Last month, Apple announced that support would add spatial photos and spatial videos to Safari. In a new interview with PetaPixel, Apple confirmed that the feature is expected to arrive this year.
PetaPixel spoke with Apple designer Billy Sorrentino and product manager Della Huff, who confirmed that support for spatial photos and videos is coming to Safari soon:
“Once you embed spatial content, people who are using Vision Pro get spatial content, and people who are just viewing it on their laptop see it in two dimensions,” Sorrentino says.
“And at the same time, you can create all kinds of photos in spatial photos [in Vision Pro], including old historical photos. You can do it with all your old product reviews, you can do it with World War II photos, video game screenshots… I mean, what's cool about this technology is that it gives us the ability to take things into this next dimension.”
When Apple first announced support for the feature last month, it explained that users would be able to tap on a spatial photo on the web with Vision Pro for an immersive experience:
You can embed a photo in a web page and provide a tap-able experience. The photo will appear in a floating frame when the Safari window disappears. Then, when the user taps on the spatial photo or the panoramic UI that visionOS provides, the photo will expand even further to create a more immersive experience. When they exit the image, the Safari window returns.
As a reminder, spatial photos and videos can be taken with Vision Pro itself. Spatial photos and spatial videos can also be captured on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the entire iPhone 16 lineup.
Once available, it will be much easier for users to share and publish spatial photos and videos. Currently, this content can only be viewed on Vision Pro when accessed via Messages, email, AirDrop, and the Files app. Web accessibility will make things much easier, and it will arrive later this year, likely with visionOS 2.2.
Learn more about Vision Pro:
- Apple Vision Pro Honors
- The Best Apple Vision Pro Apps
- VisionOS 2 Now Available for Apple Vision Pro, Here's What's New
- iOS 18.1 Brings Spatial Photography to iPhone 15 Pro
