1 min readAs of the iOS 17.2 update, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max can now record spatial videos to watch back on Vision Pro when it is eventually released.
You may remember the spatial video presentation as part of the Apple Vision Pro announcement earlier this year. It depicted users watching back immersive video, captured on iPhone, through the headset. With this update, iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max users can now start capturing this kind of footage.
Spatial video is shot at 1080p at 30fps, and utilises both the Main and Ultra Wide lenses on the latest Pro iPhones. Users need to toggle Spatial Video on in Settings, and tap on the Spatial Video icon in the video app in order to capture usable footage. This format is only supported in landscape mode currently, and will give prompts to improve the shot such as ‘more light required’ while filming to help get the best shot.
For the best results, Apple suggests positioning the subject between one and three metres away, keeping the iPhone steady, and looking for good lighting.
These hefty files use HEVC compression, and computational photography to keep file sizes compact, however they still take up around double the space as a traditional 1080p video. An 11 second clip uses 21.9MB of storage on the iPhone 15 Pro, as opposed to 12.3MB shooting with the default settings.
Watching these videos on your iPhone, or any other flat viewing device, the footage will appear as 2D. Shooting in Spatial Video mode delivers results similar to Cinematic mode, however recordings can get some fish-eye like distortion.
Users won’t be able to experience these videos fully without the Vision Pro, which doesn’t currently have an Australian release date. It is set to be available early 2024 in the US with further markets to follow.
