Can Apple see what you’re doing when you wear your Vision Pro?

Not since the original iPhone came out 2007 has a device launch garnered as much media attention as the Apple Vision Pro. It’s been the subject of countless reviews and thought pieces, with some (including yours truly) even exploring its potential as a retirement nest egg. But very few have raised questions about the privacy implications of the device. Those who have have been rightly wary. There is reason to be suspicious of home gadgets packed with microphones, cameras, and sensors—and, boy, does the Apple Vision Pro have them in spades.

According to Apple’s website, the Apple Vision Pro has a stereoscopic 3D main camera system, two high‑resolution main cameras, six outward‑facing tracking cameras, four eye‑tracking cameras, a TrueDepth camera, a LiDAR scanner, four inertial measurement units, a flicker sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a six‑microphone array with directional beamforming. These sensors not only allow the Apple Vision Pro to know just about everything about your environment so it can accurately project spatial computer elements in your surroundings, but it also allows the device to know what you are looking at. 

Of course, all these sensors also make the Apple Vision Pro sound like a device that was designed for recon work by a certain 007. But the good news is that if you are worried about the Apple Vision Pro being used to spy on you or the home you’re using it in, know that Apple has made that virtually impossible. Yesterday, I got a sneak peek of a white paper Apple publicly released this morning detailing all the privacy protections built into the Apple Vision Pro, and there are dozens. Some of the privacy protections are especially impressive and worth calling out.

For example, the Apple Vision Pro has a cool feature called Persona that is a digital re-creation of your face, which other participants will see when on a FaceTime call with you when you’re wearing the device. But you don’t have to worry that someone might grab your Vision Pro and initiate a video call pretending to be you asking for money. 

This is because the Persona can be protected by the Vision Pro’s Optic ID, which is like Face ID, but it scans your unique iris pattern. If someone puts on your Apple Vision Pro—even if they know the device’s PIN—your Persona won’t work for them if you have enabled Optic ID. Also, if you let someone use your Vision Pro in guest mode, your Persona is disabled while the mode is in use.

The second privacy feature worth noting has to do with the fact that Apple Vision Pro needs to see your surroundings so it can project its visionOS spatial computing windows and apps in the space before you. Given the number of cameras and sensors packed into the Vision Pro, it’s no wonder that some people worry that the entire layout of their homes and its contents could be accessed by Apple, third-party apps, or even government agencies. But should you really be worried that the Vision Pro can see a sensitive medical bill or your Grateful Dead bong?

No, Apple says. This is because all the information about your home, its contents, and anything else the Vision Pro “sees” is stored locally on the Vision Pro itself. That information is encrypted and it is never sent to Apple or third parties. Even apps you’ve installed on your Vision Pro don’t get access to this sensitive data unless you’ve specifically given them approval. And since this information is never sent to or stored by Apple, Apple can’t share what your home looks like or what’s inside it with anyone.

A final standout privacy feature is how Apple keeps websites from knowing what an Apple Vision Pro user is looking at even on the site itself. The Apple Vision Pro tracks your eye movements, so it knows what you are looking at at all times. This eye tracking is what enables users to interact with a button or web link just by pinching their fingers together.

But Apple knows that where we look can reveal a lot about us or our intentions. That’s why Apple prevents websites and apps viewed in the Apple Vision Pro from knowing where your eyes have looked. Only when you pinch to interact with content on the website does the website learn where your eyes are looking at that exact moment—not before or after.

For example, say you are browsing through dresses on Walmart.com in Safari on the Apple Vision Pro. Your eyes scan dozens of dresses displayed on the web page, looking for the right one. On some you linger longer than on others, maybe ones that are the right shade of blue for you. Knowing which dresses your eyes have studied and which ones your eyes have quickly passed over would be very valuable information for Walmart to understand, both for ad targeting and customer profiling purposes. But Apple prevents websites from knowing exactly where your eyes have looked on their web page until you intentionally pinch your fingers to click on a link or image.

These and other privacy protections built into the Vision Pro are no surprise given Apple’s very public—and marketable—commitment to privacy. Does that mean the Vision Pro is 100% private and secure? Of course not. No device is. But the privacy protections built in from Day 1 represent a reassuring start for a device that is capable of knowing our most personal details more than any other device that’s preceded it.

