Joseph Simpson
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vrhermit.com
Joseph Simpson
@vrhermit.com
Learning, sharing, and teaching visionOS development at Step Into Vision
https://stepinto.vision
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Check out the 2025 Yearbook from Step Into Vision. We snapped a few screenshots throughout the month of December. See anyone you know?
Nine years ago I took my first step into VR development. I started with HTC Vive. My journey to visionOS went through Unreal, Unity, Swift, and WebXR. I learned concepts that formed the foundation that I'm building on with native visionOS development using SwiftUI and RealityKit.
January 17, 2026 at 1:19 PM
We can use volumeWorldAlignment to specify if volumes should stay aligned with the ground or if users can tilt them.
stepinto.vision/example-code...
January 16, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
Updated: Can we use pushWindow with volumes?
As of January 2026 and visionOS 26.2, we cannot use pushWindow with Volumes.
stepinto.vision/example-code...
Can we use pushWindow with volumes?
As of January 2026 and visionOS 26.2, we cannot use pushWindow with Volumes.
stepinto.vision
January 15, 2026 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
We can use the defaultWindowPlacement scene modifier with Volumes, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

#visionOS #SwiftUI #AppleVisionPro

stepinto.vision/example-code...
How to use default placement to position volumes
We can use the defaultWindowPlacement scene modifier with Volumes, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
stepinto.vision
January 14, 2026 at 4:01 PM
Whatever else is happening in XR right now, I'm staying on the visionOS path I started two years ago. 2026 is all about new products, new community projects, and new types of media from Step Into Vision. I'm ignoring everything else.
January 14, 2026 at 4:13 PM
When Apple released Stage Manager on macOS and iPadOS, I thought it would play a part in their Spatial Computing platform. When visionOS 1.0 arrived, I was surprised that it was nowhere to be seen.

#visionOS #SwiftUI

stepinto.vision/labs/stage-m...
January 12, 2026 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
📢 Issue 𝟕𝟒 is out!

Featuring:
🤖 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑛-𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙
📱 𝑆𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑈𝐼 𝑆𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑏𝑎𝑟 𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
📄 𝐶𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚 𝐷𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑇𝑦𝑝𝑒𝑠
✨ 𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝐹 𝑆𝑦𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑠
🔄 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑈𝑝𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠
⚡ 𝑆𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑈𝐼 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
💾 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑟𝐷𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑠 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠
🎨 𝐴𝐼-𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝐼𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠

ios-newsletter.snappmobile.io/issues/2026-...

#iOSDev
iOS Newsletter Issue 74
Issue 74 • January 9, 2026
ios-newsletter.snappmobile.io
January 12, 2026 at 8:00 AM
I don’t know why I find these preview/WIP images so hilarious
January 11, 2026 at 5:17 PM
Sharing my work, and my learning process, has been an amazing experience these last few years. Not convinced? Read this

github.com/readme/guide...
Publishing your work increases your luck
In 12 months, @aarondfrancis changed his life by bypassing fear and embracing risk. Now, he’s working his dream job @tuple. Get his full story on The ReadME Project:
github.com
January 11, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
What's on the Calendar for the visionOS community?

🗓️ Step Into Vision Office Hours every Wednesday & Friday

🗓️ Building the Developer Community around Spatial Computing at Spatial Singapore - January 22

👀 REDACTED UNANNOUNCED EVENT (if you know, you know)

🗓️ Let's Vision 2026 - March 27-29
January 11, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Revisit Lab 005 - Pseudo 3D layouts

We can use SwiftUI rotations and offset to add a bit of 3D to our windows and interfaces.

#SwiftUI #visionOS #AppleVisionPro

stepinto.vision/labs/pseudo-...
January 11, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Revisit Lab 004 - Cover Flow Demo

One of these days I would like to update this using the new Spatial Layout features in visionOS 26. There is a lot of room for improvement here.

#visionOS #SwiftUI #AppleVisionPro

stepinto.vision/labs/lab-004...
January 10, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
A little helpful tip: make sure to use the .usdz version of the animation resource when adding animations to the Animation Library Component
January 9, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Today I'm breaking with my regular Friday newsletter routine. Instead, I have a short note for you. Big things are in the works at Step Into Vision 👀
stepinto.vision/articles/in-...
In Place of a Newsletter
A note from Joseph
stepinto.vision
January 9, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Something fun is coming for visionOS developers 👀
Tomorrow at Office Hours we'll share some early details about our next community initiative. Be there by 2:15 PM (Eastern US) so you don't miss the announcement.
stepinto.vision/about-office...
About Office Hours
What is Step Into Vision Office Hours?
stepinto.vision
January 8, 2026 at 2:34 PM
We already covered how to open a new volume by ID and how to open a window with a value. Opening a volume with an ID is no different than with a window.

#visionOS #SwiftUI #AppleVisionPro

stepinto.vision/example-code...
January 7, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
Immersive Makers Jam: a day-long free event on Mon 23rd Feb in London

Next month I'll be running (with the brilliant Gryph Griffin) an immersive makers jam - a low-pressure space to try things out, learn from others, and meet collaborators!

More info/bookings here:

ticketpass.org/event/ENGMTG...
January 5, 2026 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
Check out the 2025 Yearbook from Step Into Vision. We snapped a few screenshots throughout the month of December. See anyone you know?
January 6, 2026 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
Giving away copies of Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 to help boost my profile here on BlueSky and leave the other place!

Here's the first one, be quick to claim;

kenney.itch.io/kenney-game-...
January 6, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Opening and dismissing Volumes in visionOS is very similar to opening and dismissing Windows. If we want our apps initial scene to be a Volume instead of a Window, we can edit the Application Scene Manifest

stepinto.vision/example-code...
How to open and dismiss volumes in visionOS
In visionOS, Volumes function like Windows, utilizing a .volumetric style. This post explains how to open and dismiss Volumes in SwiftUI.
stepinto.vision
January 5, 2026 at 5:27 PM
Today marks 2 years since I started working on Project Graveyard for visionOS. I shipped a basic v1 on launch day with Apple Vision Pro less than a month later. Since then I've been improving it as time allows.
January 4, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Joseph Simpson
I created an Apple Shortcut for iPhone that lets you quickly generate accessibility alt text for images using Apple’s Private Cloud Compute model — it’s accurate & the prompt is based on Harvard’s alt text guide

Download here: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/61a09e98865b48118b91334d1ae0ddb5
January 3, 2026 at 11:33 PM
🫡 I decommissioned my M1 Mac mini today. Five years of continuous use as a database server and development resource is a pretty good run for an M1 with 8GB of RAM.
January 3, 2026 at 9:52 PM