As Apple prepares its Vision Pro headset for pre-orders on January 19, details of the demo appointments customers will experience in-store have been revealed.
According to Mark Gurman’s ‘Power On’ newsletter at Bloomberg, you’ll be able to book an appointment at the Apple Store from February 2 to try out Vision Pro — the same day as the launch of the headset.
At the start of the appointment, your face will be scanned by an app that an Apple Store employee will use — this will allow them to fit the best light seal, headband size, and foam cushion to the headset. If you wear glasses, they will have a bunch of lenses in stock that will mimic your prescription, which will attach to Vision Pro. Once you put the headset on, you’ll be guided to a calibration setup process, so the headset will track your eyes and hands more easily.
This is allegedly broken down into four steps — viewing the Photos app, watching Spatial Videos, using Vision Pro “as a computer or iPad replacement”, and watching a 3D movie or environment. If you’re still keen on buying one after the demo winds up, you’ll be asked to have your face scanned again at the point of sale — so the correct headband, light seal, and foam cushion can be packaged with your Vision Pro.
These demo appointments are sure to be booked up as soon as they’re made available on February 2, so if you’re near an Apple Store in the U.S. — we recommend booking one as soon as you can.
Suits you sir — iMore’s take
These Vision Pro appointment details are giving me deja vu. Way back in 2014, Apple had set up an appointment program for its upcoming Apple Watch, during which you would sit down and choose which size watch you’d want to wear, followed by trying out a bunch of different bands to see what would have suited you best back then.
I did this twice — the second appointment was trying out the $10,000 Apple Watch Edition, which came in 18-karat gold or rose gold. Although it felt nice, I wasn’t going to spend $10,000 on a first-generation Watch — it wouldn’t be until the fall that I’d buy a 42mm Stainless Steel Apple Watch for myself.
The main reason I waited to buy one, is something that I suspect will likely come to those going to Vision Pro appointments — they’ll want to see what developers make of the product, and what Apple has planned for it across the year. A whole new product like Vision Pro will likely come with sudden requests for bug fixes and small refinements for the experience, and often buying a new product like this on day one can make for a bumpy ride.
There’s also the prospect of WWDC, Apple’s yearly developer conference. We’ll likely hear about visionOS 2, so customers may want to wait and see what this new software will entail. For now, though, trying a Vision Pro out will, at least for now, quash any curiosity you may have about the headset — and, similar to when I tried out an Apple Watch, these appointments could help you decide if you really want one.
