One of the perks of not being able to buy the Apple Vision Pro simultaneously with US buyers is that I get to find out all the information about it before I get my hands on it. The good, the bad, and the outright dumb (driving a Tesla with a Vision Pro). It turns out that the spatial computer has two fatal flaws I wouldn’t have expected from an Apple device in 2024.
First, if you forget the Vision Pro password, you’ll have to go to an Apple store to reset the spatial computer. There’s nothing you can do at home about it.
Secondly, the Vision Pro doesn’t have a way to locate it. If anybody steals it, or you misplace it, you won’t be able to retrieve it via Find My.
The forgotten Vision Pro password
Like other Apple devices, the Vision Pro is protected by a password and biometric combination. The latter is called Optic ID, the equivalent of Face ID, but for your iris.
I’ll advise you to set up a password for the Vision Pro and have Optic ID working. This is a computer that you wear on your face. Therefore, it’ll pack lots of personal data that deserves proper protection.
I’ll also tell you to use a different six-digit combination than your iPhone’s PIN. And save that password in your password management app to ensure you remember it.
Optic ID will work most of the time, just like Face ID does on iPhone. But there will be times when you have to enter the password manually. That’s when not remembering the password will become a problem.
Per Bloomberg, if you forget your Vision Pro password, you’ll have to take it to Apple so it can rest it.
The problem here is that you can’t connect the Vision Pro to a computer the same way you would with an iPhone or iPad whose password you’d forget. As MacRumors points out, there is a $300 Developer Strap accessory that connects the Vision Pro to the Mac.
It might be able to wipe the Vision Pro, but that’s just speculation. Also, that accessory is exclusive to developers. You have to be a registered developer to use it.
I can’t believe that Apple hasn’t figured out some sort of procedure that would let you initiate a Vision Pro reset in case you forget the password.
No Find My tracking
Speaking of things I wouldn’t have expected from the Vision Pro, the spatial computer can’t be tracked with Find My if lost or stolen. That seems like an incredible oversight for a device that costs $3,499. But it’s not quite that.
The Vision Pro lacks any sort of internal battery. That’s why you can’t hot-swap batteries. The computer shuts down if you disconnect it from power. This is also why you can’t track it online if you lose it or somebody steals it. There’s no power whatsoever for the Vision Pro to talk to Apple’s massive collection of tracking beacons out there in the world, most of which are iPhones.
Apple has a support document that advises you to turn on Activation Lock on Vision Pro. You do it from the Settings app and the Find My section. And you should absolutley do it too. At the very least, the people who find the spatial computer won’t be able to use it without knowing your Apple ID credentials.
On that note, as long as you have Find My active on your other devices, you also have Activation Lock enabled. The same anti-theft protections apply if your iPhone, iPad, and/or Mac are stolen. People will be locked out without knowing your Apple ID login details. But at least you can see track those devices on a map if they’re misplaced.
Tracking the Vision Pro will remain a problem for the foreseeable future. Maybe Apple should find a way to let you track the device’s last known location by association with a different device you might own. It’s very likely that Vision Pro buyers also own other Apple products.
