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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Is ARGeoTrackingConfiguration always more accurate than ARWorldTrackingConfiguration for world scale AR?
We are working on a world scale AR app that leverages the device location and heading to place objects in the streets, so that they are correctly and stably anchored to certain locations. Since the geo-tracking imagery is only available in certain cities and areas, we are trying to figure out how to fallback when geo-tracking is not available as the device move away, to still retain good AR camera accuracy. We might need to come up with some algorithm using the device GPS, to line up the ARCamera with our objects. Question: Does geo-tracking always provide greater than or equal to the accuracy of world tracking, for a GPS outdoor AR experience? If so, we can simply use the ARGeoTrackingConfiguration for the entire time, and rely on the ARView keeping itself aligned. Otherwise, we need to switch between it and ARWorldTrackingConfiguration when geo-tracking is not available and/or its accuracy is low, then roll our own algorithm to keep the camera aligned. Thanks.
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1.1k
Oct ’25
VisionOS 26 - threadsPerThreadgroup limit causing crash on device (but not in simulator)
Hi all, I'm running into an issue with an app that previously worked fine on device using visionOS 2.0. After updating to visionOS 26, the same code runs fine in the simulator but crashes on the device with the following error: -[MTLDebugComputeCommandEncoder _validateThreadsPerThreadgroup:]:1330: failed assertion `(threadsPerThreadgroup.width(32) * threadsPerThreadgroup.height(32) * threadsPerThreadgroup.depth(1))(1024) must be <= 832. (kernel threadgroup size limit)` Is there any documented way to check or increase the allowed threadsPerThreadgroup size on Apple Vision Pro? Or any recommended workaround for this regression? Thanks in advance!
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Jun ’25
Cannot extract imagePair from generated Spatial Photos
Hi I am trying to implement something simple as people can share their Spatial Photos with others (just like this post). I encountered the same issue with him, but his answer doesn't help me out here. Briefly speaking, I am using CGImgaeSoruce to extract paired leftImage and rightImage from one fetched spatial photo let photos = PHAsset.fetchAssets(with: .image, options: nil) // enumerating photos .... if asset.mediaSubtypes.contains(PHAssetMediaSubtype.spatialMedia) { spatialAsset = asset } // other code show below I can fetch left and right images from native Spatial Photo (taken by Apple Vision Pro or iPhone 15+), but it didn't work on generated spatial photo (2D -> 3D feat in Photos). // imageCount is 1 when it comes to generated spatial photo let imageCount = CGImageSourceGetCount(source) I searched over the net and someone says the generated version is having a depth image instead of left/right pair. But still I cannot extract any depth image from imageSource. The full code below, the imagePair extraction will stop at "no groups found": func extractPairedImage(phAsset: PHAsset, completion: @escaping (StereoImagePair?) -> Void) { let options = PHImageRequestOptions() options.isNetworkAccessAllowed = true options.deliveryMode = .highQualityFormat options.resizeMode = .none options.version = .original return PHImageManager.default().requestImageDataAndOrientation(for: phAsset, options: options) { imageData, _, _, _ in guard let imageData, let imageSource = CGImageSourceCreateWithData(imageData as CFData, nil) else { completion(nil) return } let stereoImagePair = stereoImagePair(from: imageSource) completion(stereoImagePair) } } } func stereoImagePair(from source: CGImageSource) -> StereoImagePair? { guard let properties = CGImageSourceCopyProperties(source, nil) as? [CFString: Any] else { return nil } let imageCount = CGImageSourceGetCount(source) print(String(format: "%d images found", imageCount)) guard let groups = properties[kCGImagePropertyGroups] as? [[CFString: Any]] else { /// function returns here print("no groups found") return nil } guard let stereoGroup = groups.first(where: { let groupType = $0[kCGImagePropertyGroupType] as! CFString return groupType == kCGImagePropertyGroupTypeStereoPair }) else { return nil } guard let leftIndex = stereoGroup[kCGImagePropertyGroupImageIndexLeft] as? Int, let rightIndex = stereoGroup[kCGImagePropertyGroupImageIndexRight] as? Int, let leftImage = CGImageSourceCreateImageAtIndex(source, leftIndex, nil), let rightImage = CGImageSourceCreateImageAtIndex(source, rightIndex, nil), let leftProperties = CGImageSourceCopyPropertiesAtIndex(source, leftIndex, nil), let rightProperties = CGImageSourceCopyPropertiesAtIndex(source, rightIndex, nil) else { return nil } return (leftImage, rightImage, self.identifier) } Any suggestion? Thanks visionOS 2.4
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Jun ’25
Vision OS: HUD mode windows
If I correctly understand, a new Enterprise API has been introduced In visionOS 26 allowing to fix windows to the user frame of reference, implementing a something like an "head up display", with the window tracking the user movements. Is this API only available to enterprise applications, and if so is there a plan to make it available for every kind of app?