Not since the original iPhone came out 2007 has a device launch garnered as much media attention as the Apple Vision Pro. It’s been the subject of countless reviews and thought pieces, with some (including yours truly) even exploring its potential as a retirement nest egg. But very few have raised questions about the privacy implications of the device. Those who have have been rightly wary. There is reason to be suspicious of home gadgets packed with microphones, cameras, and sensors—and, boy, does the Apple Vision Pro have them in spades.

According to Apple’s website, the Apple Vision Pro has a stereoscopic 3D main camera system, two high‑resolution main cameras, six outward‑facing tracking cameras, four eye‑tracking cameras, a TrueDepth camera, a LiDAR scanner, four inertial measurement units, a flicker sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a six‑microphone array with directional beamforming. These sensors not only allow the Apple Vision Pro to know just about everything about your environment so it can accurately project spatial computer elements in your surroundings, but it also allows the device to know what you are looking at. 

Of course, all these sensors also make the Apple Vision Pro sound like a device that was designed for recon work by a certain 007. But the good news is that if you are worried about the Apple Vision Pro being used to spy on you or the home you’re using it in, know that Apple has made that virtually impossible. Yesterday, I got a sneak peek of a white paper Apple publicly released this morning detailing all the privacy protections built into the Apple Vision Pro, and there are dozens. Some of the privacy protections are especially impressive and worth calling out.

For example, the Apple Vision Pro has a cool feature called Persona that is a digital re-creation of your face, which other participants will see when on a FaceTime call with you when you’re wearing the device. But you don’t have to worry that someone might grab your Vision Pro and initiate a video call pretending to be you asking for money. 

This is because the Persona can be protected by the Vision Pro’s Optic ID, which is like Face ID, but it scans your unique iris pattern. If someone puts on your Apple Vision Pro—even if they know the device’s PIN—your Persona won’t work for them if you have enabled Optic ID. Also, if you let someone use your Vision Pro in guest mode, your Persona is disabled while the mode is in use.

The second privacy feature worth noting has to do with the fact that Apple Vision Pro needs to see your surroundings so it can project its visionOS spatial computing windows and apps in the space before you. Given the number of cameras and sensors packed into the Vision Pro, it’s no wonder that some people worry that the entire layout of their homes and its contents could be accessed by Apple, third-party apps, or even government agencies. But should you really be worried that the Vision Pro can see a sensitive medical bill or your Grateful Dead bong?

No, Apple says. This is because all the information about your home, its contents, and anything else the Vision Pro “sees” is stored locally on the Vision Pro itself. That information is encrypted and it is never sent to Apple or third parties. Even apps you’ve installed on your Vision Pro don’t get access to this sensitive data unless you’ve specifically given them approval. And since this information is never sent to or stored by Apple, Apple can’t share what your home looks like or what’s inside it with anyone.

A final standout privacy feature is how Apple keeps websites from knowing what an Apple Vision Pro user is looking at even on the site itself. The Apple Vision Pro tracks your eye movements, so it knows what you are looking at at all times. This eye tracking is what enables users to interact with a button or web link just by pinching their fingers together.

But Apple knows that where we look can reveal a lot about us or our intentions. That’s why Apple prevents websites and apps viewed in the Apple Vision Pro from knowing where your eyes have looked. Only when you pinch to interact with content on the website does the website learn where your eyes are looking at that exact moment—not before or after.

For example, say you are browsing through dresses on Walmart.com in Safari on the Apple Vision Pro. Your eyes scan dozens of dresses displayed on the web page, looking for the right one. On some you linger longer than on others, maybe ones that are the right shade of blue for you. Knowing which dresses your eyes have studied and which ones your eyes have quickly passed over would be very valuable information for Walmart to understand, both for ad targeting and customer profiling purposes. But Apple prevents websites from knowing exactly where your eyes have looked on their web page until you intentionally pinch your fingers to click on a link or image.

These and other privacy protections built into the Vision Pro are no surprise given Apple’s very public—and marketable—commitment to privacy. Does that mean the Vision Pro is 100% private and secure? Of course not. No device is. But the privacy protections built in from Day 1 represent a reassuring start for a device that is capable of knowing our most personal details more than any other device that’s preceded it.