In an intriguing tech endeavor, a savvy developer has seemingly bridged the gap between Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta Quest Pro, using an iPhone as an essential tool. The Vision Pro’s distinguished feature is its ‘EyeSight’ front display, which offers a rendered view of the user’s face to others in close proximity. Depending on the activity, the EyeSight shows different graphical patterns to give an impression of user’s interaction with the app. Owing to its premium features, the Vision Pro comes with a hefty price tag of $3500.
However, an inventive developer, Adam 放学臻, has found a workaround to simulate this experience on the more affordable $1000 Meta Quest Pro by ingeniously utilizing his iPhone. Adam’s innovative application collects the eye-tracking data from Quest Pro and transmits it to his iOS app to create a virtual avatar. Not stopping there, he has also tapped into iPhone’s FaceID sensor suite to ensure the face and eyes are correctly placed, based on the observer’s angle, and to revert the screen back to a pattern when no one’s around.
Though this approach does mimic Vision Pro’s lenticular display, its effectiveness is limited to a single person within close range. Nevertheless, it’s a resourceful solution to repurposing Apple’s high-end tech. This fun experiment, however, does come with significant limitations. For instance, it only functions within the designated VR app developed by Adam as the Meta Quest platform doesn’t support third-party background apps.
Moreover, the physical placement of the iPhone obstructs the Quest Pro’s frontal tracking and color cameras, making real-world passthrough unviable and forcing positional tracking to rely solely on the side cameras. Despite these challenges, this experiment is a testament to technical innovation. It gives us a glimpse into how future headsets could potentially display your eyes sans a lenticular display.