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126
Jun ’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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1.9k
Jan ’26
How to get multiple animations into USDZ
Most models are only available as glb or fbx, so I usually reexport them into usdz using Blender. When I import them into Reality Composer Pro, Mesh, Textures etc look great, but in the Animation Library subsection all I can see is one default subtree animation. In Blender I can see all available animations and play them individually. The default subtree animation just plays the default idle animation. In fact when I open the nonlinear animation view in Blender and select a different animation as the default animation, the exported usdz shows the newly selected animation as default subtree animation. I can see in the Apple sample apps models can have multiple animations in their Animation Library. I'm using the latest Blender 4.5 and the usdz exporter should be working properly?
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780
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
Exporting .reality files from Reality Composer Pro
I've been using the MacOS XCode Reality Composer to export interactive .reality files that can be hosted on the web and linked to, triggering QuickLook to open the interactive AR experience. That works really well. I've just downloaded XCode 15 Beta which ships with the new Reality Composer Pro and I can't see a way to export to .reality files anymore. It seems that this is only for building apps that ship as native iOS etc apps, rather than that can be viewed in QuickLook. Am I missing something, or is it no longer possible to export .reality files? Thanks.
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2.1k
Jul ’25
Loading USDZ asset into Model3D causes visionOS 2.0 beta 5 to crash
We've recently discovered that our app crashes on startup on the latest visionOS 2.0 beta 5 (22N5297g) build. In fact, the entire field of view would dim down and visionOS would then restart, showing the Apple logo. Interestingly, no app crash is reported by Xcode during debug. After investigation, we have isolated the issue to a specific USDZ asset in our app. Loading it in a sample, blank project also causes visionOS to reliably crash, or become extremely unresponsive with rendering artifacts everywhere. This looks like a potentially serious issue. Even if the asset is problematic, loading it should not crash the entire OS. We have filed feedback FB14756285, along with a demo project. Hopefully someone can take a look. Thanks!
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Jul ’25
RealityKit Trace Metric Max/Range for VisionOS app
Hi Nathaniel, I spoke with you yesterday in the WWDC lab. Thanks for chatting with me! Is it possible to get a link to a doc that has some key metrics I'd find in a RealityKit trace so I know if that metric is exceeding limits and probably causing a problem? Right now, I just see numbers and have no idea if a metric is high or low :). This is specifically for a VisionOS app. Thanks, Bob
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Jun ’25
RealityKit Entity ComponentSet does not conform to Sequence?
Hello, I'm trying to view the components of an Entity I'm creating in RealityKit by reading from a USDZ file. I have the following code snippet in my app. if let appleEntity = try? Entity.loadModel(named: "apple_tile") { let c = appleEntity.components for comp in c { // <- compiler error here print(comp) } } The compiler error I'm receiving says "For-in loop requires 'Entity.ComponentSet' to conform to 'Sequence'". However, I thought this was the case, according to the documentation for Entity.ComponentSet? Curious if anyone else has had this problem. Running XCode 15.4, and my Swift version is xcrun swift -version swift-driver version: 1.90.11.1 Apple Swift version 5.10 (swiftlang-5.10.0.13 clang-1500.3.9.4) Target: x86_64-apple-macosx14.0
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Mar ’25
[WWDC25] For GuessTogether, can you initiate a FaceTime call via the custom SharePlay button?
