Review: Two Weeks With the Apple Vision Pro

Today marks the two-week anniversary of the Apple Vision Pro launch, and the last day for returns for those who purchased on release day. With plenty of stories going around from those who decided not to keep the $3,500 device, MacRumors videographer Dan Barbera thought he'd share some of the reasons why he'll be keeping his headset.


We need to have a few Vision Pro headsets on hand to write about them here at MacRumors, so that's one of the primary reasons that Dan will be keeping his. Apple is already working on visionOS 2, and we're interested in seeing what changes and updates are in store. We're also getting new apps on a regular basis, all of which make the Vision Pro a more appealing device.

The Vision Pro is the best way to be immersed in a movie, especially 3D movies, and that's another key reason why Dan won't be bringing his back to the Apple Store. The Cinema Environment that shuts out the world is hard to beat because it's basically your own personal movie theater.

Working on the Vision Pro needs some improvement, perhaps with support for multiple Mac displays, but it's useful when traveling with a laptop. It would also be nice to be able to use a mouse, but Magic Keyboard and Trackpad input work well enough.

There are some downsides to the Vision Pro. It's hard to wear for more than about an hour, the battery life is awful, and it doesn't hold a charge at all when not in use. Touch typing with the air keyboard is a poor experience, Personas need a lot of work to be less creepy, there still aren't a whole lot of groundbreaking app experiences, and Guest Mode is awful, so it is fully understandable why we're hearing a lot of return stories.

Make sure to watch Dan's full video to get his thoughts on the Vision Pro after two weeks, and let us know if you kept or returned your Vision Pro in the comments below.

Related Roundup: Apple Vision Pro
Buyer's Guide: Vision Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forum: Apple Vision Pro

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...

Top Rated Comments

Someyoungguy Avatar
11 months ago
Ha ha we finally know the use case for this thing and it’s to write more about it. It exists for its own sake, and nothing else.
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
atomwork Avatar
11 months ago
Its a cool product and the demo was amazing. But as a UXUI Designer, it's not helping me. And it's too expensive to play games. Quest 3 would be the better option
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wgaller Avatar
11 months ago
So the killer app is having your own personal movie theater yet it’s hard to wear for more than an hour?
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
G5isAlive Avatar
11 months ago
You realize all the people that have been putting this down with religious fervor are not going to look past "I kept this because its my job."

Having said that, I share your personal enthusiasm for the device and look forward to the time ahead with it. Ever day with it I discover more things that I like, and learn to work around the things I don't. I have never been a fan of panorama pictures on my iPhone, they always seemed warped (probably because they are). I read here yesterday from an actual owner how good panoramas are... and as I was wearing my AVP it was easy to go to the ones I had taken .. and.. was floored. So thankful for the Panoramas I did take on my travels. Took me right back there. Anyway, that's just the most recent reason I am keeping mine.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
11 months ago

Huh?

I’ve read this three times and I’m still confused

Been a long week. Might be that.
It's a joke- see that wink at the end. I'm poking at the pessimism being so extreme that they can't just expect 100% returns but 110% returns because 100% would not be enough to support the contempt some feel for this thing... and make sure the rest of us know that in every Vpro thread.

All entitled to their own opinion of course but I just don't grasp the waste of time & energy some put into a product discussion they very obviously have no interest in trying or ever buying.

I happen to have no interest in Watch. You won't find many of my thousands of posts since 2004 in Watch threads. I'd rather focus my learning and/or insights I might offer on products in which I AM interested than where I am not. But again, to each their own.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
turbineseaplane Avatar
11 months ago
Thankfully Apple has a generous return policy
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)