{"id":134379,"date":"2023-08-23T14:00:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=5nn2hddv"},"modified":"2023-08-23T14:00:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:00:39","slug":"inside-the-apple-vision-pro-labs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2023\/08\/23\/inside-the-apple-vision-pro-labs\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Apple Vision Pro labs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As CEO of Flexibits, the team behind successful apps like Fantastical<\/em> and Cardhop<\/em>, Michael Simmons has spent more than a decade minding every last facet of his team\u2019s work. But when he brought Fantastical<\/em> to the Apple Vision Pro labs in Cupertino this summer and experienced it for the first time on the device, he felt something he wasn\u2019t expecting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like seeing Fantastical<\/em> for the first time,\u201d he says. \u201cIt felt like I was part of the app.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sentiment has been echoed by developers around the world. Since debuting in early August, the Apple Vision Pro labs have hosted developers and designers like Simmons in London, Munich, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Cupertino. During the day-long lab appointment, people can test their apps, get hands-on experience, and work with Apple experts to get their questions answered. Developers can apply to attend if they have a visionOS app in active development or an existing iPadOS or iOS app they\u2019d like to test on Apple Vision Pro.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Apple Vision Pro developer labs<\/a><\/p>\n

For his part, Simmons saw Fantastical<\/em> work right out of the box. He describes the labs as \u201ca proving ground\u201d for future explorations and a chance to push software beyond its current bounds. \u201cA bordered screen can be limiting. Sure, you can scroll, or have multiple monitors, but generally speaking, you\u2019re limited to the edges,\u201d he says. \u201cExperiencing spatial computing not only validated the designs we\u2019d been thinking about \u2014 it helped us start thinking not just about left to right or up and down, but beyond borders at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as not just CEO but the lead product designer (and the guy who \u201cstill comes up with all these crazy ideas\u201d), he came away from the labs with a fresh batch of spatial thoughts. \u201cCan people look at a whole week spatially? Can people compare their current day to the following week? If a day is less busy, can people make that day wider? And then, what if like you have the whole week wrap around you in 360 degrees?\u201d he says. \u201cI could probably \u2014 not kidding \u2014 talk for two hours about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The audible gasp\u2019<\/h3>\n

David Smith is a prolific developer, prominent podcaster, and self-described planner. Shortly before his inaugural visit to the Apple Vision Pro developer labs in London, Smith prepared all the necessary items for his day: a MacBook, Xcode project, and checklist (on paper!) of what he hoped to accomplish.<\/p>\n

All that planning paid off. During his time with Apple Vision Pro, \u201cI checked everything off my list,\u201d Smith says. \u201cFrom there, I just pretended I was at home developing the next feature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I just pretended I was at home developing the next feature.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

David Smith, developer and podcaster<\/p>\n

<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smith began working on a version of his app Widgetsmith<\/em> for spatial computing almost immediately after the release of the visionOS SDK. Though the visionOS simulator provides a solid foundation to help developers test an experience, the labs offer a unique opportunity for a full day of hands-on time with Apple Vision Pro before its public release. \u201cI\u2019d been staring at this thing in the simulator for weeks and getting a general sense of how it works, but that was in a box,\u201d Smith says. \u201cThe first time you see your own app running for real, that\u2019s when you get the audible gasp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith wanted to start working on the device as soon as possible, so he could get \u201cthe full experience\u201d and begin refining his app. \u201cI could say, \u2018Oh, that didn\u2019t work? Why didn\u2019t it work?\u2019 Those are questions you can only truly answer on-device.\u201d Now, he has plenty more plans to make \u2014 as evidenced by his paper checklist, which he holds up and flips over, laughing. \u201cIt\u2019s on this side now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018We understand where to go\u2019<\/h3>\n

When it came to testing Pixite\u2019s video creator and editor Spool<\/em>, chief experience officer Ben Guerrette made exploring interactions a priority. \u201cWhat\u2019s different about our editor is that you\u2019re tapping videos to the beat,\u201d he says. \u201cSpool<\/em> is great on touchscreens because you have the instrument in front of you, but with Apple Vision Pro you\u2019re looking at the UI you\u2019re selecting \u2014 and in our case, that means watching the video while tapping the UI.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team spent time in the lab exploring different interaction patterns to address this core challenge. \u201cAt first, we didn\u2019t know if it would work in our app,\u201d Guerrette says. \u201cBut now we understand where to go. That kind of learning experience is incredibly valuable: It gives us the chance to say, \u2018OK, now we understand what we\u2019re working with, what the interaction is, and how we can make a stronger connection.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Delbuck, principal design technologist at Slack<\/em>, had intended to test the company\u2019s iPadOS version of their app on Apple Vision Pro. As he spent time with the device, however, \u201cit instantly got me thinking about how 3D offerings and visuals could come forward in our experiences,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to do that without having the device in hand.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018That will help us make better apps\u2019<\/h3>\n

As lab participants like Smith continue their development at home, they\u2019ve brought back lessons and learnings from their time with Apple Vision Pro. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily that I solved all the problems \u2014 but I solved enough to have a sense of the kinds of solutions I\u2019d likely need,\u201d Smith says. \u201cNow there\u2019s a step change in my ability to develop in the simulator, write quality code, and design good user experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

I’ve truly seen how to start building for the boundless canvas.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Michael Simmons, Flexibits CEO<\/p>\n

<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simmons says that the labs offered not just a playground, but a way to shape and streamline his team\u2019s thinking about what a spatial experience could truly be. \u201cWith Apple Vision Pro and spatial computing, I\u2019ve truly seen how to start building for the boundless canvas \u2014 how to stop thinking about what fits on a screen,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that will help us make better apps.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As CEO of Flexibits, the team behind successful apps like Fantastical and Cardhop, Michael Simmons has spent more than a decade minding every last facet of his team\u2019s work. But when he brought Fantastical to the Apple Vision Pro labs in Cupertino this summer and experienced it for the first time on the device, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}