Unlocking Business Potential: New Enterprise APIs for visionOS 2

Tom KrikorianTom Krikorian
2 min read

Ever since the Vision Pro was released, I have always felt like we were missing key APIs to unlock the device's power in B2B use cases. Apple listened to the developer community and now provides us with the tools necessary to explore new use cases with business partners.

A collage of four images showing different work environments: Top left: Two people in hard hats and safety vests discussing in a factory setting. Top right: Two employees conversing in a store aisle. Bottom left: A group of people in an office discussing in front of a wall with charts and sticky notes. Bottom right: Two construction workers in hard hats and safety vests examining a blueprint at a construction site.

Enterprise APIs were introduced to visionOS 2 during the WWDC24 and consists of 6 new APIs:

  • Main camera access to capture input data from the forward-facing main camera.

  • Passthrough in screen capture to Access a composite feed of what an Apple Vision Pro wearer is seeing (physical world and digital content).

  • Spatial barcode and QR code scanning for scanning barcodes and QR codes with the ability to decode contents and locate spatial positions.

  • Apple Neural Engine access that will specifically target Apple Neural Engine (ANE) for machine learning tasks

  • Object-tracking parameter adjustment to optimize known object detection and tracking using configurable parameters.

  • Increased performance headroom to use increased power of the CPU and GPU for high-compute needs, with a tradeoff of increased thermal usage and reduced battery life.

How to get started?

To get started with Enterprise APIs, the Account Holder of your Apple Developer Program or Apple Developer Enterprise Program needs to submit a Development Only request.

What are the limitations?

Your app must be intended for business use and meet specific criteria for each API. Initially, you can only access the entitlements for development purposes, which allows you to build and test apps on registered devices. Distribution access will be available later, and you need to meet development entitlement requirements for it. Enterprise API apps can be distributed privately as in-house or custom apps via Apple Business Manager.

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If you are enrolled as an Individual, you will not be able to access these new APIs. Only business accounts can request access.

More information is available in the official documentation and the WWDC2024 session about Enterprise APIs.

I'm going to experiment with these APIs in the coming weeks and will write more articles on the subject.

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Written by

Tom Krikorian
Tom Krikorian

XR Developer - Currently building apps for the Vision Pro ᯅ