The day preordered Apple Vision Pros were being delivered, I texted my boyfriend about an hour after his messages abruptly stopped.
“Oh no, have I lost you to the Vision Pro already?” I asked.
I didn't think much of it when he purchased the Vision Pro in February.
In person, the Vision Pro appears in my peripheral when I least expect it.
A short while later, I turned back around to see him with the Vision Pro on—fingers poking at nothing but air, hands waving.
The day preordered Apple Vision Pros were being delivered, I texted my boyfriend about an hour after his messages abruptly stopped. We were both in our respective homes, working remotely, so I knew he had access to his phone. But I also knew he was waiting impatiently for the headset to arrive. “Oh no, have I lost you to the Vision Pro already?” I asked. Within 10 minutes, I received a text back. “Yes, you did,” he replied.
I didn't think much of it when he purchased the Vision Pro in February. I jokingly refer to him as an Apple fanboy, since he's always acquiring the latest Apple products as soon as they drop. He uses the iPhone 15 Pro as his primary smartphone, the Apple Watch Ultra for keeping track of his fitness metrics, the 24-inch iMac for getting work done at his apartment (he reserves the 14-inch Space Black MacBook Pro for on-the-go), the iPad Pro for sketching, and the Apple TV for streaming content. It was inevitable that he'd snag what's considered Apple's most anticipated product in years. But I never thought it would make much of a difference in our lives—virtually and in person.
After all, these gadgets have never negatively impacted how we spend time together or communicate. If anything, they've enhanced it. As someone who also uses an iPhone and a MacBook daily, it's easy to stay connected. We communicate through iMessage and FaceTime, watch TV together using SharePlay on our iPads when we're apart, and keep up with each other's workouts via our Apple Watches; I even have my profile on his iMac and Apple TV. These devices have adapted to us and blended seamlessly into our lifestyles. The Vision Pro, on the other hand, has felt like the opposite.
Communication Curve
It didn't take long for the headset to become an essential item in my boyfriend's everyday carry. Whenever he leaves the house, he'll cram the clunky headset and battery pack into his tote bag alongside his MacBook Pro. I'm shocked whenever he decides to keep it at home. But even when I know he has it on him, I can't exactly pick up on when he will use it.
Living alongside the Vision Pro has almost become one big jump scare.
In person, the Vision Pro appears in my peripheral when I least expect it. When it's not plugged into a charger on the desk, it's on the coffee table or the dresser. When we recently visited his parents for the weekend, and he'd made it there before me, I walked into the house to find the Vision Pro cover on the kitchen table and the headset in the guest bedroom. It's never too far away.
It's somewhat stealthy, too. It doesn't make any noise when he puts it on, and since the speakers are close to the ears, I can't hear when he's listening to anything. On a day we were both working remotely, I sat at my desk while he sat on the couch. At one point, I turned around to ask him a question while he was working off his laptop. A short while later, I turned back around to see him with the Vision Pro on—fingers poking at nothing but air, hands waving. He was editing a YouTube Short in Final Cut Pro. This was particularly entertaining to watch because his laptop screen was blank.
Slightly shocked that I had no idea he even put it on, I stared at him for what felt like a solid 10 seconds until he finally said, “What?” It turns out we were both staring at each other the whole time. EyeSight, a feature that replicates your eye's movements so that you know if someone is talking to you while wearing the headset, isn't the most obvious, depending on the environment.
My colleague Julian Chokkattu talked about having a similar experience with his wife. In his review of the Apple Vision Pro, he wrote that his partner said it was “difficult to notice” EyeSight, and that it felt like she was “looking at [his] eyes through a screensaver.” For me, it's easy to spot the pair of virtual eyes staring back only when there's a lot of natural light in the room. But most of the time, it takes me a few (awkward) seconds to figure out if my boyfriend is looking at me or if he's focused on the content in front of him.
