A finding suggests Meta could soon let you easily watch spatial videos captured by your iPhone on Quest.
‘Spatial video’ is Apple’s term for 3D videos encoded and played using the Apple HEVC Stereo Video Profile format, an implementation of MV-HEVC. Currently, only Apple Vision Pro and the two iPhone 15 Pro models can record spatial video, and only Vision Pro can play it back natively in 3D.
David Heaney
I say “natively” because you can also play spatial videos recorded by iPhone 15 Pro on any existing VR headset by converting it to regular side-by-side 3D, the existing standard format for stereoscopic video, using an iPhone app called Spatialify. You then need to transfer the file to your PC or Mac, and then transfer it to a standalone headset like Quest via USB or play it directly via PC VR software.
That’s quite an involved process, but it may not be necessary for long. X user M1Astra found strings within the code of the Meta Quest iPhone app referencing uploading spatial videos so that they will show up in the Files app of your headset.
Meta is planning to support Spatial Videos on Quest according to code strings found in their iOS app.
Strings:
“Immerse yourself in your favourite memories by uploading videos on the Meta Quest app.”“Enable spatial video in your camera settings. {link}”
“Upload spatial…
— M1 (@M1Astra) January 25, 2024
This could significantly reduce the friction of viewing spatial videos captured with iPhone on Quest, cutting out the need to transfer the file to your PC and then to your headset.
The regular non-Pro iPhone 16 coming later this year is rumored to be able to capture Spatial Videos too, so within a few years, the creator base for 3D video could rise to hundreds of millions.
David Heaney
