Apple will soon release the first major software update for the Vision Pro, and the new version of visionOS will bring improvements not only to Personas, but also to the EyeSight feature.
Personas and EyeSight are Vision Pro additions that many people have poked fun at since the headset's release. Personas are a digital representation of the user that's shown in video calls, while EyeSight uses an external display to show the Vision Pro wearer's eyes if there are other people in the room. Personas and EyeSight are aimed at making the Vision Pro less of an isolating experience, but neither has been particularly well-received.
As we've previously shared, the visionOS 1.1 beta makes Personas look more realistic, and Apple's release notes provided with the visionOS 1.1 release candidate offer more insight. Specific improvements have been made to hair and makeup appearance and neck and mouth representation, and these tweaks make a big difference.
The update also apparently improves rendering of the eyes for EyeSight, which isn't something that was previously noticed during the beta testing period. EyeSight draws on the Persona feature to capture a person's eyes to show on the external display. Presumably the EyeSight feature now looks somewhat better on the Vision Pro headset, but that it's gone so under the radar suggests Apple still has more work to do.
Other new features in the update include improvements for the virtual keyboard and the Mac virtual display.
visionOS 1.1 will be officially released as soon as this week.
