Apple Vision Pro is getting the ability to magnify passthrough, as well as to describe, find, or read anything in your view using on-device AI.
These accessibility features, which Apple says are designed for people who are blind or have low vision, are set to arrive in a visionOS update later this year.
Last year Apple announced accessibility features a month in advance of revealing visionOS 2 at WWDC24, so these features might be seen in visionOS 3 at WWDC25 next month.
Passthrough Zoom & Live Recognition
The improved magnification functionality will arrive as an update to the Zoom accessibility feature, which currently only magnifies virtual content. With the update, it will also magnify the real world.
The enhanced Zoom accessibility coming to visionOS later this year.
Meanwhile, the ability to describe, find, or read anything in view will be an extension of VoiceOver, which currently functions as a screen reader. Called Live Recognition, Apple says the feature will process the passthrough view using on-device machine learning to "describe surroundings, find objects, read documents, and more".
Passthrough API For Accessibility
Apple also says it will offer a new API for "accessibility developers" in "approved apps" to access the passthrough view "to provide live, person-to-person assistance for visual interpretation", starting with Be My Eyes.
While the Meta Horizon OS of Quest headsets now lets all apps access the passthrough cameras if the user grants permission, and Google's Android XR will too at launch, visionOS currently only allows this for non-public enterprise apps "for use in a business setting only", and getting this access requires a special license from Apple.
David Heaney
Apple's wording in announcing wider passthrough camera access suggests that it will only be for accessibility apps after a specific approval process. But given the stance of Horizon OS and Android XR, we'll keep an eye out for any further announcements around passthrough camera access at WWDC25.
