YouTuber Explains How to Watch Spatial Videos From iPhone 15 Pro on VR Headsets - MacRumors
Skip to Content

YouTuber Explains How to Watch Spatial Videos From iPhone 15 Pro on VR Headsets

by

With the iOS 17.2 beta, Apple added a feature that allows the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max to record Spatial Video that's designed for the upcoming Apple Vision Pro headset. As the Vision Pro is not yet available, there's no way to watch Spatial Video in its 3D form on an Apple device.

Vision Pro Spatial Video
Spatial Video content can, however, be watched on the Meta Quest 3 and other 3D devices thanks to a workaround shared by YouTuber Hugh Hou. Earlier this week, Hou described how to manipulate Spatial Video to get it to run on ‌Meta‌'s VR headset.


An iPhone 15 Pro running the iOS 17.2 beta is required, of course, in order to record Spatial Video in the first place. The beta is available to both developers and public beta testers, and downloading it is as simple as going to the Software Update section in the iPhone Settings app and toggling on beta updates.

Spatial Video recording needs to be enabled in the Camera settings after the iOS 17.2 update, and from there, Hou instructs users to get the "Spatialify" app on TestFlight.

The app has instructions on decoding and exporting Spatial Video in a format that the ‌Meta‌ Quest 3 or other 3D headsets and TVs can view, and there is an extra step involving encoding 3D metadata.

It is not the most straightforward process, but it may be of interest to iPhone 15 Pro users who have a VR headset or 3D TV and want to try viewing Spatial Video ahead of when the Vision Pro headset comes out.

Spatial Video is designed to allow Vision Pro headset wearers to view video in a more immersive 3D format. Along with the iPhone 15 Pro, the headset will also be able to be used to record Spatial Video content.

Popular Stories

Apple TV Thumb 3

Everything Coming in the 2026 Apple TV 4K

Wednesday July 8, 2026 4:51 pm PDT by
The Apple TV 4K hasn't been updated since 2022, and it's due for a refresh. An update is planned for 2026, but Apple is likely going to wait to launch it after Siri AI launches in iOS 27. Design Apple TV design updates don't happen often, and that's not changing. The next Apple TV is going to have the same squircle shape as the current model, and it'll continue to be made from a black...
Read Full Article • 167 comments
iphone 16 teal

'Siri AI' Lawsuit Update: Apple to Pay Owners of These iPhone Models

Thursday July 9, 2026 7:08 am PDT by
In May, Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle a U.S. class action lawsuit over Siri AI's delayed launch, and eligible iPhone users could receive up to a $95 payout. This week, the California court overseeing the case held a hearing regarding preliminary approval of the settlement, but the judge has not yet issued a ruling. It will likely be at least a few more months before eligible...
Read Full Article • 111 comments
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Begins Selling a $419 iPhone

Monday July 6, 2026 6:29 am PDT by
Apple recently added the iPhone 16e to its refurbished store, with U.S. pricing starting as low as $419 for a model with 128GB of storage. Originally released in February 2025, the iPhone 16e is a lower-end device with a 6.1-inch OLED display, an A18 chip with 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, a 12-megapixel front camera, a USB-C port, an Action...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

V
vinegarshots
35 months ago

I suspect Apple has a few more computational tricks that are performed. The majority of Vision Pro reviewers thought that the spatial effects went way beyond what had previously been achieved.
Nah, those Vision Pro reviewers clearly had no experience with VR media consumption. This pretty much sums it up:

https://www.uploadvr.com/iphone-15-pro-spatial-video-released-vision-pro/

"Until now Apple didn't actually say what Spatial Videos are, other than to say they "have incredible depth that lets you see into a moment". Apple's marketing clips seemed to suggest ('https://www.uploadvr.com/iphone-15-pro-spatial-video-vision-pro/') Spatial Video was something much more than just stereoscopic video, with volumetric parallax depicted, but it's clear now this marketing was misleading. Apple confirmed to CNET's Scott Stein ('https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-iphone-spatial-video-arrives-in-beta-and-looks-amazing-on-vision-pro/?ref=uploadvr.com') and TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff ('https://www.techradar.com/computing/virtual-reality-augmented-reality/i-tried-the-iphone-15s-new-spatial-video-feature-and-it-will-be-the-vision-pros-killer-app?ref=uploadvr.com') that Spatial Video is in fact just 3D stereoscopic video, two 1080p 30FPS captures embedded into the same file with the Apple HEVC Stereo Video Profile format, an implementation of MV-HEVC."
__

Before this converter tool was released, I did an experiment of my own by taking 2 normal photos with the ultrawide and main cameras, cropping the ultrawide to match the main camera, and then viewing them as a side by side 3D image. The depth exactly matches what you see in these Spatial Videos, so there is no extra trickery that Apple is doing here.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
V
vinegarshots
35 months ago

This doesn’t seem to busing the depth data, which I believe Apples headset will be using for those spatial videos. #earlydays
Incorrect. The spatial videos are just standard 3D videos, using 2 different cameras side by side. It doesn't record any other "depth data".

Apple, in typical Apple fashion, led people to believe that these "Spatial Videos" are much more than what they really are (by showing a promo video that inferred that you could walk around the video and see different viewpoints). But...that's not what you're getting.

They're just normal 3D videos. Nothing groundbreaking here.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klasma Avatar
klasma
35 months ago
Haha, Apple might unintentionally boost Quest sales that way. :D Interoperability FTW.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Verified Whiskey Avatar
Verified Whiskey
35 months ago

Incorrect. The spatial videos are just standard 3D videos, using 2 different cameras side by side. It doesn't record any other "depth data".

Apple, in typical Apple fashion, led people to believe that these "Spatial Videos" are much more than what they really are (by showing a promo video that inferred that you could walk around the video and see different viewpoints). But...that's not what you're getting.

They're just normal 3D videos. Nothing groundbreaking here.
Have you USED the Vision Pro yet? I didn’t think so. You’re operating on the assumption that it’s like today’s VR headsets.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayducharme Avatar
jayducharme
35 months ago

How "3-dimensional" is a video recorded with two cameras spaced by a few mm?
I suspect Apple has a few more computational tricks that are performed. The majority of Vision Pro reviewers thought that the spatial effects went way beyond what had previously been achieved.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DogHouseDub Avatar
DogHouseDub
35 months ago
How "3-dimensional" is a video recorded with two cameras spaced by a few mm?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments