Apple’s products are well known for their strong security and privacy protections, and the Apple Vision Pro is no different. Now, it’s emerged that Apple's stance might be limiting the types of apps you'll be able to use on its mixed-reality headset – but there’s a very good reason for it.
According to a new report from The Information (via 9to5Mac), several developers have become frustrated at how Apple has locked down its headset and prevented them from creating the apps they want to make. On a different platform that might be possible, but not on the Vision Pro.
Specifically, the developers in question have complained that they cannot make use of the device’s on-board cameras. For instance, Antony Vitillo, developer of augmented reality (AR) fitness game HitMotion, told The Information that he wanted to access the product’s cameras so that his app could let users interact with real-world items like punching bags. Apple, however, doesn’t let apps get to that kind of data.
Similarly, developer Kalani Helekunihi, who builds apps for elderly adults and people with disabilities, says Apple’s rules mean he can’t create an app that can give “people with limited vision a description of their surroundings and act as a virtual cane that warns them when they’re approaching obstacles.”
Privacy protections
Ultimately, there’s a very good reason why Apple prevents apps from using the Vision Pro’s camera feed: privacy. Granting access to the camera might enable the creation of some useful apps, but it could also invade the privacy of everyone in the vicinity if an untrustworthy app developer uses it for nefarious purposes.
Reportedly, Apple doesn’t want the Vision Pro to become like the Google Glass AR headset. When that first launched, it caused a major controversy. As The Information puts it, “Former Apple employees say Apple wants to avoid what happened to the Google Glass, a wearable device that caused a huge outcry over a decade ago because the presence of a camera on the product made people uncomfortable around others who were wearing them.”
Given how proactive Apple is when it comes to privacy, granting app developers access to the Vision Pro’s cameras seems like a non-starter. So, while it might mean your choice of Vision Pro apps is a little bit thinner for now, it’s probably worth not having your every move surreptitiously recorded by a Vision Pro-wearing passerby.
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