My Review of the Apple Vision Pro After One Month
Taking a Break from Saturday Links to Share My Experience
Why I’m Writing This Review
I was going to do my weekly Saturday links, but I spent the day working on some admin stuff and couldn’t. Instead, I decided to post my review of the Apple Vision Pro. I did this for three reasons.
First, I’ve had it now for over a month. I bought the Apple Vision Pro on May 1st, and it is now June 15th. So, I’ve had it for six weeks and I use it every day. If I had to guess, I use it anywhere from two to ten hours a day, depending on how productive I am and how much writing I get done, which I’ll explain more about below.
Second, one of the links I was going to share today for my Saturday links was from the NYT, titled “Can Apple Rescue the Vision Pro?” by Kevin Roose. It is a lot like several reviews I’ve read—it is negative and misguided. Roose’s review highlights a common issue: to truly understand the Vision Pro’s usefulness, you need to spend a lot of time with it and have the latent demand for it in the first place, which I think Roose clearly didn’t. The Vision Pro is a consumer product, but it’s not for everyone. It’s an experience good, meaning you have to try it before you know if you need it, which makes reviews and personal trials valuable. As Roose’s experience contrasts significantly with mine, I thought I’d share my perspective because I believe this product is revolutionary—at least for me.
The third reason is that I’ve now had the Apple Vision Pro for over a month and have used it daily—sometimes for several hours a day, even up to 10 hours. While the NYT journalist notes his initial excitement turned into the device collecting dust, my experience is the exact opposite. My use has only intensified, shifting me away from using my iPhone and more towards my MacBook Pro. It’s a substitute for my phone, a complement to my laptop, and even a substitute for my television, which I’ll discuss further.
I’ve never written a review before, so take this with a grain of salt. But the essence is simple—it’s perfect for me. It might not be for everyone, but I already know I’ll be a lifetime user. It can only improve from here, and it’s already ideal for my workflow and needs.
So, this is my “one month later” review, describing the value I’ve gotten from intensive, engaged use, as opposed to casual and disengaged use.
What is the Apple Vision Pro?
Before I give you my reactions, I’ll first describe the product for those who haven’t used it or don’t really know what it is. The Apple Vision Pro is spatial computer that you wear on your head which is designed for various applications, including productivity, entertainment, and immersive experiences.
In terms of appearance, it looks like a virtual reality headset. If you don’t know what that is, imagine wearing giant goggles, similar to goggles you wear snow skiing, but even larger. The front resembles a rounded circle 8 on its side. It straps to your head with a strap, and you have two options: the standard strap that goes around the back of your head, or a different strap that has an additional elastic strap that goes over the top of your skull for extra support. I use the latter as it keeps the device securely in place without being too tight. However, it does leave visible marks on your head if you’ve been wearing it a lot which are visible even for someone who is bald like me.
But that is just its appearance. What does the Vision Pro do exactly? Notably, Apple does not refer to it as a VR helmet in any marketing material I’ve seen. Instead, they call it a “spatial computer.” And while that might seem like marketing jargon, it isn’t. After six weeks of us, I can personally say that the Apple Vision Pro is clearly a “spatial computer,” even though, before this, I had no idea what that term meant. The closest analogy is that is basically the same computers you see in science fiction movies like Minority Report. Actually, that’s exactly what the Vision Pro is—it’s the computer Tom Cruise uses in Minority Report without any exaggeration.
The Vision Pro seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world while still allowing you to remain fully immersed in your real-life environment — that is, until you choose not to be. You can call up apps and windows from a home page and display them anywhere in the room. They are usually windows, and they stick wherever you put them. You can even sort of throw them. And when you leave the room, these virtual elements stay in their original location as though pinned there.
It achieves this “immersive”—a word I’ll use a lot in this review—spatial computing experience in two main ways. There is a side facing your eyeballs and there is a side facing the world, and I’m going to talk about the side facing your eyeballs first, and then talk about the side facing the world. But obviously they are connected to each other.
First, on the side facing your eyeballs, there are ultra-high-resolution displays with over 23 million pixels across two screens, which provide a visually immersive experience. These screens are both facing your eyes and only a few inches away, making the digital content you see look as real as your physical surroundings. It is so real that when you put on the goggles, you actually think you just put on clear glasses. You cannot tell that you are seeing a screen display because it is showing you the world on the other side of the camera, and the tracking is instantaneous, so your mind never notices that what you’re viewing is just a television screen.
