It’s possible to use the Apple Vision Pro as a standalone computer. I’m not ready to do that as using apps on the spatial computer is a mostly impressive experience, though there are still some issues.
Apple’s apps work well. You’ll find Notes, Music, Safari, Podcasts, Photos, Apple TV+, Maps , Keynote, and more. But where are visionOS optimized versions of Pages, GarageBand, and iMovie. Other apps include SkyGuide and Disney+ and there are Apple Arcade games. Many more are coming, as most apps haven’t yet been built specifically for Vision Pro.
The Vision Pro supports more than a million iPhone and iPad apps. However, you’ll have to search for each one individually and some of them aren’t available.
One problem with using apps and working on the Vision Pro is that it lacks Mac-like (or even iPad-like) window-management tools, so multitasking can be slow and confusing. You can have apps overlapping each other with a ghost-like effect. You activate one by looking at it and tapping your fingers. However, with apps overlapping, it can be easy to choose one you don’t want immediately. The solution is, of course, to not have ‘em atop each other. After all, you have an incredible huge virtual workspace.
The pull-down Control Center, which “floats” above your field of view, simplifies the navigation process somewhat. Look at it and it morphs into an arrow, then transforms into iPhone-ish controls for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.
There’s no Exposé or Stage Manager to collect all your open windows in front of you or put them into preset arrangements. And you can’t do much customization to your Home view.
But for the most part, moving between apps is pretty easy. You tap and hold the X button in one app to hide all your other apps. If you want to hide everything, you double-click the Digital Crown on the headset itself. If you want to close all apps, ask Siri. If an app is giving you grief, you can force quit it by holding down the top button and the Digital Crown together.
With using apps — or doing pretty much anything — on the Vision Pro, there are several immersive environments you can work or play it. There’s the moon, a volcano in Haleakala, a snowy forest in Yosemite, a lakeside at Mount Hood, a panoramic view of Iceland, and a white sand desert. You can adjust the immersivity (a word I made up) by turning the Digital Crown to adjust exactly how immersed you wish to be in the environment.
It’s certainly possible to use the Vision Pro as your main work productivity tool. However, if that’s your plan forget using the visionOS’s crappy virtual keyboard and get yourself a Bluetooth one to use.
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