Starting today, Vision Pro characters won’t just be able to hover like ghosts during FaceTime calls. Now you can use them in SharePlay-enabled apps to collaborate with others, play games, or watch media.
Apple calls this a “space role.” The idea is to make it feel like you’re in the same physical space as another user. This is part of what Apple showed off in a developer preview last year, but has only now been available in the actual Persona beta. It’s a little hard to imagine, but you can see what it looks like in the video below.
Each user is said to be able to control what they see and reposition objects without affecting what other users see. Spatial audio is also said to help you sense the other person’s location in virtual space.
To enable this feature, you must ensure you are using at least VisionOS 1.1 and select the spatial role option during FaceTime calls. Up to 5 people can participate in a space role session at one time.
We’ll have to test how well this feature works, especially since it relies on SharePlay and the Vision Pro App Store is still a bit barebones. It remains to be seen whether inviting another ghostly character companion to join me when I watch a movie will make me feel less alone.