The arrival of visionOS 26 It represents a significant leap forward for Apple's mixed reality ecosystem. This new version focuses specifically on transforming the experience of Personas, the digital avatars that represent the user in Vision Pro, seeking to make them more natural and less disturbing than previous versions.
Apple has opted to significantly improve expressiveness and realism. of these representations. Thanks to the use of 3D rendering and machine learning technologies, the new Personas display details such as hair, eyelashes, skin shape and texture, and even facial geometry with much greater fidelity than before. Additionally, it's now possible to customize our avatars' glasses with over a thousand different combinations.
A radical change in digital personas
In its early versions, Vision Pro Personas were subject to criticism. due to their unconvincing and lacking expressiveness, to the point that many described them as unnatural or strange. Previous updates improved the level of detail somewhat, but visionOS 26 introduces a Complete redesign, making the avatars much more human and visually pleasing..
One of the key advances is the improvement in facial animation and movement asymmetry., allowing gestures and expressions to be reproduced much more fluidly and realistically. The process of creating a Persona remains fast: simply scan your face with the helmet's cameras, and within seconds, the system generates a digital avatar, which can then be customized.
Although upon closer inspection, limitations are still apparent—such as certain movement imperfections or the rendering of less visible areas, like the back of the head—the overall result is convincing enough, especially in video call contexts, as Apple itself has emphasized.
From the lab to real-life use: What Apple executives think
The leap in quality in Digital Personas has been so significant Apple itself has decided to remove the beta feature label. Greg Joswiak, the company's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, recently shared a video on social media showing off his own Persona in visionOS 26, something no executive had done publicly until now, with the exception of Tim Cook's appearance with the headset. This gesture demonstrates Apple's growing confidence in the technology's maturity.
The company assures that the changes introduced also affect the EyeSight function., which projects the user's image onto the outside of the headset. Although the final quality depends on the headset's hardware, the graphical improvements also extend to those viewing from outside, making everything more natural.
Users can continue to quickly configure their avatar's appearance after a facial scan, choosing lighting, background, and accessories, with the promise that future versions will allow for saving different versions of the avatar for different situations.
Advantages, challenges, and the future of People at visionOS
Personas in visionOS 26 offer practical benefits for those who want to communicate naturally. in virtual meetings without worrying about their appearance or the camera frame. The avatar is always prepared, properly lit, and, while not yet identical to the real user, is much more convincing in context than previous generations.
There are challenges for the upcoming lighter and more compact devices. To achieve this level of detail, the visor cameras need a good view of the face, something that's easier on bulky headsets, but will become more complicated as they move toward smaller form factors, such as goggles or low-profile visors. The position and angle of the cameras are key to accurately capturing facial gestures.
Apple and other brands are exploring machine learning solutions capable of predicting how a face moves based on complicated angles, but the technical challenge remains. For now, the company is satisfied with the balance achieved in Vision Pro, where scanning and capture still have room for improvement, especially in the integration of hands, which still appear more ethereal compared to the face.
visionOS 26 is now available in developer beta and is expected to be fully released in the fall, coinciding with a future expansion of compatible devices. Apple anticipates that Digital Personas will become so common in work and home settings that more and more users will opt for them, especially as the technology continues to improve.