But it is not just you looking out; the Vision Pro is also looking at you. It has cameras that are constantly scanning your retinas, turning your eyes into cursors. This allows you to navigate with eye movements and a pinching gesture using your finger and thumb. This advanced eye tracking, combined with hand gestures and voice commands, lets you interact with digital content as if it were physically present. It feels so real that you quickly forget the screens are there and start to perceive these virtual elements as real as the furniture in your house. This becomes so second nature that you start to think of this augmented reality as normal. If that sounds unsettling, it means I’ve explained it well because that is precisely the experience this device creates.
On the side facing “the world”, there are two high-resolution main cameras and six world-facing tracking cameras that sense your environment in stereoscopic 3D. These cameras capture photos and videos of your surroundings and transmit the information back to your eyes in high resolution, making it feel more like you are wearing clear glasses than watching a computer screen. The operating system allows you to navigate using only your eyes and hand gestures, which quickly become second nature. To open an app, you simply look at an icon and tap your forefinger and thumb together. The myriad tracking cameras ensure the Vision Pro detects even your tiniest finger movements, although this can be a bit too sensitive if you fidget with your hands like me.
Inside the device are several infrared internal tracking cameras that follow every movement of your eyes, allowing you to select icons simply by looking at them. The Vision Pro also contains something called a TrueDepth camera for user authentication, similar to the FaceID system used in our iPhones. This camera either projects thousands of invisible dots on your face or into your retina1 to create a depth map and infrared image which is what enables the biometric authentication.
And last, mixed reality. The Vision Pro employs something called mixed and augmented reality to enhance the real world with digital overlays. Mixed and augmented reality means you can still see your physical surroundings while interacting with virtual elements, such as those floating windows I mentioned. These things appear around you as 3D objects. Mixed reality is how it provides a seamless integration of all the virtual content with your real-world environment. But there are also fully immersive environments which cause your real world environment to vanish, and those are a valuable experience in and of themselves which I’ll explain below.
Why did I buy this?
This wasn’t an impulse purchase. I had been mulling it over since it was announced. I made an appointment at the Apple Store first. The nearest Apple Store is Austin, which is 90 minutes from where I live, but I went and did a 30 minute tour of it. I came back, started reading more about it, and watching online videos of people’s reactions and descriptions to it. It’s an experience good as I said above, and experience goods are goods that you really do not know your willingness to pay for until you use it, which makes adoption of new technologies like this hard if they are really outside the distribution of your own prior experience.
But I kept thinking about how I might use it, thinking about struggles I was having, and particularly thinking about this summer trip to Europe. I even talked about it with my coach. I finally decided it was worth it given my goals for the summer because while risky, if it could help me accomplish these goals, then it would pay for itself. So, I put it on a 0% APR 12-month payment plan using my Apple Card. The two-week trial didn’t start immediately too. I had to get prescription lenses specially designed for it. So technically, my two week trial started, they said, the moment those arrived at my house in the mail. I was using it before they arrived, but as I have abysmal vision, I couldn’t see well in it. But weirdly, even without perfect vision I could tell it was an amazing product.
The two reasons I bought it was to help me finish the Mixtape this summer in Europe and to smooth out the depression and mood that happens like clock work when I travel in Europe. So, those were my reasons: enhanced productivity and mental health-related self-care. Now, let me dive into that.
Enhanced Productivity
First, let me start by saying that I’ve owned numerous Apple products in my adult life—several iPhones, several iPods, three iPads, one Apple Pencil, an Apple Watch, four iMacs, and probably a half dozen MacBooks and MacBook Pros. My first computer purchase (paid for with my money) was in 2002 when I started grad school. Though I grew up on PCs, ever since that grad school purchase, they’ve only been Macs.
I say all this because not all Apple products have worked for me. Of the products I just listed, the only ones that have truly proved revolutionary for me were the iPod, the iPhone, and the iMac/MacBook. The iPads have never worked for me at all. Even though I see what the iPads can do and am amazed when I watch others who get so much productivity out of them, they have never been anything remotely useful to me. I prefer my iPhone to the iPad. I’ve also completely stopped using the Watch. I should’ve known though because I don’t wear watches. If you don’t already wear watches, getting an Apple Watch doesn’t really make you suddenly start wanting to wear them, so I eventually stopped and plan to give it to my daughter when I return.
But I also don’t wear computers on my face, so how could I know this wouldn’t just be another iPad or Watch for me? Well, I had a feeling that the specific parameters of this European trip were basically designed for it. I was going to be alone a lot, I had the problems with depression that travel triggered every time, and I needed to write a ton but struggled with being distracted, especially in beautiful locations. So, I had a hunch that even if all it did was work for this summer, this was the summer to try and see.
