FaceTime of Apple's AR/VR headset may support memes and simulcast sharing

Webmaster's House (ChinaZ.com) Feb. 14 news: According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, Memojis (Memojis) and SharePlay (shared with the same broadcast) may be the core of Apple's long-rumored faceTime experience of mixed reality headsets.

Gurman often offers accurate insights into Apple's plans, having previously said that Apple's mixed reality headset will focus on gaming, media consumption and communications. The helmet itself is rumored to be running "rOS" or "realityOS" with the internal codename "Oak". In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman clarified his expectations for FaceTime in a real-world operating system, suggesting that it could revolve around two of the company's existing experiences — Memojis and SharePlay.

"I imagine a virtual reality version of FaceTime where you can be in a conference room with dozens of people. What you see is not their real faces, but their three-dimensional versions (Memojis). I think the headset will be able to determine a person's facial expressions in real time and bring a fairly realistic experience to use. I'm also looking forward to making heavy use of SharePlay in the new operating system, allowing multiple headset wearers to experience music, movies, and games together."

Since 2017, there has been news that Apple is developing realityOS, but mentions of the operating system were found in the App Store's upload logs and Apple's public source code, which finally confirmed the existence of the system.

Apple introduced Memojis in the 2018 iOS12 system, and SharePlay is a new feature added in a recent update to the iOS 15.1 system. There is speculation that many of the new features Apple has released in recent years, such as ARKit, AR walking navigation in Apple Maps, spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, and LiDAR scanners, will be used in the long run for its mixed reality headset, allowing the company to make users more familiar with some of the operations of the headset. Memoji and SharePlay may also be part of this strategy.

Gurman also believes that development issues could delay the release of the device until WWDC in 2023.