The Apple Vision Pro has received its biggest software update since the mixed reality headset launched last month. Available now, visionOS 1.1 brings additional updates in a number of Vision Pro's core features, as well as improvements to Persona.

While we have enjoyed the best Vision Pro apps and have found new ways to explore spatial computing, one key feature we are hesitant about is Persona. Persona is an animated digital avatar to represent you in FaceTime calls and video conferences when using Vision Pro. If that sounds a little creepy, that's because it is.

However, that's because personas don't always replicate our likenesses and facial expressions realistically. visionOS 1.1, while personas are still in beta, the software has been improved to make avatars look more realistic.

Perhaps more importantly, however, visionOS 1.1 allows for hands-free persona capture. Originally, users had to hold the Vision Pro in front of their face with their hand in order to complete the persona capture process. This is obviously a complication from an accessibility standpoint for those who have difficulty lifting and holding the Vision Pro. Now, however, the persona can be captured by placing the headset at eye level or having another person hold it.

In addition to these Persona improvements, this visionOS update also allows users to remove Apple's native system apps from the Home view if they wish to customize their default app options. The headset software also supports iMessage contact key authentication. Other improvements in visionOS 1.1 include closed captioning, virtual keyboard, Mac Virtual Display, and captive Wi-Fi networking.

There are still a few apps (such as Neflix and YouTube) that we would like to see on Vision Pro. However, if the steady stream of software updates continues, we expect to see a complete overhaul of the Vision Pro software through visionOS 2 at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference. That will probably happen in parallel with software refreshes for Apple's other devices, but we will have to wait and see.