Discuss spatial computing on Apple platforms and how to design and build an entirely new universe of apps and games for Apple Vision Pro.

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Partial Occlusion Material
I am looking for a material that functions in the same way that Occlusion Material does, except that it only partially occludes whatever is behind it. One way that I have thought of doing this was to change the opacity of the entity that was covered in Occlusion Material, however this did not change anything. Please let me know if this is possible.
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159
Apr ’25
When to use an AnchorEntity or HandTrackingProvider in VisionOS
As I understand it there are two ways I can track a hand, or a joint, in RealityKit: either, create an AnchorEntity, for example AnchorEntity(.hand(.left, location: .palm)) or, set up an ARSession with a HandTrackingProvider ( a lot more code which I haven't repeated here). Assuming this is correct, when would I want to use one over the other?
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445
Mar ’25
Tracking multiple ImageAnchor simultaneously on VisionOS
Using the example code posted here: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/visionOS/tracking-images-in-3d-space I can register multiple ReferenceImage s with a ImageTrackingProvider, but only one updates at a time - to have realtime updating, I can only have one ImageAnchor in my field of view at a time. Is it possible to track multiple imageAnchors at the same time in the same field of view? As in having several ImageAnchor's tracked and entities updated to the transforms of the anchor in the same frame/moment from the Apple Vision Pro?
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265
Nov ’25
visionOS: Unable to programmatically close child WindowGroup when parent window closes
Hi , I'm struggling with visionOS window management and need help with closing child windows programmatically. App Structure My app has a Main-Sub window hierarchy: AWindow (Home/Main) BWindow (Main feature window) CWindow (Tool window - child of BWindow) Navigation flow: AWindow → BWindow (switch, 1 window on screen) BWindow → CWindow (opens child, 2 windows on screen) I want BWindow and CWindow to be separate movable windows (not sheet/popover) so users can position them independently in space. The Problem CWindow doesn't close when BWindow closes by tapping the X button below the app (next to the window bar) User clicks X on BWindow → BWindow closes but CWindow remains CWindow becomes orphaned on screen Can close CWindow programmatically when switching BWindow back to AWindow App launch issue After closing both windows, CWindow is remembered as last window Reopening app shows only CWindow instead of BWindow User gets stuck in CWindow with no way back to BWindow I've Tried Environment dismissWindow in cleanup but its not working. // In BWindow.swift .onDisappear { if windowManager.isWindowOpen("cWindow") { dismissWindow(id: "cWindow") } } My App Structure Code Now // in MyNameApp.swift @main struct MyNameApp: App { var body: some Scene { WindowGroup(id: "aWindow") { AWindow() } WindowGroup(id: "bWindow") { BWindow() } WindowGroup(id: "cWindow") { CWindow() } } } // WindowStateManager.swift class WindowStateManager: ObservableObject { static let shared = WindowStateManager() @Published private var openWindows: Set<String> = [] @Published private var windowDependencies: [String: String] = [:] private init() {} func markWindowAsOpen(_ id: String) { markWindowAsOpen(id, parent: nil) } func markWindowAsClosed(_ id: String) { openWindows.remove(id) windowDependencies[id] = nil } func isWindowOpen(_ id: String) -> Bool { let isOpen = openWindows.contains(id) return isOpen } func markWindowAsOpen(_ id: String, parent: String? = nil) { openWindows.insert(id) if let parentId = parent { windowDependencies[id] = parentId } } func getParentWindow(of childId: String) -> String? { let parent = windowDependencies[childId] return parent } func getChildWindows(of parentId: String) -> [String] { let children = windowDependencies.compactMap { key, value in value == parentId ? key : nil } return children } func setNextWindowParent(_ parentId: String) { UserDefaults.standard.set(parentId, forKey: "nextWindowParent") } func getAndClearNextWindowParent() -> String? { let parent = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "nextWindowParent") UserDefaults.standard.removeObject(forKey: "nextWindowParent") return parent } func forceCloseChildWindows(of parentId: String) { let children = getChildWindows(of: parentId) for child in children { markWindowAsClosed(child) NotificationCenter.default.post( name: Notification.Name("ForceCloseWindow"), object: nil, userInfo: ["windowId": child] ) forceCloseChildWindows(of: child) } } func hasMainWindowOpen() -> Bool { let mainWindows = ["main", "bWindow"] return mainWindows.contains { isWindowOpen($0) } } func cleanupOrphanWindows() { for (child, parent) in windowDependencies { if isWindowOpen(child) && !isWindowOpen(parent) { NotificationCenter.default.post( name: Notification.Name("ForceCloseWindow"), object: nil, userInfo: ["windowId": child] ) markWindowAsClosed(child) } } } } // BWindow.swift struct BWindow: View { @Environment(\.dismissWindow) private var dismissWindow @ObservedObject private var windowManager = WindowStateManager.shared var body: some View { VStack { Button("Open C Window") { windowManager.setNextWindowParent("bWindow") openWindow(id: "cWindow") } } .onAppear { windowManager.markWindowAsOpen("bWindow") } .onDisappear { windowManager.markWindowAsClosed("bWindow") windowManager.forceCloseChildWindows(of: "bWindow") } .onChange(of: scenePhase) { oldValue, newValue in if newValue == .background || newValue == .inactive { windowManager.forceCloseChildWindows(of: "bWindow") } } } } // CWindow.swift import SwiftUI struct cWindow: View { @ObservedObject private var windowManager = WindowStateManager.shared @State private var shouldClose = false var body: some View { // Content } .onDisappear { windowManager.markWindowAsClosed("cWindow") NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver( self, name: Notification.Name("ForceCloseWindow"), object: nil ) } .onChange(of: scenePhase) { oldValue, newValue in if newValue == .background { } } .onAppear { let parent = windowManager.getAndClearNextWindowParent() windowManager.markWindowAsOpen("cWindow", parent: parent) NotificationCenter.default.addObserver( forName: Notification.Name("ForceCloseWindow"), object: nil, queue: .main) { notification in if let windowId = notification.userInfo?["windowId"] as? String, windowId == "cWindow" { shouldClose = true } } } .onChange(of: shouldClose) { _, newValue in if newValue { dismissWindow() } } } The logs show everything executes correctly, but CWindow remains visible on screen. Questions Why doesn't dismissWindow(id:) work in cleanup scenarios? Is there a proper way to create a window relationships like parent-child relationships in visionOS? How can I ensure main windows open on app launch instead of tool windows? What's the recommended pattern for dependent windows in visionOS? Environment: Xcode 16.2, visionOS 2.0, SwiftUI
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363
Aug ’25
Accessing pupil diameter in visionOS
Previously I had developed software using SMI eye trackers, both screen mounted and their mobile glasses, for unique therapeutic and physiology applications. Sadly, after SMI was bought by Apple, their hardware and software have been taken off the market and now it is very difficult to get secondhand-market systems. The Apple Vision Pro integrates the SMI hardware. While I can use ARKit to get gaze position, I do not see a way to access information that was previously made accessible on the SMI hardware, particularly: dwell time and pupil diameter information. I am hopeful (or asking) to see that if a user has a properly set up Optic ID and would opt-in if, either on the present or a future version of visionOS, it might be possible to get access to the data streams for dwell times and pupil diameter. Pupil diameter is particularly important as it is a very good physiological measure of how much stress a person is encountering, which is critical to some of the therapeutic applications that formerly we used SMI hardware. Any ideas, or, if this is not possible, proposing this to the visionOS team would be appreciated!
