Following Apple’s announcement that VisionOS 27 will support third-party motion controllers for Vision Pro, the company has published a set of technical specifications and requirements for third-parties building such controllers.
Published in the latest version of Apple’s Accessory Design Guidelines for Apple Devices, a new section called Spatial Accessories offers an in-depth technical explanation of exactly how third-party motion controllers for Vision Pro should be built and how they should interface with the headset.
The 74-page section covers everything from what hardware a tracked accessory must include, to exactly what wavelength and radiance each LED must meet, to an example main logic board layout for a motion controller.
In section 20.9.2, the document further explores a complete example of a third-party motion controller for Vision Pro, which Apple used in the developer session about Spatial Accessories from last month’s WWDC.
Vision Pro launched with what seemed like a very intentional lack of support for motion controllers. But after two years on the market, it seems the company got enough feedback to go from eschewing motion controllers completely to taking a surprisingly open approach to allowing third parties to bring their own controllers to the platform.
