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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Is ARGeoTrackingConfiguration always more accurate than ARWorldTrackingConfiguration for world scale AR?
We are working on a world scale AR app that leverages the device location and heading to place objects in the streets, so that they are correctly and stably anchored to certain locations. Since the geo-tracking imagery is only available in certain cities and areas, we are trying to figure out how to fallback when geo-tracking is not available as the device move away, to still retain good AR camera accuracy. We might need to come up with some algorithm using the device GPS, to line up the ARCamera with our objects. Question: Does geo-tracking always provide greater than or equal to the accuracy of world tracking, for a GPS outdoor AR experience? If so, we can simply use the ARGeoTrackingConfiguration for the entire time, and rely on the ARView keeping itself aligned. Otherwise, we need to switch between it and ARWorldTrackingConfiguration when geo-tracking is not available and/or its accuracy is low, then roll our own algorithm to keep the camera aligned. Thanks.
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Oct ’25
Does Apple Spatial Audio Format documentation exist
The WWDC25 video and notes titled “Learn About Apple Immersive Video Technologies” introduced the Apple Spatial Audio Format (ASAF) and codec (APAC). However, despite references throughout on using immersive video, there is scant information on ASAF/APAC (including no code examples and no framework references), and I’ve found no documentation in Apple’s APIs/Frameworks about its implementation and use months on. I want to leverage ambisonic audio in my app. I don’t want to write a custom AU if APAC will be opened up to developers. If you read the notes below along with the iPhone 17 advertising (“Video is captured with Spatial Audio for immersive listening”), it sounds like this is very much a live feature in iOS26. Anyone know the state of play? I’m across how the PHASE engine works, which is unrelated to what I’m asking about here. Original quote from video referenced above: “ASAF enables truly externalized audio experiences by ensuring acoustic cues are used to render the audio. It’s composed of new metadata coupled with linear PCM, and a powerful new spatial renderer that’s built into Apple platforms. It produces high resolution Spatial Audio through numerous point sources and high resolution sound scenes, or higher order ambisonics.” ”ASAF is carried inside of broadcast Wave files with linear PCM signals and metadata. You typically use ASAF in production, and to stream ASAF audio, you will need to encode that audio as an mp4 APAC file.” ”APAC efficiently distributes ASAF, and APAC is required for any Apple immersive video experience. APAC playback is available on all Apple platforms except watchOS, and supports Channels, Objects, Higher Order Ambisonics, Dialogue, Binaural audio, interactive elements, as well as provisioning for extendable metadata.”
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Sep ’25
Reality Kit Scene
Hi, I’m wondering whether RealityKit has its own scene management system, since it uses ARView (backed by ARKit) to present AR content. Does RealityKit manage scenes independently, or does it rely entirely on ARKit’s scene handling? Thank you.
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ARSkeleton3D modelTransform always return nil
I use ARKit for motion tracking. I get the skeleton joint coordinates and use them for animation. I didn't make any changes to the code, but I updated the iOS version from 18 to 26, and modelTransform now always returns nil. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/arskeleton3d/modeltransform(for:) For example bodyAnchor.skeleton.modelTransform(for: .init(rawValue: "head_joint")) bodyAnchor is ARBodyAnchor. I see the default skeleton on the screen, but now I can't get the coordinates out of it. I'm using an example from Apple's WWDC presentation. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/arkit/capturing-body-motion-in-3d Are there any changes in the API? Or just bug?
