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visionOS 26 may introduce support for third-party spatial controllers on Apple Vision Pro.
A new report claims that the Apple Vision Pro could gain support for spatial controllers in a future visionOS update, amplifying a previous leak suggesting support was coming soon.
The Apple Vision Pro currently supports game controllers used with the Xbox and PlayStation, but only for Apple Arcade games. That could soon change, however, as a new report claims that Apple has plans to add support for spatial controllers with a future visionOS update.
Back in December 2024, a different rumor suggested that Apple had approached Sony in an attempt to implement support for the PlayStation VR2 controller. At the time, it was also said that the iPhone maker had reached out to third-party developers to bring more games to the Apple Vision Pro, with support for controllers as an inducement.
On Tuesday, a report from 9to5mac seemingly corroborated the December rumor, saying that Apple plans to inform users whenever an Apple Vision Pro game requires a dedicated controller. Instead of the “controller required” badge, which is currently visible for select titles, a future version of visionOS will reportedly notify users whether a particular game requires an Xbox, PlayStation, or “spatial” controller, like the PlayStation VR2 controller.
Bringing support for VR controllers and encouraging developers to support more VR games for the Apple Vision Pro platform would likely increase sales of Apple’s headset. Supporting hand controllers could augment the device’s eye-and-hand movement detection, attracting more development for games and other applications.
However, it remains to be seen exactly when Apple will implement its plans for improved controller support, if at all.
Tuesday’s report says that they cannot confirm if the compatibility will be announced at the 2025 WWDC, or later in the year. The information appears to have originated from anonymous sources rather than a leaker with a proven track record, so it should be taken with a grain of salt.
Apple will announce the next generation of visionOS at WWDC on June 9, 2025, so we’ll find out soon enough whether or not expanded controller support is an improvement the company has been working on. Apple’s new assortment of operating systems will reportedly bear a new “26” version number, meaning that we’ll likely see visionOS 26 rather than visionOS 3.
