Got lots of Apple devices in your home? A newly uncovered patent suggests that the rumored Apple VR headset may have a secret weapon up its sleeve, and it’s all about making those devices work seamlessly together.
You no doubt are familiar with Apple’s ‘Continuity’ features such as Universal Control and Handoff. For those that aren't, they let Apple devices logged into the same Apple ID and on the same Wi-Fi network interact with each other — for instance, slinging a FaceTime video call to the bigger screen of an iPad, or using a single keyboard and mouse to control both a Mac and iPad Pro, sharing files between the two.
The Apple VR patent in question, titled “Multi-Device Continuity for use with Extended Reality (XR) Systems” describes how these Continuity features could be implemented in a virtual reality environment, giving the so-called Reality Pro headset a leg-up over the competition.
Reality extended
The patent describes scenarios such as a user reading an email on an iPhone, and then using a hand gesture or gaze gesture to move the email over to a ‘larger’ virtual display on the headset’s screens.
The concept could extend to almost any current Continuity example — selecting an Apple Music streaming song on the headset, and just looking at the HomePod speaker you want to play it on to fire it up, or wearing the headset while sat at your MacBook Air to auto-magically create additional virtual displays around the physical screen, giving you more real estate to work on.
As ever, patent applications are no guarantee that a feature or product will ever make it out into the open for public consumption. But Apple has always been excellent at adding value to its product ecosystem by pushing the interoperability of its devices and services.
Continuity is a feature its userbase is already familiar with, and even just by looking at the quick examples above, offers tangible potential benefits when included in a head-mounted gadget. Unlike VR competitors like HTC and Meta, Apple has a robust line-up of other hardware that its Reality Pro headset will live alongside — and making them all play nicely together is a key benefit that the competition can’t offer.
