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

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

2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature Single Camera 1 Redux

'iPhone 17 Air' Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Wednesday January 15, 2025 7:16 am PST by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the "ultra-thin" device. Overall, the "iPhone 17 Air" is shaping up to be a mixed bag. Due to its thinness, the device is expected to have some limited specifications compared to the iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, only a single speaker, no SIM...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Three Companies Are Now in the Running to Take Over the Apple Card

Thursday January 16, 2025 8:18 am PST by
Apple is in talks with Barclays and Synchrony about becoming its new financial partner for the Apple Card, according to Reuters sources. The report today added that Apple has also been holding discussions with Chase Bank owner JPMorgan since last year, so there are at least three potential companies in the running to take over the Apple Card from current partner Goldman Sachs. Goldman...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 8 New Features

Thursday January 9, 2025 5:45 am PST by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. iPhone 17 Pro concept based on rumors Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of January 2025: More aluminum: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models ...
MacBook Air 15 Inch Feature Blue

MacBook Air Likely Apple's First Product Update of 2025: What to Expect

Wednesday January 15, 2025 8:49 am PST by
There is a good chance that Apple's first product announcement of 2025 will be updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with the M4 chip. Last month, Apple released macOS Sequoia 15.2, and in doing so it accidentally confirmed new MacBook Air models are coming this year (unsurprisingly). Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the new MacBook Air models will be announced "earlier" than some...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Major Thermal Design Upgrade

Friday January 17, 2025 4:33 am PST by
The iPhone 17 lineup will feature a vapor chamber heatsink to improve thermal performance, according to a new report. The news comes from Chinese tech news site MyDrivers, which claims that the entire iPhone 17 lineup, consisting of the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max, will adopt the improved thermal heat spreader. Vapor chamber technology is already used...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple Expected to Launch 20+ Products This Year: Here's the Full List

Friday January 17, 2025 5:30 am PST by
2025 promises to be quite a big year for Apple, with the company rumored to be planning more than 20 product announcements this year. Apple's rumored smart home hub will be its second all-new product to launch in as many years, following the Apple Vision Pro headset last year. And of course, we will get several new iPhone and Apple Watch models, like every year. Beyond that, Apple could...

Top Rated Comments

klasma Avatar
15 months ago
Haha, Apple might unintentionally boost Quest sales that way. :D Interoperability FTW.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vinegarshots Avatar
15 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)
vinegarshots Avatar
15 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)
Verified Whiskey Avatar
15 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)
DogHouseDub Avatar
15 months ago
How "3-dimensional" is a video recorded with two cameras spaced by a few mm?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jayducharme Avatar
15 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)