Vision Pro and PC VR gap closing fast: Virtual Desktop and iVRy ports are in development

The Vision Pro is here and its presence is a rather quiet storm. We’ve had a few bigger moments, reminiscent of huge Apple product launches of the past, but overall the jury is still out on whether the Vision Pro can join the best VR headsets hall of fame.

And that’s no wonder, considering Apple’s choice to exclude PC VR — meaning through Windows and Steam — from the Vision Pro’s native capabilities. That, however, isn’t stopping third party developers and enthusiasts from trying to squeeze that functionality in there regardless.

Just a couple of days ago, we witnessed someone getting SteamVR to work with Vision Pro, but given the headset’s lack of controllers and trackers, gaming was still a no-go. Today, more developers are chiming in, as Virtual Desktop and iVRy are confirmed to be getting Vision Pro versions.



With the Vision Pro being this innovative type of spatial computer, the application of which extends beyond gaming — making it more appealing to a wider audience in the process — you may not have heard of these two apps before, so let me offer a quick refresher:

• Virtual Desktop has come to be a VR staple, available across numerous XR platforms. It allows you to multitask via VR headsets, but it can also handle PC VR streaming for you, making it a very versatile tool for enthusiasts and professionals alike.
• iVRy on the other hand is an app all about empowering you to run the VR titles you’re interested in in whatever hardware you may have, smartphone-powered-headsets included.

So in the Vision Pro’s context, both may allow users to use the Vision Pro as a PC VR headset, connected to Windows and capable of running SteamVR games. As in, confinement to the Apple ecosystem will effectively be broken.

Guy Godin — Virtual Desktop’s developer — has admitted that the Vision Pro is quite more complex than any Android-based headset that he’s tackled thus far, so the port will likely take months to finalize.

And iVRy's dev hasn’t even gotten their unit yet, so while the code for the port is at least partially complete, testing will begin as soon as their Vision Pro arrives, likely in April.

Oh, and Apple is yet to bless any of these projects. While that isn’t necessarily required, per say, it would be great if these apps don’t meet any… Unnecessary complications.

That being said, even if the ports work flawlessly and come out without any hiccups, there’s still one big bump in the road left to overcome: the lack of tracked controllers on the Vision Pro, which will prevent you from properly experiencing a ton of the content available in SteamVR.