Apple's futuristic Vision Pro headset hit the one-year mark, but during that initial year, it still felt like it was missing some key features. Now, Apple is addressing a few of those features, at least in small steps, with VisionOS 2.4. Apple Intelligence is finally arriving on Vision Pro, along with some connected apps and guest mode features for iPhones and iPads.
The new OS update can be tested in a developer beta arriving today, but the official OS update isn't coming until April. I've been waiting for these new features for a while.
Apple Intelligence might be the flashiest new feature, but it's not likely to be the most meaningful yet -- the AI extras launching in this wave don't include any camera-enabled Visual Intelligence multimodal features like those Google Gemini will flex on Android XR. But it should at least be a foot in the door toward more AI getting added over time. I'm more excited that the Vision Pro is going to work better with iPhones and iPads. Not necessarily in all the ways I want, but a new app and a Guest Mode feature should give the headset remote-access functions that Meta's Quest headset has had for years.
GenMoji (and other Apple Intelligence tools) are coming to Vision Pro, but not Visual Intelligence yet. Apple
Apple Intelligence: Text and image tools, but no visual intelligence or new Siri yet
The Apple Intelligence features coming to Vision Pro are familiar; they mostly mirror what's already on Macs, iPhones and iPads. Their arrival is overdue: I expected them last year. Writing tools, a mode integrated into several apps, is back again to summarize or generate text. There are message summaries, and ChatGPT can be invoked for extra assistance. There's Apple's generative AI GenMoji, which makes emoji on demand, and Image Playground, which makes 2D images. None of these will generate anything 3D on Vision Pro… not yet. And Apple's AI-driven Memory Movies feature, which can generate photo and video galleries on demand, won't show any 3D "spatial" movies or photos yet. That's a bummer.
Still, the big missing thing is Visual Intelligence. Apple's camera-enabled AI functions on iPhones, which are summoned using the Camera Button, scan the world and search or identify what's in view. Visual Intelligence would make sense on Vision Pro, which is literally a giant wearable display with world-viewing cameras studded everywhere. Right now, though, there's no Visual Intelligence feature in the mix. Or new Siri, for that matter. Apple's revamped Siri should be a part of iOS 18.4, but it won't be on the Vision Pro with this OS update.
Google, meanwhile, is already integrating a multimodal camera-assisted Gemini AI into Android XR, seemingly on course to be available on day one of that OS' release.
Apple could still introduce Visual Intelligence later this year. It's a likely candidate for VisionOS 3, which should be announced at Apple's WWDC developer conference, usually held in June. But, at least, Apple Intelligence arriving on Vision Pro -- as Apple already indicated it would -- shows that the current hardware can do more than Apple has allowed.
Guiding people through Vision Pro experiences will be easier with better iPhone and iPad experience controls. Josh Goldman/CNET
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