep the implementation of the TabletopKit example as close as possible, so I think it will enough to look into this codebase for now. I debugged the position of seats and they are placed correctly in front of their equipment. The personas are just not placed on them.
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Mar ’25
Technical Inquiry regarding iPhone LiDAR Specifications and ARKit Data Integrity
Hardware Specifications Regarding the LiDAR scanner in the iPhone 13/14/15/16/17 Pro series, could you please provide the following technical details for academic verification: Point Cloud Density / Resolution: The effective resolution of the depth map. Sampling Frequency: The sensor's refresh rate. Accuracy Metrics: Official tolerance levels regarding depth accuracy relative to distance (specifically within 0.5m – 2m range). Data Acquisition Methodology For a scientific thesis requiring high data integrity: Does Apple recommend a custom ARKit implementation over third-party applications (e.g., Polycam) to access raw depth data? I need to confirm if third-party apps typically apply smoothing or post-processing that would obscure the sensor's native performance, which must be avoided for my error analysis.
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Real Time Spatial Video Streaming with Vision Pro
Hello, I am trying to build an AVP app for real-time "zero-latency" spatial video streaming. I am trying to figure out, on a high level, the best way to do this. Currently this is my method: Server sends stereo images via a WebRTC service (ie, livekit) The WebRTC stream is converted to a CVPixelBuffer, writes them to file, plays via AVPlayer, and applies a VideoMaterial to a plane entity. However, this is a bit hacky and it seems like this won't be compatible with Apple's spatial experinces. To my understanding, Apple supports HLS streaming for spatial experiences and APMP content. However, HLS (and even Low Latency HLS) introduces a second or more of latency, likely do to the segmentation nature of HLS. Thus, HLS will not work for us. Some other alternatives I've thought of are streaming the live stream video via webrtc from the server to a local computer in the AVP's network, and then using LL-HLS to stream from the local computer to the vision pro. Still, it seems like this would introduce latency on the order of seconds. Is my current approach the best way to implement this? Or could anyone suggest a better way, perhaps something compatible with AVP's spatial experiences
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Dec ’25
Roomplan exceeded scene size limit error. (RoomCaptureSession.CaptureError.exceedSceneSizeLimit)
Error: RoomCaptureSession.CaptureError.exceedSceneSizeLimit Apple Documentation Explanation: An error that indicates when the scene size grows past the framework’s limitations. Issue: This error is popping up in my iPhone 14 Pro (128 GB) after a few roomplan scans are done. This error shows up even if the room size is small. It occurs immediately after I start the RoomCaptureSession after the relocalisation of previous AR session (in world tracking configuration). I am having trouble understanding exactly why this error shows and how to debug/solve it. Does anyone have any idea on how to approach to this issue?
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Dec ’25
Please provide access to face tracking blendshapes on vision os
Apple, please provide access to face tracking blend shapes on vision os, just like you do on iOS. You have the best eye and face tracking implementation on the market, please let us use it. There is a sizable audience who will buy the headset just for it. I personally know multiple people who are not buying the headset simply because you locked those features out. No raw camera access is needed, just abstracted blendshapes values. You will make the headset so much more useful if you do this simple thing.
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Jun ’25
Guided Access - Detect when setup (Eyes + Hands) is done
Hello, I am building a kiosk-style app for VisionOS which will be used in Guided Access mode, to be given to various visitors. So each of them will do hands + eyes setup, standard Guided Access thing. I want my experience to auto-start playing content when setup is done. I looked everywhere, but found no way do detect whether setup is complete? Also adding any kind of interface to start the app manually is risky, since buttons etc remain visible an interactable WHILE setup takes place. Delay-based approach also wont work, since setup can be skipped, or failed, or be done quickly, slowly... So it takes between 10 seconds and a few minutes. So the question is - is there any way to get notification, or check some bool or something that will tell me that Hands + Eyes setup in Guided mode is complete (or skipped)? Thanks in advance!
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With manipulation component, once you let go, how to prevent the entity from disappearing while animating it back into the volume
So with the new ManipulationComponent, we can choose "stay" and then if you drag it out of your volume, once you let go it will instantly disappear. We can "animate" it back to inside the volume, eg.: content.subscribe(to: ManipulationEvents.WillRelease.self) { event in Entity.animate( .easeInOut(duration: 1), body: { event.entity.position = [0, 0.2, 0] }, completion: {} ) }, Howeve,r for the duration that it travels outside of the volume it's invisible the whole time. In this apple video, it seems to be visible when dragging and when letting go, but perhaps that's not a volume they're dragging it out of? https://youtu.be/VtenPKrvPOU?si=y1zoZOs2IMyDzOm6&t=1748 Does anyone know how to keep the entity visible even when after letting the entity go while you animate it back towards inside of your volume?
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visualBounds ignores TextComponents set for Entity. Workarounds?
After adding TextComponents to my Entities on visionOS, I have observed that visualBounds will ignore the TextComponents. Documentation states that it should render a rounded rectangle mesh. These mashes are visible on the device, but not visible in the debugger ("Capture Entity Hierarchy") and ignored by visualBounds. Am I missing something? static func makeDirection(_ direction: Direction) -> Entity { let text = Entity() text.name = direction.rawValue text.setScale(SIMD3(repeating: 5), relativeTo: nil) text.transform.rotation = direction.rotation text.components.set(direction.textComponent) return text } My workaround is to add a disabled ModelEntity and take its bounds 😬
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Dec ’25
visionOS pushWindow being dismissed on app foreground
We seen to have found an issue when using the pushWindow action on visionOS. The issue occurs if the app is backgrounded then reopened by selecting the apps icon on the home screen. Any window that is opened via the pushWindow action is then dismissed. We've been able to replicate the issue in a small sample project. Replication steps Open app Open window via the push action Press the digital crown On the home screen select the apps icon again The pushed window will now be dismissed. There is a sample project linked here that shows off the issue, including a video of the bug in progress
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fileImporter issue in visionOS with iPhone app (that can run on visionOS)
Happy new year to all! I have created an iOS app that also runs on Apple Vision Pro. On iOS, when you activate the fileImporter modal, you can swipe down the modal in iOS to dismiss. However, in visionOS, this same modal CANNOT be swiped down to cancel/dismiss. If you are drilled deep into a file hierarchy, you have to navigate back to the top level to tap X to dismiss. Is there a way to add swipe down to the visionOS implementation of fileImporter, or any other workaround so the user doesn't have to navigate back to the top to dismiss? Again, this is not a visionOS app but an iOS app compatible for use in Vision Pro. Thanks!
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How to integrate Apple Immersive Video into the app you are developing.
Hello, Let me ask you a question about Apple Immersive Video. https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/07/new-apple-immersive-video-series-and-films-premiere-on-vision-pro/ I am currently considering implementing a feature to play Apple Immersive Video as a background scene in the app I developed, using 3DCG-created content converted into Apple Immersive Video format. First, I would like to know if it is possible to integrate Apple Immersive Video into an app. Could you provide information about the required software and the integration process for incorporating Apple Immersive Video into an app? It would be great if you could also share any helpful website resources. I am considering creating Apple Immersive Video content and would like to know about the necessary equipment and software for producing both live-action footage and 3DCG animation videos. As I mentioned earlier, I’m planning to play Apple Immersive Video as a background in the app. In doing so, I would also like to place some 3D models as RealityKit entities and spatial audio elements. I’m also planning to develop the visionOS app as a Full Space Mixed experience. Is it possible to have an immersive viewing experience with Apple Immersive Video in Full Space Mixed mode? Does Apple Immersive Video support Full Space Mixed? I’ve asked several questions, and that’s all for now. Thank you in advance!
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Nov ’25