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RoomPlan Framework v2 - Stairs missing
Hello Community, I'm encountering an issue with the latest iOS 17 update, specifically related to RoomPlan version-2. In iOS 16, when using RoomPlan version-1, we were able to display stairs in our app. However, after upgrading to iOS 17 and implementing RoomPlan version-2, the stairs are no longer visible. Despite thorough investigation, I couldn't find any option within the code to show or hide stairs, or any other objects for that matter. It seems like a specific issue with the update rather than a coding error on our part. Has anyone else encountered a similar problem? If so, I would greatly appreciate any insights or solutions you might have. It's crucial for our app functionality to have stairs displayed accurately, and we're currently at a loss on how to address this issue. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide. Best regards
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Sep ’25
ImagePresentationComponent .spatialStereoImmersive mode not rendering in WindowGroup context
Platform: visionOS 2.6 Framework: RealityKit, SwiftUIComponent: ImagePresentationComponent I’m working with the new ImagePresentationComponent from visionOS 26 and hitting a rendering limitation when switching to .spatialStereoImmersive viewing mode within a WindowGroup context. This is what I’m seeing: Pure immersive space: ImagePresentationComponent with .spatialStereoImmersive mode works perfectly in a standalone ImmersiveSpace Mode switching API: All mode transitions work correctly (logs confirm the component updates) Spatial content: .spatialStereo mode renders correctly in both window and immersive contexts. This is where it’s breaking for me: Window context: When the same RealityView + ImagePresentationComponent is placed inside a WindowGroup (even when that window is floating in a mixed immersive space), switching to .spatialStereoImmersive mode shows no visual change The API calls succeed, state updates correctly, but the immersive content doesn’t render. Apple’s Spatial Gallery demonstrates exactly what I’m trying to achieve: Spatial photos displayed in a window with what feels like horizontal scroll view using system window control bar, etc. Tapping a spatial photo smoothly transitions it to immersive mode in-place. The immersive content appears to “grow” from the original window position by just changing IPC viewing modes. This proves the functionality should be possible, but I can’t determine the correct configuration. So, my question to is: Is there a specific RealityView or WindowGroup configuration required to enable immersive content rendering from window contexts that you know of? Are there bounds/clipping settings that need to be configured to allow immersive content to “break out” of window constraints? Does .spatialStereoImmersive require a specific rendering context that’s not available in windowed RealityView instances? How do you think Apple’s SG app achieves this functionality? For a little more context: All viewing modes are available: [.mono, .spatialStereo, .spatialStereoImmersive] The spatial photos are valid and work correctly in pure immersive space Mixed immersive space is active when testing window context No errors or warnings in console beyond the successful mode switching logs I’m getting Any insights into the proper configuration for window-hosted immersive content
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Aug ’25
MainActor attribute on RealityKit APIs is causing problems
Hello, A lot of the RealityKit APIs (Ex. LowLevelMesh, LowLevelTexture, etc.) are marked with MainActor so they needed to be accessed on the main thread. This creates issues when we need to perform expensive GPU related operations since now we need to perform those on the main thread. This results in bottlenecks and hangs in our application. We would like to use a multi-threaded approach to solve these problems which is difficult to do here. We are constantly streaming data whether the app is just appearing or the user is interacting with our application so we need to be able to perform these operations on a separate thread. Any advice on how to achieve this using RealityKit? Thank you.
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Mar ’25
ARKit camera transform orientation vector doesn't match physical device heading (despite `.gravityAndHeading`)
Hi all, I'm working on an ARKit-based iOS app where I need to accurately determine the direction the device is facing to localize objects in the real world. I'm using: let config = ARWorldTrackingConfiguration() config.worldAlignment = .gravityAndHeading Thus, I would expect the world alignment to behave as given in the gravityAndHeading page. The AR session is started after verifying that CLLocationManager.headingAccuracy <= 20, and the compass appears to be calibrated. However, I'm seeing a major inconsistency: When the rear camera is physically pointed toward true North, I would expect: cameraTransform.columns.2.z ≈ -1 // (i.e. ARKit's -Z pointing North) But instead, I'm consistently seeing: cameraTransform.columns.2.z ≈ +0.97 // Implies camera is facing South Meanwhile, the translation vector behaves as expected: As I physically move North, cameraTransform.columns.3.z becomes more negative, matching the world’s +Z = South assumption. For example, let's say I have the device in landscapeRight (or landscapeLeft for UIDeviceOrientation). Let's say the device rear camera is pointing towards True North, and I start moving towards True North. I get something like this: Camera Transform = simd_float4x4( [ [0.98446155, -0.030119859, 0.172998, 0.0], [0.023979114, 0.9990097, 0.037477385, 0.0], [-0.17395553, -0.032746706, 0.98420894, 0.0], [0.024039675, -0.037087332, -0.22780673, 0.99999994] ]) As you can see, the cameraTransform.columns.2.z is positive despite the rear camera pointing towards True North, while cameraTransform.columns.3.z is correctly positive as the device is moving towards True North. So here is my question: Why is cameraTransform.columns.2.z positive when the rear camera is physically facing North? Any clarity would be deeply appreciated. I've read the documentation and tested with different heading accuracies and AR session resets, but I keep running into this orientation mismatch. Thanks in advance!
