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.
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.
Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
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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.
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:
"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.
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.
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.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