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260
Jul ’25
ModelEntity position values are stale after world recenter (Crown long press)
Hi everyone, I’m working with RealityKit on visionOS and I’m seeing unexpected behavior when the user long-presses the Digital Crown, which recenters the world. Observed behavior: When the world is recentered via long-pressing the Crown, the models remain visually in the correct place (as expected). However, if I query the model’s position or transform immediately after recentering (e.g. entity.position or similar), I still get the old values from before recenter. As soon as I interact with the model using a gesture (drag/rotate/scale), the position updates and then querying it returns the correct, updated values. So effectively: Recenter happens Visual position is correct Programmatic position remains stale First gesture causes the position to “snap” to the correct updated value Questions: Is there any event, notification, or callback that fires when the world is recentered due to a long press of the Crown button? Is there a recommended way to get the updated world-space transform immediately after recenter, without waiting for a gesture? Is this expected behavior due to deferred/lazy transform updates in RealityKit? Right now it feels like recentering updates the coordinate system but doesn’t immediately commit new transform values to entities until some interaction occurs. Any guidance or best-practice patterns for handling this would be appreciated. Thanks!
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3w
ARKit: Keep USDZ node fixed after image tracking is lost (prevent drifting)
0 I’m using ARKit + SceneKit (Swift) with ARWorldTrackingConfiguration and detectionImages to place a 3D object (USDZ via SCNScene(named:)) when a reference image is detected. While the image is tracked, the object stays correctly aligned. Goal: When the tracked image is no longer visible, I want the placed node to remain visible and fixed at its last known pose (no drifting) as I move the camera. What works so far: Detect image → add node → track updates When the image disappears → keep showing the node at its last pose Problem: After the image is no longer tracked, the node drifts as I move the device/camera. It looks like it’s still influenced by the (now unreliable) image anchor or accumulating small world-tracking errors. Question: What’s the correct way in ARKit to “freeze” the node at its last known world transform once ARImageAnchor stops tracking, so it doesn’t drift?
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515
Oct ’25
Performance drop when particle emitter is combined with video play
Hi All, We're a studio building an app and as part of a scene we have a 3D asset with a smoke particle emitter and a curved mesh that plays video. I notice that when the video alone is played or the particle effect alone is done then the scene works fine but the frame rate drops drastically when both are turned on. How do I solve this because this is an important storytelling feature.
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331
Oct ’25
Apply mesh to real world people.
As far as I know, Apple hasn’t opened access to the Vision Pro camera for developers yet, so I’m trying to find possible workarounds within the current capabilities. I’m wondering if there’s any way to apply a mesh to a person in the scene in Vision Pro, or if there’s an alternative approach to roughly detect a human shape in front of the user?
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112
Apr ’25
VisionPro Enterprise.license file
I have read in the apple documentation and on forums that in order to access the camera and capture images on VisionPro, both an Entitlement and an Enterprise.license are required. I already have the Entitlement, but I don’t yet have the Enterprise.license. I would like to ask: is the Enterprise.license strictly required to gain camera access for capturing images? How can I obtain this file, and does it require an Enterprise account? Currently, my developer account is a regular Developer 99$, not an Enterprise account.
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424
Oct ’25
version update in Vision Pro
Hi, I'm developing an app for Vision Pro using Xcode, while updating the latest update, things that worked in my app suddenly didn't. in my app flow I'm tapping spheres to get their positions, from some reason I get an offset from where I tap to where a marker on that position is showing up. here's the part of code that does that, and a part that is responsible for an alignment that happens afterwards: func loadMainScene(at position: SIMD3) async { guard let content = self.content else { return } do { let rootEntity = try await Entity(named: "surgery 16.09", in: realityKitContentBundle) rootEntity.scale = SIMD3<Float>(repeating: 0.5) rootEntity.generateCollisionShapes(recursive: true) self.modelRootEntity = rootEntity let bounds = rootEntity.visualBounds(relativeTo: nil) print("📏 Model bounds: center=\(bounds.center), extents=\(bounds.extents)") let pivotEntity = Entity() pivotEntity.addChild(rootEntity) self.pivotEntity = pivotEntity let modelAnchor = AnchorEntity(world: [1, 1.3, -0.8]) modelAnchor.addChild(pivotEntity) content.add(modelAnchor) updateModelOpacity(0.5) self.modelAnchor = modelAnchor rootEntity.visit { entity in print("👀 Entity in model: \(entity.name)") if entity.name.lowercased().hasPrefix("focus") { entity.generateCollisionShapes(recursive: true) entity.components.set(InputTargetComponent()) print("🎯 Made tappable: \(entity.name)") } } print("✅ Model loaded with collisions") guard let sphere = placementSphere else { return } let sphereWorldXform = sphere.transformMatrix(relativeTo: nil) var newXform = sphereWorldXform newXform.columns.3.y += 0.1 // move up by 20 cm let gridAnchor = AnchorEntity(world: newXform) self.gridAnchor = gridAnchor content.add(gridAnchor) let baseScene = try await Entity(named: "Scene", in: realityKitContentBundle) let gridSizeX = 18 let gridSizeY = 10 let gridSizeZ = 10 let spacing: Float = 0.05 let startX: Float = -Float(gridSizeX - 1) * spacing * 0.5 + 0.3 let startY: Float = -Float(gridSizeY - 1) * spacing * 0.5 - 0.1 let startZ: Float = -Float(gridSizeZ - 1) * spacing * 0.5 for i in 0..<gridSizeX { for j in 0..<gridSizeY { for k in 0..<gridSizeZ { if j < 2 || j > gridSizeY - 5 { continue } // remove 2 bottom, 4 top let cell = baseScene.clone(recursive: true) cell.name = "Sphere" cell.scale = .one * 0.02 cell.position = [ startX + Float(i) * spacing, startY + Float(j) * spacing, startZ + Float(k) * spacing ] cell.generateCollisionShapes(recursive: true) gridCells.append(cell) gridAnchor.addChild(cell) } } } content.add(gridAnchor) print("✅ Grid added") } catch { print("❌ Failed to load: \(error)") } } private func handleModelOrGridTap(_ tappedEntity: Entity) { guard let modelRootEntity = modelRootEntity else { return } let localPosition = tappedEntity.position(relativeTo: modelRootEntity) let worldPosition = tappedEntity.position(relativeTo: nil) switch tapStep { case 0: modelPointA = localPosition modelAnchor?.addChild(createMarker(at: worldPosition, color: [1, 0, 0])) print("📍 Model point A: \(localPosition)") tapStep += 1 case 1: modelPointB = localPosition modelAnchor?.addChild(createMarker(at: worldPosition, color: [1, 0.5, 0])) print("📍 Model point B: \(localPosition)") tapStep += 1 case 2: targetPointA = worldPosition targetMarkerA = createMarker(at: worldPosition,color: [0, 1, 0]) modelAnchor?.addChild(targetMarkerA!) print("✅ Target point A: \(worldPosition)") tapStep += 1 case 3: targetPointB = worldPosition targetMarkerB = createMarker(at: worldPosition,color: [0, 0, 1]) modelAnchor?.addChild(targetMarkerB!) print("✅ Target point B: \(worldPosition)") alignmentReady = true tapStep += 1 default: print("⚠️ Unexpected tap on model helper at step \(tapStep)") } } func alignModel2Points() { guard let modelPointA = modelPointA, let modelPointB = modelPointB, let targetPointA = targetPointA, let targetPointB = targetPointB, let modelRootEntity = modelRootEntity, let pivotEntity = pivotEntity, let modelAnchor = modelAnchor else { print("❌ Missing data for alignment") return } let modelVec = modelPointB - modelPointA let targetVec = targetPointB - targetPointA let modelLength = length(modelVec) let targetLength = length(targetVec) let scale = targetLength / modelLength let modelDir = normalize(modelVec) let targetDir = normalize(targetVec) var axis = cross(modelDir, targetDir) let axisLength = length(axis) var rotation = simd_quatf() if axisLength < 1e-6 { if dot(modelDir, targetDir) > 0 { rotation = simd_quatf(angle: 0, axis: [0,1,0]) } else { let up: SIMD3<Float> = [0,1,0] axis = cross(modelDir, up) if length(axis) < 1e-6 { axis = cross(modelDir, [1,0,0]) } rotation = simd_quatf(angle: .pi, axis: normalize(axis)) } } else { let dotProduct = dot(modelDir, targetDir) let clampedDot = max(-1.0, min(dotProduct, 1.0)) let angle = acos(clampedDot) rotation = simd_quatf(angle: angle, axis: normalize(axis)) } modelRootEntity.scale = .one * scale modelRootEntity.orientation = rotation let transformedPointA = rotation.act(modelPointA * scale) pivotEntity.position = -transformedPointA modelAnchor.position = targetPointA alignedModelPosition = modelAnchor.position print("✅ Aligned with scale \(scale), rotation \(rotation)")
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322
Oct ’25
Getting the world position of a QR code
Hi, would love for your help in that matter. I try to get the position in space of two QR codes to make an alignment to their positions in space. The detection shows that the QR codes position is always 0,0,0 and I don't understand why. Here's my code: import SwiftUI import RealityKit import RealityKitContent struct AnchorView: View { @ObservedObject var qrCoordinator: QRCoordinator @ObservedObject var coordinator: ImmersiveCoordinator let qrName: String @Binding var startQRDetection: Bool @State private var anchor: AnchorEntity? = nil @State private var detectionTask: Task<Void, Never>? = nil var body: some View { RealityView { content in // Add the QR anchor once (must exist before detection starts) if anchor == nil { let imageAnchor = AnchorEntity(.image(group: "QRs", name: qrName)) content.add(imageAnchor) anchor = imageAnchor print("📌 Created anchor for \(qrName)") } } .onChange(of: startQRDetection) { enabled in if enabled { startDetection() } else { stopDetection() } } .onDisappear { stopDetection() } } private func startDetection() { guard detectionTask == nil, let anchor = anchor else { return } detectionTask = Task { var detected = false while !Task.isCancelled && !detected { print("🔎 Checking \(qrName)... isAnchored=\(anchor.isAnchored)") if anchor.isAnchored { // wait a short moment to let transform update try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 100_000_000) let worldPos = anchor.position(relativeTo: nil) if worldPos != .zero { // relative to modelRootEntity if available var posToSave = worldPos if let modelEntity = coordinator.modelRootEntity { posToSave = anchor.position(relativeTo: modelEntity) print("converted to model position") } else { print("⚠️ modelRootEntity not available, using world position") } print("✅ \(qrName) detected at position: world=\(worldPos) saved=\(posToSave)") if qrName == "reanchor1" { qrCoordinator.qr1Position = posToSave let marker = createMarker(color: [0,1,0]) marker.position = .zero // sits directly on QR marker.position = SIMD3<Float>(0, 0.02, 0) anchor.addChild(marker) print("marker1 added") } else if qrName == "reanchor2" { qrCoordinator.qr2Position = posToSave let marker = createMarker(color: [0,0,1]) marker.position = posToSave // sits directly on QR marker.position = SIMD3<Float>(0, 0.02, 0) anchor.addChild(marker) print("marker2 added") } detected = true } else { print("⚠️ \(qrName) anchored but still at origin, retrying...") } } try? await Task.sleep(nanoseconds: 500_000_000) // throttle loop } print("🛑 QR detection loop ended for \(qrName)") detectionTask = nil } } private func stopDetection() { detectionTask?.cancel() detectionTask = nil } private func createMarker(color: SIMD3<Float>) -> ModelEntity { let sphere = MeshResource.generateSphere(radius: 0.05) let material = SimpleMaterial(color: UIColor( red: CGFloat(color.x), green: CGFloat(color.y), blue: CGFloat(color.z), alpha: 1.0 ), isMetallic: false) let marker = ModelEntity(mesh: sphere, materials: [material]) marker.name = "marker" return marker } }
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497
Oct ’25