The Vision Pro is more like the iPod, the iPhone, or MacBook Pro in terms of sticking-around power. Just like when you got your iPod or iPhone and immediately began using it intensively, maybe compulsively, that’s how this has been for me. I suspect that the people who have put it down just did not have the same specific needs that I have. When I was planning on buying it, I had a clear idea of its use for me, based on my European trip this summer. I envisioned being on long intercontinental flights cramped in coach seating, in closed quarters European-style hotels, or my 1BR Airbnb. Despite their quaint beauty, these places don’t offer the kind of environment I need to get work done. I badly needed to finish the Mixtape revisions, which had gotten away from me due to juggling so many other things.
On top of that, I have fairly severe attention problems. I’ve struggled with distraction my whole life, which contributes to my ebb and flow productivity, my tendency to take on too many projects, and falling into procrastination slumps. So why did I think this would help? Because I knew I could mirror my laptop to the Vision Pro and have a gigantic monitor with me no matter where I was—even on the airplane. Even with those tiny tray tables that unfold from the seat ahead of you, which are almost impossible to work on, you can tether the Vision Pro to the laptop and display a gigantic computer screen right in front of you. It’s as though it simultaneously blocks out anything covered by the display and puts the screen as far ahead of you as you want. You can place the monitor three seats ahead or up close, or at just the right distance. You can make it tiny, large, or gigantic—as big as the side of a house, if you want.
Now imagine what you can do on a small kitchen table workstation or an even smaller one in a European hotel room, which are much smaller than those in the US. They all have little workstations, but they are often too small. This makes every room you’re in feel bigger by allowing you to be in that room and not in that room at the same time.
One of the ways it has been valuable for me is how it transforms confined spaces like airplanes, small Airbnbs, and hotel rooms into massive spaces. It allows me to set up my laptop and project large displays around me. Not just from my laptop, but from the apps you have access to. I have Apple Music, ChatGPT-4 (which I talk to through the Vision Pro environment using the dictation mic), my monitor, and other random things open simultaneously. For work-related matters, those are the three things I use. Once I immerse myself in a virtual environment, which I’ll explain below, it’s like I’ve got blinders on. Like a horse wearing blinders, I disappear into a sensory deprivation chamber where only my piano music is playing, the screen is displaying everything, and I am in the zone. I haven’t been this productive in a long time. This is partly because I gave myself permission to focus on just a few things this summer, mainly writing, and partly because of the productivity enhancements this device provides.
Managing Mood
As I mentioned, I also got it hoping it would help with some of the low mood ebbing I get when I travel, and it so far has. I was hoping that having the Vision Pro would help me not get so low because it offers some things for self-care. One of those is the immersive environments.
The immersive environments are basically preloaded settings of sights and sounds so realistic you feel like you’re there. They are not just panoramic photos; they are dynamic, living landscapes that include soundscapes and adjust their lighting based on the time of day you want (light mode vs dark mode). At the moment, there are six of them:
The surface of the moon
White Sands, New Mexico
Base of Mount Hood, Oregon on a beautiful lake with soft rain drizzling over the calm still water
Haleakalã National Park in Hawaii (from a very high peak above a valley with cloud cover)
Joshua Tree
Yosemite by El Capitan
It’s hard to describe how surreal the experience is. Here’s one video of someone explaining it. You can see even though he’s used it before, as he tries to explain it to the audience on YouTube, he has trouble because he is so consistently awestruck by the experience. I still get awestruck by the experience and it’s been six weeks now.
There are also two “coming soon” environments and four that are just color hues laid on top of your normal environment (one for each season). I don’t use those. I mostly use the moon and Yosemite for productivity, and Mount Hood when I just want to be somewhere quiet and not think.
The moon environment is amazing because it uses actual photographs and video content from probes and other missions. I had no idea it was possible to feel like you’re on the moon. You’re beside a very deep, large crater, and surrounding you (360 degrees) are small to medium-sized hills. The moon rocks and boulders close by are especially great. You can see them and almost touch them. Sometimes, I swear I feel something when I put my arm through windows, like a phantom sensation where my mind registers something is there.
So I’m not lying — the immersive experiences help with my mood. There is something peaceful and calming about being on the moon, shutting out the outside world completely, and being utterly alone. I use that environment almost exclusively to work, but it’s also just been nice be in these environments for long stretches of time. No speaking. No surfing the web. Nothing but just looking and being there and feeling things. It feels nice to go Mount Hood because the Mount Hood environment is at a lake at the base and if you wait, it’ll start to drizzle and you can watch the morning steam lift off the water when it does. Obviously, I wish I was at that actual lake by Mount Hood watching the rain, but the thing is, I can’t be. I need to work and finish the book. So while I camp now more than I ever have, and that is an amazing part of my life now for which I am grateful, it doesn’t change the fact that I am not camping right now.
