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Comment by abaymado | Hacker News Reader

"Want it for entertainment? people want to enjoy photos, videos, movies with other people and it can't include them. Even if they have a Vision Pro, I haven't yet seen any sign of ability for multiple people to do these things together."

This is not accurate, FaceTime has Share Play. Any app that leverages it can build a synced entertainment. Example out of the box, Apple TV, Freeform, Apple Music.

I wish the SDK for Share Play was not tied with FaceTime, since it limits you to only people you have their iCloud email or phone number to. Big Screen on Quest was a great app that leveraged the idea of multiple users in the same VR session, based on interest, Quest just lacked the quality.

https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/shareplay-watch-liste...

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A note on the sharing part: the number of people living alone is double digits percentage [0] in the markets Apple care about.

That might not be their primary goal, but the device could appeal to that demographic either way if the other features are appealing enough.

[0] https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4085828-a-record-share...

I think OP meant you can't include other people _in the same room_. If I want to watch Netflix (well, Apple TV, since Netflix doesn't have an app yet), my partner is completely out of luck if I do it on an Apple Vision. Unless he too has the money for one and we FaceTime each other to sync up our watching experience.

That seems to be an odd requirement/desire to have a head mounted display do?

That's the point. Watching TV with other people is a thing that most folks do. At least in my house, it's nice to walk into the room to see what someone else is watching and join. Unless they become comfortable and universally ubiquitous, watching media isn't something Apple Vision is going to be particularly good for.

I once had a roommate who stopped playing video games a decade ago. We bought a PS5, and he kept trying to find games like 'Gears of War' and 'Lord of the Rings' with a multiplayer split-screen campaign in the same room. Aside from classic 1v1 fighting and sports games, the new games being released did not offer that. They were all built for high-quality solo gaming or optimized online gaming. Expecting a VisionOS experience with people in the same room reminds me of that. I'm not saying there won't be apps for it, but it would be niche.

1. This problem has already been solved on the Meta Quest by a 3rd party app called Big Screen. I would imagine that they or someone else will attempt to do the same for VisionOS. Otherwise, I can see Apple fixing this later.

2. 52% of media viewing in the US is done alone.

1. The problem isn't solved, because nobody has the patience or money to set up and sync multiple headsets when you already have a perfectly good TV.

I know zero people who have eliminated their TVs for a headset. Apple isn't going to change that.

2. And so the vision pro isn't even viable for 48% of watching. That's a huge percentage, and shows that nobody is getting rid of their TVs for this.

1. You can use a TV if you want to watch with people physically near you. Using a headset for that is nonsensical. I was talking about watching with people you don’t live with

2. Setting it up is as trivial as setting up Zoom

3. You’re still ignoring the fact that the majority of media consumption is done alone. It’s not all or nothing either. People both watch media alone AND in groups depending on the context.

Besides, how would you know the problem isn’t solved if you don’t use a headset yourself?

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