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Jun ’25
Please provide access to face tracking blendshapes on vision os
Apple, please provide access to face tracking blend shapes on vision os, just like you do on iOS. You have the best eye and face tracking implementation on the market, please let us use it. There is a sizable audience who will buy the headset just for it. I personally know multiple people who are not buying the headset simply because you locked those features out. No raw camera access is needed, just abstracted blendshapes values. You will make the headset so much more useful if you do this simple thing.
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Jun ’25
How to fix "Sample 0 missing LiDAR point cloud!" error?
I'm trying to run a PhotogrammetrySession based on photos taken in an AVCaptureSession and stored as .heic files. When I load the files I'm always seeing the error "Sample 0 missing LiDAR point cloud!" showing up for each individual sample. Debugging shows that sample.depthDataMap is populated, also the .heic contains depth data which can be extracted using e.g. heif-convert on my Mac. Comparing the .heic I created to one of the ObjectCaptureSession which doesn't show the LiDAR warning, I noticed the only difference being the HEIC information here: So my questions are: Are these the missing information in my manual capture causing this warning? Can I somehow add these information in an AVCaptureSession? Do these information allow better photogrammetry results?
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Dec ’25
Can developers use spatial image in third App's Spatial widget
Spatial widget is a new feature of visionos 26. I notice The system’s Photo app can add a Spatial Image in the widget. I wonder if third apps can use spatial image or any 3D content in it's widget? I try to use RealityView in widget and it run with a crash. So does spatial Image in widget only supported by the system Photo app, and not available to developers now?
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Jul ’25
The AccessoryAnchor transform does not match any of the Accessory.LocationName options.
I am using AccessoryTrackingProvider from ARKit to get the transform of the PSVR2 controller via originFromAnchorTransform of the AccessoryAnchor. I also am trying to use AnchorEntity on the controller using RealityKit However, none of the three options for Accessory.LocationName, which should be used to define the AnchorEntity target, seem to match the position on the controller which is being sent from ARKit. The picture attached is showing two transforms: RealityKit - using .gripSurface to define the AnchoringComponent.Target.accesssory location. ARKit - using originFromAnchorTransform for AccessoryTrackingProvider. They are not aligned at the same point. As for the other options of Accessory.LocationName, using .aim is located at the tip of the controller and .grip is the same position as .gripSurface but with a different orientation. I am wondering why there is not an option for Accessory.LocationName that actually matches the transform captured by ARKit?
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1.4k
Jan ’26
Photogrammetry Session - new model?
Hi Apple Team, We noticed the following exciting changelog in the latest macOS 26 beta: A new algorithm significantly improves PhotogrammetrySession reconstruction quality of low-texture objects not captured with the ObjectCaptureSession front end. It will be downloaded and cached once in the background when the PhotogrammetrySession is used at runtime. If network isn’t available at that time, the old low quality model will be used until the new one can be downloaded. There is no code change needed to get this improved model. (145220451) However after trying this on the latest beta and running some tests we do not see any differences on objects with low textures such as single coloured surfaces. Is there anything we are missing? the machine is definitely connected to the internet but we have no way of knowing from the logs if the new model is being used? thanks
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Jul ’25