Hello, For GuessTogether source code, it seems like the code assumes that you're already in a FaceTime call before pressing the custom SharePlay button (labeled "Play Guess Together"). If not already on a FaceTime call, my Apple Vision Pro and the visionOS simulator both do nothing after throwing warnings. Is this intended behavior? If so, how do I make it so that pressing the button can also initiate FaceTime calls? Is this allowed? Thank you!
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137
Sep ’25
Rendering scene in RealityView to an Image
Is there any way to render a RealityView to an Image/UIImage like we used to be able to do using SCNView.snapshot() ? ImageRenderer doesn't work because it renders a SwiftUI view hierarchy, and I need the currently presented RealityView with camera background and 3D scene content the way the user sees it I tried UIHostingController and UIGraphicsImageRenderer like extension View { func snapshot() -> UIImage { let controller = UIHostingController(rootView: self) let view = controller.view let targetSize = controller.view.intrinsicContentSize view?.bounds = CGRect(origin: .zero, size: targetSize) view?.backgroundColor = .clear let renderer = UIGraphicsImageRenderer(size: targetSize) return renderer.image { _ in view?.drawHierarchy(in: view!.bounds, afterScreenUpdates: true) } } } but that leads to the app freezing and sending an infinite loop of [CAMetalLayer nextDrawable] returning nil because allocation failed. Same thing happens when I try return renderer.image { ctx in view.layer.render(in: ctx.cgContext) } Now that SceneKit is deprecated, I didn't want to start a new app using deprecated APIs.
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Sep ’25
Unable to Create a Fully Immersive Experience That Hides Other Windows in visionOS App
Description: I'm developing a travel/panorama viewing app for visionOS that allows users to view 360° panoramic images in an immersive space. When users enter panorama viewing mode, I want to provide a fully immersive experience where the main interface window and Earth 3D globe window are hidden. I've implemented the app following Apple's documentation on Creating Fully Immersive Experiences, but when users enter the immersive space, both the main window and the Earth 3D window remain visible, diminishing the immersive experience. Implementation Details: My app has three main components: A main content window showing panorama thumbnails A 3D globe window (volumetric) showing locations An immersive space for viewing 360° panoramas I'm using .immersionStyle(selection: $panoImageView, in: .full) to create a fully immersive experience, but other windows remain visible. Relevant Code: @main struct Travel_ImmersiveApp: App { @StateObject private var appModel = AppModel() @State private var panoImageView: ImmersionStyle = .full var body: some Scene { WindowGroup { ContentView() .environmentObject(appModel) } .windowStyle(.automatic) .defaultSize(width: 1280, height: 825) WindowGroup(id: "Earth") { Globe3DView() .environmentObject(appModel) .onAppear { appModel.isGlobeWindowOpen = true appModel.globeWindowOpen = true } .onDisappear { if !appModel.shouldCloseApp { appModel.handleGlobeWindowClose() } } } .windowStyle(.volumetric) .defaultSize(width: 0.8, height: 0.8, depth: 0.8, in: .meters) .windowResizability(.contentSize) ImmersiveSpace(id: "ImmersiveView") { ImmersiveView() .environmentObject(appModel) } .immersionStyle(selection: $panoImageView, in: .full) } } Opening the Immersive Space: func getPanoImageAndOpenImmersiveSpace() async { appModel.clearMemoryCache() do { let canView = appModel.canViewImage(image) if canView { let downloadedImage = try await appModel.getPanoramaImage(for: image) { progress in Task { @MainActor in cardState = .loading(progress: progress) } } await MainActor.run { appModel.updateCurrentImage(image, panoramaImage: downloadedImage) } if !appModel.immersiveSpaceOpened { try await openImmersiveSpace(id: "ImmersiveView") await MainActor.run { appModel.immersiveSpaceOpened = true cardState = .normal } } else { await MainActor.run { appModel.updateImmersiveView = true cardState = .normal } } } else { await MainActor.run { appModel.errorMessage = "You do not have permission to view this image." cardState = .normal } } } catch { // Error handling } } Immersive View Implementation: struct ImmersiveView: View { @EnvironmentObject var appModel: AppModel var body: some View { RealityView { content in let rootEntity = Entity() content.add(rootEntity) Task { if let selectedImage = appModel.selectedImage, appModel.canViewImage(selectedImage) { await loadPanorama(for: rootEntity) } } } update: { content in if appModel.updateImmersiveView, let selectedImage = appModel.selectedImage, appModel.canViewImage(selectedImage), let rootEntity = content.entities.first { Task { await loadPanorama(for: rootEntity) appModel.updateImmersiveView = false } } } .onAppear { print("ImmersiveView appeared") } .onDisappear { appModel.resetImmersiveState() } } // loadPanorama implementation... } What I've Tried Set immersionStyle to .full as recommended in the documentation Confirmed that the immersive space is properly opened and displaying panoramas Verified that the state management for the immersive space is working correctly Questions How can I ensure that when the user enters the immersive panorama viewing experience, all other windows (main interface and Earth 3D globe) are automatically hidden? Is there a specific API or approach I'm missing to properly implement a fully immersive experience that hides all other windows? Do I need to manually dismiss the windows when opening the immersive space, and if so, what's the best approach for doing this? Any guidance or sample code would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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Apr ’25
VisionOS Enterprise API Not Working
My development team admin requested the Enterprise API for camera access on the vision pro. We got that granted, got a license for usage, and got instructions for integrating it with next steps. We did the following: Even when I try to download and run the sample project for "Accessing the Main Camera", and follow all the exact instructions mentioned here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/visionos/accessing-the-main-camera I am just unable to receive camera frames. I added the capabilities, created a new provisioning profile with this access, added the entitlements to info.plist and entitlements, replaced the dummy license file with the one we were sent, and also have a matching bundle identifier and development certificate, but it is still not showing camera access for some reason. "Main Camera Access" shows up in our Signing & Capabilities tab, and we also added the NSMainCameraDescription in the Info.plist and allow access while opening the app. None of this works. Not on my app, and not on the sample app that I just downloaded and tried to run on the Vision Pro after replacing the dummy license file.
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864
Dec ’25
Transparent Material Turning into Occlusion Material
I am trying to create an object in immersive space that is partially transparent (~50% opacity). I have implemented this in a few different ways including creating a model entity and setting its opacity component to 0.5, and creating a custom material with blending set to a transparent opacity of 0.5. These both work partially, as they behaved as intended for many cases, but seemingly randomly would act like occlusion material and block any other immersive content behind them, showing the real world instead. Some notes: I am using RealityKit to render the semi-transparent object and an opaque object that is behind the semi-transparent object. I am using VisionOS 2.1, and am updating the location of the semi-transparent object often. Both objects are ModelEntities. I would appreciate any guidance on how to implement this. Please let me know if there are any other questions.
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May ’25
Human Body joint tracking in VisionOS
The goal is to achieve precise joint tracking for clinical assessment. The Doctor is wearing the AVP and observing the Patients movement. Do you have any recommended best practices for integrating real-time joint tracking and displaying them on the patient within visionOS? We attempted to use VNHumanBodyPose3DObservation, which theoretically should work, but we are unable to display the detected joints in an Immersive Space for real-time validation. This makes it difficult for the doctor to ensure accurate tracking and if possible a photo or video of the Range of Motion assessment would be needed for the patient record. Are there alternative methods to achieve precise real-time joint tracking without requiring main camera access (com.apple.developer.arkit.main-camera-access.allow)?
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Mar ’25