I suspect this has helped with the depression and mood over here. I just feel better when I’m resting on the moon. It feels calm. I’m not in my head, not all consumed with a bunch of electrical chatter inside my stomach making me feel nauseous from anxiety. I even sleep sometimes with it on. I’ll just put it on, go to the moon or Yosemite, and fall asleep with the wind blowing, under El Capitan, or staring at the stars as I drift off. I don’t know if I’m supposed to do that, but I do and partly I do because it’s comfortable wearing it like that. I’m assuming Apple knew I would do that so they made it easier for me and sturdy enough for me to do it.
Entertainment and Mental Health
Given the closed quarters and the constant travel this summer, I also wanted something to do at the end of the day, and I did not want to be on my phone. I have come around to what many knew from the start: the phone has not been good for my mental health. Social media, in particular, has not been beneficial for my overall well-being. While I’ve made some friends and it was crucial to getting my book deal and helping me achieve my goals, it came at a price. I do not want to be on my phone at the end of the day, let alone throughout the day.
So, at the end of the day, I make my dinner (usually gnocchi with pesto or ravioli with red sauce), sit down at the table, and watch a show while I eat. The shows I’m currently watching are Dark Matter on Apple TV (I’ve read the book and loved it), The Acolyte on Disney Plus (amazing), Sweet Tooth on Netflix (also great), and The Boys on Amazon Prime (wonderfully violent and subversive). Next, I’ll probably watch Presumed Innocent, which I ironically purchased the movie before coming here, but people are saying great things about the limited series too.
Watching anything on the “big screen” inside a Vision Pro is wonderful. It’s the best viewing experience I’ve ever had, including an IMAX theater. You have to experience it to understand. It’s like you’re on the moon at a drive-in theater when you project the entire show into this gigantic screen. I don’t even know how to describe it except to say it’s like being on the moon with a massive theater screen set up on the other side of a crater, or over a lake at the base of Mount Hood, or on the side of El Capitan, or in the clouds on a mountain in Hawaii. Just imagine, “I wonder what that is like.” You’d have to see it, but that’s what it’s like. Or you can go into cinema mode and be transported into an actual movie theater that somehow feels completely darkened and tricks my brain into believing I am in a theater. It has depth like theaters have, I can move from the front row, middle row, back row, on either the ground floor or a balcony. Somehow, all of that feels real. It’s just hard to explain, but it’s phenomenally immersive.
How does this help with mental health? First, the marginal cost is free. I’m trying to keep costs down while I’m over here which as you can imagine is very difficult to do. But here the marginal cost of this form of entertainment, after a long day of work, is zero. I make my dinner, I sit down exhausted, and just watch a show and rest. I’m not spending money at night after a long day of work, which feels good, is partly my point. But it’s also that though I am home, and have to be home, it’s delightful to decompress in an environment that is so new, rich, and interesting. This is basically what I imagine people who buy massive entertainment systems for their homes are going for, only this is better (and in some ways worse, which I’ll explain momentarily).
It’s a Complement and a Substitute
So what I’ve learned is that the Vision Pro is both a complement to my existing workflow and devices, and a substitute for some as well. First, the complement. It enhances my MacBook by acting as a virtual monitor, allowing me to type on my external wireless keyboard and use my Magic Mouse. If you are someone who frequently buys additional large monitors for work productivity, you’ll find this feature particularly beneficial.
This feature is phenomenal. When the new operating system is released this fall, I’ll get an even larger monitor, this time a huge wrap-around display. Apple seems to be moving in that direction rather than focusing on multiple monitors. Though I have an app that lets me use multiple monitors, I find I’m not using it because the single monitor is already so large. So, it complements the MacBook perfectly.
It also complements ChatGPT. ChatGPT offers both a Voice mode, which I don’t use, and a dictation mic mode, which I do. I use hand gestures to turn on the mic and talk into it, enabling rich interactions with ChatGPT. I especially enjoy doing this on the moon, in the dark, with the ChatGPT window as large as I can make it. I also use it when cooking trying to figure out recipes and what not. Something about that whole setup just feels right to me.
Additionally, it complements messages and mail because of the dictation feature. The floating keyboard is almost impossible to use effectively, but you have to use it occasionally when voice-to-text dictation fails, which happens maybe once every 200 words or so. Apple has really improved this feature, making dictation the best it has ever been.
