How to share an Apple Vision Pro with a guest user

Guest User on Apple Vision Pro

Apple has decided against user profiles on the Apple Vision Pro, but the company is fully aware that people are going to want to try yours. Here's how to do it, and keep your data safe.

Apple's "Guest User" mode on Apple Vision Pro needs to be enabled to allow a family member or friend to use your headset, briefly. The process is simple, but you shouldn't just jump into it without some preparations.

First, set a passcode for your device, if you haven't already. Then, there are a few steps to take to grant access to the user.

User data is protected for the most part. Apple says that Apple ID and Wallet won't be available to the guest user, but client apps that display that data like Photos will still be able to be viewed, if left open, or if universal access is granted.

How to demonstrate Apple Vision Pro to a friend or family member

Quit apps you don't want your guest user to manipulate
Open Control Center
Select the Guest User button in Control Center
Tap Allowed Apps
Select Open Apps Only or All Apps & Data
Tap the back button
Tap Start, and hand the headset over to the guest user
The guest user will be asked to go through hand and eye setup
When the demo is over, the user just needs to take off the Apple Vision Pro

Apple has more details on its support page for the Guest User Session mode. In our use of the mode, we've found that the owner of the headset should turn on screen mirroring to an iPad, iPhone, or Apple TV set-top box, allowing for a better experience in guiding the guest user.

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3 Comments

rax_mark

said about 2 months ago

The Vision Pro feels like the most personal Apple device till date, with all of the processes and peripherals required. I don't think Apple truly intended for it to be a shared device.

emoeller

said about 2 months ago

I disagree - I think that VP can be shared, but within the device itself. So for example others with VP could join you within your VP space.

Others without VP could join via a specialized FaceTime option, although their experience would not be as immersive as using another VP.
Of course all of this is in the future and not available now. VP is such a personal space that is so immersive that it begs to be shared - sometimes.

jellybelly

said about 2 months ago

rax_mark said:

The Vision Pro feels like the most personal Apple device till date, with all of the processes and peripherals required. I don't think Apple truly intended for it to be a shared device.

Intention to be shared? Yes, indeed. It’s the best way for ‘word-of-mouth’ to spread adoption.

In my personal experience, many of my friends look to me for the latest on things Apple. The executive suite of a university got to try my original iPhone and fell in love with it. Before long everyone in the executive suite and the staff had gotten an iPhone in 2007 and 2008. And they shared them to still more people. It spread like wildfire. The same thing happened with the iPad.

When the Mac came out, and I was in the world of graphics, marketing and advertising as well as printing, I got the Mac SE several years later. I lugged it around to show its interface with its formed fonts along with laser printer output. Adoption followed years later when professional applications came out along with postscript film output. That initial sharing kept their interest and resulted in earlier adoption.

But as you observed, the Vision Pro (VP) is more personal in use—as in one user only at a time. Yet it’s so easy to demo to curious friends.
I have a number of friends who would rather see my Vision Pro and try it, rather than go out of their way to go to an Apple Store for a demo appointment. As of my three ‘sharings’ in one day so far, it’s dropping jaws.

It’s easy to share as the article points out. It’s a good thing that it recognizes a different set of eyes ( iris biometrics) so that it does a quick eye and hand calibration with each new viewer. Then they get an excellent experience. Apple got the calibration routine accurate and short. While the lens inserts might not be spot on for the shared viewer, just as it wasn’t on my demo, it’s still looks great with a wow factor. When I got my own VP with my reader correction lenses, it was all the better than the demo for me.

Apple might “under-market” this a bit at first and rely on some word-of-mouth and earned media attention, while inevitable tweaks in OS updates as well as more Apps and movies come out.
There will be more use cases come out such as sports (e.g. Disney ESPN content), games and instructional 3D videos emerge. As production ramps up, I will hazard a guess that after WWDC in June, that the marketing campaign will increase this coming Summer and Fall. Instructional 3D content might become big with online education. Adobe is partnering with Apple to support the Vision Pro. Adobe FireFly and Lightroom already support VP.

So to get back to the original topic, sharing will do a lot of heavy lifting for word-of-mouth and the adoption rate not only for the novelty but for different use cases. Having an actual demo through sharing or an Apple demo will make folks much more receptive to future advertising.

i hope AppleInsider does an article on screen sharing to an iPad, whereby I can see what my friend who is trying my VP is seeing, so I can offer guidance.

On a side note of talk about high price limiting market size: There’s a huge market of people ranging in the 100’s of thousands that pay $3,000 to $10,000 for season tickets for the 4 major pro sports leagues and millions of people that have spent $3500 or much more for very large, high-quality TVs and sound systems. I wouldn’t rule out one of the biggest market drivers of adoption of VCRs in the 1980s and internet in late 1990s — adult content. We’ll be quiet about that though, yet it will happen.