Optic ID and Security

Since your Vision Pro will undoubtedly contain a lot of personal information, it’s essential to keep it secure. Apple’s answer to that is something similar in concept to the iPhone’s Face ID — a feature it calls Optic ID.

As the Vision Pro sits right up against your eyes, traditional Face ID isn’t a feasible way to authenticate you to your headset. While you could scan your face before putting it on, that’s just awkward.

Instead, the Vision Pro will scan your eyeballs up close and personal. Apple uses iris recognition, which isn’t an entirely new technique — authentication systems like NEXUS border crossing kiosks have been using this for over a decade. It turns out that each person’s iris is about as unique as a fingerprint, but while the iPhone’s TrueDepth camera isn’t nearly detailed enough to capture your iris, the Vision Pro’s eye-tracking system is.

Much like Face ID on an iPhone, Optic ID securely unlocks your Vision Pro as soon as you put it on and can also be used to seamlessly authorize purchases from the App Store, make payments via Apple Pay, and sign in to other apps — any app that supports Touch ID or Face ID also supports Optic ID without the need for the developer to do anything special. For purchases, Apple notes that “the authorization will only be successful if you’re looking directly at the app from which you’re making a purchase and the payment sheet is visible.”

Optic ID also follows the same rules as Face ID does on your iPhone, meaning you’ll need to enter a passcode after five failed attempts, when you reboot your Vision Pro, or when you haven’t used your Vision Pro in a while. Like the iPhone, you’ll probably find yourself entering your passcode about once a week.