So what is it a substitute for? Two main things. First, I’m using my phone so rarely now that I often can’t find it. I used to always know where my phone was because I used it so intensively, but now it’s often set aside. I still use it as an alarm clock, but that’s about it. With the ability to make FaceTime audio calls from inside the Vision Pro, my dependence on the phone has decreased significantly, at least in places where I feel comfortable using the Vision Pro.
Secondly, it’s a substitute for my television. In fact, I’m not sure if I’ll ever buy a television again. The only reason I might consider it is if I get remarried, but otherwise, it seems like it would just take up space and cannot compete with the Vision Pro.
You May Be Limited By Your Sensitivity to Social Stigma and Isolation
This isn’t at all a criticism. In fact, it’s a feature, not a bug. You might even say what I’m about to say is more a criticism of phones than it is of the Vision Pro. But here goes.
Unlike phones, you really cannot use the Vision Pro in public. I’ve tried because I am in Italy and want to work in coffee shops, but no, I don’t feel comfortable doing that so I have stopped doing it. For a few reasons. First, if I’m fully immersed in my environment, someone could rob me. Your cameras detect if someone is close, but I still fear it could happen. But the other thing is, people snicker and stare. While on one level I don’t care, on another level, it’s distracting. So now I just wake up, go down the street and get fueled up for the day, come back, and write religiously all day, taking periodic breaks when ChatGPT has them scheduled for me. When I go to the college or the coffee shop to meet with students, I don’t bring it with me.
Contrast that with a phone. You can take a phone anywhere, and it is not socially stigmatized to be on it constantly “in the real world.” So you tell me which is worse—a device that you feel you cannot use when you are in the presence of people, or a device that makes you feel you can when you are in the presence of people. Isn’t the phone actually the bigger problem precisely because it’s not stigmatized to be on it in social interactions? Isn’t it a problem that we can move away from people when we are with people by just getting on our phones?
So I’m not sure this is a bug of the Vision Pro. I think it is a feature that you cannot use this and interact socially with people. But that’s what makes it useful for me, but maybe not for you, because I live alone. The cats absolutely do not like when I wear it because they swipe at me to get my attention even though I’m holding them. For some reason, they know I’m with them if we are lying down cuddling and watching a show, but not when they’re lying on my chest and I’m watching a show on it. I think that’s because it absolutely takes you out of your environment when you’re doing that kind of thing. Even watching a television show doesn’t take you out of your living room the way this does. I think you disappear on this in a way you don’t with other things, but that’s just how it is.
So who might benefit from this?
So, here’s who I think might benefit from the Apple Vision Pro, though I may be wrong. First, people who are on their computers all day should consider it, which means academics. Second, people who are on their computers all day and struggle with attention and distractedness. The immersive environments combined with the mirroring of the computer are a major way to intentionally blind yourself to distractions and get work done. Third, people who live alone. Fourth, people who travel a lot. Fifth, people who enjoy technology and own Apple products, as it integrates well into the Apple ecosystem. Sixth, people who love television and movies. These categories seem the easiest to justify.
However, if you cannot foresee what you’d use this for, if none of this really seems to hit home for you, then I suspect you just aren’t the person for it. I would not recommend this to someone who never uses a computer intensively. As a sufficient statistic, you could say this: if you are someone who uses multiple large monitors for your computer, you might be a candidate. The value it generates spreads across many activities, but it is absolutely beneficial for me. I can already tell that I will be a lifelong user. I will always own one of these, just like I will always own a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, and probably a very old Volvo station wagon with extremely weak air conditioning.
Conclusion
The Apple Vision Pro has exceeded my expectations. It’s an invaluable tool for enhancing productivity and managing mental well-being, especially for those who spend a lot of time writing, coding, or doing creative work on a computer. While it has its social limitations, it’s a complement to the laptop, not a substitute. If you’re considering the Vision Pro, use the two-week return policy to test it out intensively. If it doesn’t fit into your workflow, you can return it. But for those who need to stay in the zone while working, it can be a transformative device. I give it 100 out of 100. It has profoundly enhanced my work and leisure experiences, making it worth every penny.
I’ve read both explanations so I’m not really sure which it is.
This is the first positive review of the Vision pro that I’ve read. Very useful. Thank you.
Scott this is great. I got chills just reading your review really. I gotta try it. The only thing I am hesitant about is the isolation factor; but I agree the phone can be worse as it has become acceptable as a way to stay semi isolated even in social/family situations. Thanks!