Apple Vision Pro will have an in-flight Travel Mode – here’s what we know

The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset will offer a previously unannounced Travel Mode, the visionOS developer beta has revealed.

The eagle-eyed folks at MacRumors delved into the first visionOS beta and found a bunch of text strings pertaining to in-flight use.

Further delving from 9to5Mac found the device will have speed limit where users will be told “Virtual content has been temporarily hidden until you return to a safe speed.”

The travel mode, it seems, will be needed to by-pass the warnings you might receive when you’re travelling in a car for instance. However, it’ll also introduce some features specific to being in the confines of the cabin.

Those will include the gaze awareness feature (which shows when people show up in your eyeline) being turned off to ensure they don’t misbehave because of being in close proximity to other passengers. It’ll also warn users to remain stationary, probably to ensure they aren’t flailing around and hitting people in the face. Apple will also warn the gaze tracking feature may not work as well in Travel Mode.

The code strings spied within the visonOS code include:

• Are you on an airplane?
• If you’re on an airplane, you’ll need to keep Travel Mode on to continue using your ‌Apple Vision Pro‌.
• Remain stationary in Travel Mode.
• Remain stationary while this mode turns off.
• Some awareness features will be off.
• The current fit may reduce gaze accuracy.
• Turn on Travel Mode when you’re on an airplane to continue using your ‌Apple Vision Pro‌.
• Your representation is unavailable while Travel Mode is on.

Apple had shown off the device in-use on an airplane during the WWDC demonstration earlier this month, but didn’t explain how that’d work. It’s interesting to see how this is going to play out in practice.

The Apple Vision Pro will launch in early 2024 in the United States initially, with other territories to follow later that year. It’ll cost $3,499.