Or while driving. Or skateboarding. Or cooking. It may be trendy, but it’s completely wrong.
I wore Apple’s Vision Pro on a train from New Jersey to New York. Briefly. Not even to use, just to see how it fit. That few seconds was enough. I put it away again. I felt as awkward as anyone would feel with a futuristic $4,000 wearable computer on my face in public.
The Apple Vision Pro has sparked all sorts of reactions in just a few weeks, from amazement to fury. Amid these takes have been, of course, the wearers. People in public, in malls, walking robot dogs, in downtown Tokyo, skiing, on scooters, in Cybertrucks and even behind the wheel of a car. The Vision Bros. The New Glassholes. Whatever you want to call them, it needs to stop.
Of course, you can’t really stop anyone from doing things for the likes or the views or the lulz. I can try, though. Please, please, stop doing this. Please.
I’ve worn many headsets over the years, and I test-drive the future a lot. There are several reasons why you shouldn’t do this. Obvious reasons. Not the least of which is that you look like a tool. But mostly the Vision Pro isn’t meant to be worn while walking around. Regardless of the headset’s passthrough camera technology, it’s not a pair of smart glasses like Meta’s Ray-Bans.
The Vision Pro and other mixed reality VR headsets can make you feel, at best, like you’re not in an enclosed VR headset at all. It can be amazing. However, it’s best used as a quality-of-life feature at home. They work best at home, where they’re intended to be used. Not outside. At home.Travel Mode is only optimized for planes
OK, well maybe not always at home. The Vision Pro has a Travel Mode, and it lets you use it while in motion…on a plane. Specifically planes. Planes have steady movement, generally, and Apple has optimized this mode only for planes right now, with the intent that it prevents apps around you from drifting out of position as the plane moves. Trains may sometimes work with Travel Mode, but in a car, on a bike or when walking, the motion isn’t steady or consistent enough. When that happens, the apps just disappear until you seem to be more still. That adds up to a terrible experience. If the apps vanish, you’ll still see your passthrough camera view uninterrupted, just for safety reasons. But again, you’re likely to have a terrible experience using it while moving unless you’re on a plane…or maybe a steadily moving train.The Vision Pro isn’t water-resistant
Unlike Meta’s Ray-Bans, or AirPods or the Apple Watch, or your phone, the expensive Vision Pro isn’t rated for any weather resistance. Also, even its operating temperature range is limited: between 32 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
There are also huge air vents on the top of the headset — literally, big open holes. What if rain falls in there? Or moisture gets into the holes on the bottom? I don’t want to find out. AppleCare Plus doesn’t protect against what Apple considers improper use.
See those vents at the top? Yeah, don’t get water in those.It’s dangerous to others and yourself
The Vision Pro may look like it’s got a see-through window to the outside world, but it doesn’t. It’s a completely enclosed VR headset that uses passthrough cameras to convey what’s outside your headset. Got that? You’re seeing the feed from the external cameras, not the real world.
