Vision Pro Introduces ‘Optional’ and ‘Required’ Designations for Apps Utilizing Motion Controllers

Alright, so here’s a thing that caught my eye today. Apple, in all its mysterious glory, threw a curveball during WWDC. Suddenly, the Vision Pro headset is getting cozy with PSVR 2 controllers and some fancy Logitech stylus. Yeah, didn’t see that coming, did you? VisionOS 26 is the big update here, and it’s kinda shaking things up a bit.

Imagine this: developers can now roll out Vision Pro apps that either insist you have motion controllers or just shrug and say, “Use them if you want.” It’s like Apple did a 180 on their hand-tracking mantra. Was this always the plan? Or did they wake up one day and decide, “Let’s spice things up”? Who really knows?

In this developer chit-chat they released—and bear with me as I try to piece this together—it looks like they’re giving these apps a kind of ‘optional’ or ‘required’ controller tag. The App Store will show this, which is nice ’cause nobody likes surprises, right? Well, sometimes.

So, what does this mean? Basically, folks can start cranking out Vision Pro content that’s all about those motion controllers. Sure, hands-free stuff sounds cool, like a sci-fi movie. But, a lot of those VR games you might be itching to port from platforms like Quest and PC VR? Yeah, they’re pretty much designed with controllers in mind. Going full-on hand-tracking would probably be a major headache, requiring a complete redo.

Apple basically said, “Hey, just toss on those apps that need controllers. No biggie.” ‘Cause, otherwise, developers would be buried under an avalanche of hand-tracking code. Oh, technology!

Here’s the nerdy bit: for motion controllers, devs get to pick between two tracking modes: Predicted and Continuous. Predicted mode tries to guess where the controller is heading. Sounds like it’d be fab for fast-paced games where you’re all over the place. But Continuous mode says, “Nah, I’ll keep it real and precise,” which works for artsy stuff where you’re, like, doing delicate things.

Apple hasn’t exactly spilled the beans on the nitty-gritty, like how much lag you’d deal with using these controllers. Maybe they’re keeping it under wraps for now.

This all ties into VisionOS 26. Wanna dive deeper? There’s more to uncover. But, honestly, I’m still wrapping my head around this one. Let’s see where this rabbit hole leads next!