The Wall Street Journal and other outlets have reported that Apple is struggling to sell the Vision Pro, a futuristic augmented reality wearable with a depressing (for me) $3,500 price tag. While the rumor mill has taken this as a sign that the headset will quietly ride off into the virtual sunset, apparently no one told Apple.

On Monday, Apple hosted its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where a suite of new Vision Pro features was announced.

The headlines from WWDC 2025 included the introduction of Liquid Glass, a new visual aesthetic for Apple software, as well as a new naming convention for its operating systems. So instead of iOS 19, we'll be getting iOS 26, as well as macOS Tahoe 26, and tvOS 26. Because WWDC introduced updates at a breakneck clip, you may have missed some of the news related to the Vision Pro, including the upcoming launch of visionOS 26 in the fall.

Vision Pro to get free software update with visionOS 26

While the press releases for iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe specify a fall launch date, the Vision Pro press release from Apple doesn't specify a launch time. However, an Apple representative confirmed that visionOS 26 will also be available this fall. The developer beta of visionOS 26 is available now.

The WWDC 2025 keynote covered almost a dozen updates coming to Vision Pro headsets, from new gaming features to enterprise tools and support for GoPro wide-field video content. So, let's dive in.

An image shared during the WWDC 2025 keynote.
Credit: Apple

visionOS 26 introduces new widget experiences. Users can now place new three-dimensional widgets directly into their visual landscape, and they can be resized and customized to their liking.

That means you can place the new Clock widget directly on your living room wall. Your Photos app widget can become an extra window on your wall, so it looks like you’re peering right into your favorite photos. Or, the weather app could look like a window to the outside world, where you can see at a glance that it’s rainy or cloudy. You can find all these new tools in the new Widgets app.

That's not a window, it's your Photos app.
Credit: Apple

In Photos, you can also create 3D spatial scenes from 2D photos. You can do the same with some websites and apps with spatial browsing. Websites will be able to make experiences specifically for Vision Pro users, which could be incredibly useful for shopping in particular. Web developers can now embed 3D objects on their pages, letting the user "pull them" into their space. In a video preview shown at WWDC, a user pulls a piece of furniture out of Safari and places it directly into their space.

The Vision Pro spatial browsing experience.
Credit: Apple

Spatial browsing with the Vision Pro.
Credit: Apple

Apple is also introducing new sharing and social features. Users can already generate a floating 3D avatar, a Persona, for chatting and other features. With visionOS 26, Personas will get more expressive and detailed. This isn't like any other chat feature we've seen, even from other augmented reality tech.

visionOS 26 delivers more expressive Personas.
Credit: Apple

In terms of social features, Apple included an example of two people, each using their own Vision Pro headset, to watch a movie together. While cool, that seems a bit optimistic given how much of a struggle adoption has been. (Unfortunately, Apple did not announce a more affordable Vision Pro headset at WWDC, not that we expected it to.)

However, Apple isn't just envisioning a social future. We learned at WWDC 2025 that Apple will also be bringing new enterprise features to its headset.

You can now save your Vision Pro eye and hand settings, vision prescription, and accessibility settings to your iPhone, which will make it easy to use a shared team headset, for instance. There’s also a new "for your eyes only" security feature, which blocks others from seeing sensitive data.

Credit: Apple

Some users have complained about a lack of third-party apps, and with visionOS 26, Apple has new enterprise APIs to lure in more developers. The company also announced it now supports wide-field videos from GoPro, Insta360, and Canon.

There are also new ways to control the Vision Pro, as Apple is introducing "Look To Scroll" functionality. You can also draw in the air using the Logitech Muse spatial stylus, another third-party win for Apple.

Gaming with the Vision Pro.
Credit: Apple

If you're using your Vision Pro as a VR gaming headset, you can now immerse yourself in games with the PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers. visionOS 26 also bumps up hand movement tracking to 90Hz.

To sum up, if you already have a Vision Pro, you have a lot of new functionality and updates to look forward to later this year. And if you've been on the fence about the $3,500 headset, I still believe what I said when this device first launched: If any company can get augmented reality right, I believe it's Apple. More than a year after the device's launch, there still isn't anything like the Vision Pro — outside of science fiction, that is.

Vicky