How to start a Guest User session on Apple Vision Pro — let someone else experience spatial computing on your mixed-reality headset

Apple Vision Pro demo appointment - in store display
(Image credit: Karen S. Freeman / Future)

Guest User sessions on Apple Vision Pro allow you to share the experience without letting someone else gain full access to your device. 

Apple Vision Pro is an incredibly immersive experience that takes you into the world of spatial computing, complete with a personalized fitting tailored to your face dimensions and vision requirements. 

When purchasing a Vision Pro, you’ll receive a Light Seal and both the Solo Knit and Dual Loop Bands, set to fit your head, thanks to the Vision Pro scanning process via the Apple Store App. If you wish to showcase Apple’s mixed reality world to a friend or family member, their experience won’t be as smooth as yours.

In order to make multiple users on a single headset a little easier, Apple offers extra Light Seals and head bands in the Apple Store, but the Vision Pro itself has a neat feature called a Guest User session that lets you share spatial computing. Here’s how to start a Guest User session on Apple Vision Pro.

How much access do you want to give your guest?

Before starting your Guest User session, you can decide exactly what apps and what experience you want to share with your friend or family member. You can limit access to apps so that they have a curated selection of apps to use, making their first experience with Vision Pro specific to them.

  1. Ensure you have a passcode on Vision Pro
  2. Close any apps you want to keep private
  3. Open any apps you want your guest to be able to use

For example, if I want my guest to only use Safari for web browsing, Apple TV to watch a 3D movie, and Photos to experience spatial video, then I open those three apps and close the rest.

How to start a Guest User session on Apple Vision Pro

Apple Vision Pro

(Image credit: Apple)

Setting up a Guest User session on Apple Vision Pro is very simple and can be done with just a few clicks from Control Center.

  1. With your Vision Pro on, look up, then tap the down arrow to open Control Center
  2. Tap the Control Center button, then the Guest User button — it looks like a silhouette of a person
  3. Tap Allowed Apps
  4. Select Open Apps Only to limit access or All Apps & Data to give full access
  5. Tap View Mirroring and select an Apple device to view what your guest is doing to help guide them through the Vision Pro experience
  6. Tap back, then Start

Your guest now has five minutes to put on Vision Pro, if no one puts Vision Pro on to start the Guest User session, the session will end, and you’ll need to unlock your Vision Pro again.

How to end a Guest User session on Apple Vision Pro

Once your friend or family member has experienced Vision Pro, all they need to do is remove the Vision Pro headset to end the Guest User session. Apple Vision Pro will return to full access as soon as you put on your headset, and it activates the session via Optic ID.

One more thing… Guest User sessions make Vision Pro sociable

Apple Vision Pro

(Image credit: Apple)

One of the big reasons Apple included a front-facing OLED display in Vision Pro is so the people around you can interact with EyeSight to have a less isolating experience. Unfortunately, in its current form, EyeSight doesn’t really achieve that goal due to a dim display that never really looks or feels real. That’s why the most communal experience you can have on Vision Pro at the moment is by sharing your headset with others via a Guest User session. One of the caveats of Vision Pro at the moment is the lack of ability to share the amazing experience you have inside the headset with those around you, even if they also own a Vision Pro headset.

By using a Guest User session to showcase the ability of spatial computing, you not only get to share the incredible technology with your loved ones, but you also get to provide your own demo of Vision Pro and highlight why spatial computing could be the future.

John-Anthony Disotto
How To Editor

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019.  John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.