Apple Vision Pro gestures: a primer
To control your Apple Vision Pro, you make gestures with your hands in the air. Here’s a guide to the most useful gestures:
| Action | What It’s Used For | How to Do It |
|---|---|---|
| Tapping your fingers together | Opening apps, selecting content | Look at the app or content (like an email or photo), and tap your index finger to your thumb. |
| Touch | Typing or interacting in interactive experiences | Interact with content with your fingers in the air, such as typing on a virtual keyboard or slicing through virtual fruit in a game. |
| Pinch and hold | Showing additional options (like right-clicking on a computer mouse) or zooming in and out | Pinch and hold your index finger to your thumb. For example, pinch and hold over the X at the bottom of an app to close the app or select to close all apps. You can also pinch and hold with both hands and pull apart to zoom in or move them closer to zoom out. |
| Pinch and drag or rotate | Moving windows around, scrolling through content | Pinch and hold to grab a window bar at the bottom of an app and then drag and let go somewhere else. You can also grab an object, like a shape or photo, and move it around on a Freeform board. Or pinch and drag to scroll through photos or songs. You can also pinch and hold with both hands, and then make a rotate action left or right to, say, rotate a shape. |
| Swipe | Scrolling quickly through content, such as moving up and down on a Safari web page | Pinch and quickly flick your wrist. |
How to capture spatial photos and videos with Apple Vision Pro
You can use your Apple Vision Pro to capture 3D spatial images, thanks to the headset’s 12 cameras, 5 sensors, and 6 microphones. When you play back this content in Apple Vision Pro, it truly looks 3D. Imagine reliving memories long after you captured them with the same realistic depth.
iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max (and newer devices) can also capture spatial images to play back in Apple Vision Pro.
Here’s how to record a spatial photo or video on Apple Vision Pro:
- While wearing the headset, press the top button (over your left eye) to open Capture.
- Choose whether you want to take a spatial photo or video by looking at the word Photo or Video at the bottom, and selecting it by pinching your index finger to your thumb.
- Press the top button again to capture a spatial photo or to start recording a spatial video.
- If you’re recording a video, press the top button again to stop recording.
For best results, try to keep your head still while recording spatial video. Make sure you’re in an area with enough light, and try to capture subjects who aren’t too close to you.
To see a spatial photo or video you just captured, open the Photos app and then tap Spatial in the tab bar on the left.
How to get the most out of Apple Vision Pro
Apple Vision Pro is probably unlike any device you’ve used before, so here are a few tips on getting the most out of it:
- Recalibrate eye tracking. You use your eyes to look at content before interacting with it, so you need to make sure the eye tracking is working well. If you find that the eye tracking isn’t as accurate as it could be (for example, you look at an app you want to open, but Apple Vision Pro thinks you’re looking at the app next to the one you want to open), it’s time to recalibrate eye tracking. To do so, press the top button (above your left eye) four times quickly; then follow the onscreen instructions to recalibrate eye tracking.
- Recenter your view. One fun way to use Apple Vision Pro is to open and pin several apps to the open air around you (in real life) — for example, you may have the Safari web browser open to your left, a FaceTime window on your right, and a giant Freeform board in front of you if you’re sketching out a business idea. But you may lose an app you pinned somewhere, especially if you’re fidgety while wearing the headset. To recall all apps floating around your room, and center your view of them, hold the Digital Crown button (above your right eye) for a few seconds.
- Use Siri — a lot. You don’t have to rely on your eyes and hands to control Apple Vision Pro — you can do more in less time by leveraging Siri, Apple’s personal assistant. Saying “Siri, open Photos” is much faster than going to your Home View, searching through multiple pages of apps on the screen, looking at the Photos app to highlight it, and then pinching to open the app.
- On a related note, there’s no easy-to-access clock in Apple Vision Pro (other than looking up to see and open the Control Center), so you can just say, “Siri, what time is it?” if you want to know what time it is. Experiment with all the things Siri can do for you!
- Force a restart if you run into trouble. Once in a while, Apple Vision Pro can be a little finicky, and even closing apps may not help. If you find yourself in this kind of trouble, the best thing to do is force Apple Vision Pro to restart. Don’t worry — a force restart is not a factory reset that deletes everything. A force restart just fully powers down the device. To do it, press and hold the top button (above your left eye) and the Digital Crown button (above your right eye) at the same time, and keep holding them if you see the Force Quit menu appear. Keep holding the buttons until the display goes black. To turn the device on again, press and hold the top button for 3 seconds and then release.