“We’re going to show you how xrOS It opens the doors for you to create amazing spatial experiences.” This is one of the phrases that Justin Thomas, App Store Connect engineer, mentions in one of the sessions for WWDC 2023 developers, and the first time he says “xrOS” to refer to the operating system of the Apple Vision Pro.
Thomas, in fact. uses the word “xrOS” a total of 45 times during the 12-minute video that shows how to make apps available on the App Store for the VR and AR headset, despite the fact that the operating system actually it’s called visionOS.
At no time during the session can you listen to visionOS, which is, we reiterate, the official name of the operating system for the Vision Pro. Name that, precisely, Apple has used on different occasions to show the capabilities of the interface during the launch of the product. No, it is not an additional operating system, nor is it a parallel or similar platform.
Why xrOS instead of visionOS?
The reason why the engineer names xrOS in the video is because this is the apparent codename that Apple has used at all times for the development of your operating system. And, presumably, at least as stated by Mark Gurman, of Bloomberg, this was going to be the commercial name of the operating system for the Apple Vision Pro. In fact, the aforementioned journalist stated before the official launch that the company planned to call its glasses Apple Reality Pro. Although they have finally been named Vision Pro.
xrOS means extended reality or extended reality. It is what the combination of virtual reality and augmented reality is called. But considering that the glasses are called Vision Pro, it doesn’t make sense to name the operating system that way.
But, why does apple engineer name xrOS instead of visionOS? Probably because the session was recorded before the company finally decided on the official name of the operating system. This means that Apple decided the name practically at the last minute, because although there are no details about it, the session would have been recorded for a couple of months at most.