What’s up 👋
It’s Jack

Welcome to this new edition!
Here we discuss the latest news & opportunities in spatial computing.

🔗 Shortcuts:

• 📡 News in figures (adoption & market)

• 📍 Spatial projects (tools & resources)

• 📚 Spatial Developer: The kit for new spatial developers

In this edition, we will focus on spatial developer. Last week, we discuss about spatial design, and many of you asked me for an edition dedicated to spatial developers. So this week, we're going to talk about opportunities for spatial developers, best practices, tutorials and resources. Let's go 👇

📡 News in figures

50%

This is the percentage of Fortune 100 companies using Apple's Vision Pro headset, according to Apple CEO Tim Cook:

“More than half of the Fortune 100 companies have already bought Apple Vision Pro units and are exploring innovative ways to use it to do things that weren't possible before.” - Tim Cook (Apple’s Q1 2024 earnings call)

📍 Spatial projects

Today's edition is about spatial developers. The best way to become a spatial developer is to experiment, to create your own applications. But to do that, you need to have ideas for spatial apps to build. So I thought this week's resource might be about that: Giving you spatial app ideas to launch

But not my own... Those of spatial computer users.

A few weeks ago, I shared a post on Reddit asking for spatial app ideas.
The post went viral and +150 people shared their ideas.

People also voted for the best apps, validating the need!

I think it's the best resource I can share this week:
“Tell me the app you want & I will build it” - Reddit (by @Jack Johens)

📚The kit for new spatial developers

The perfect recipe for becoming a spatial developer doesn't exist. But to become a spatial developer, you'll need to go through several steps, which I thought it would be interesting to share with you in the form of a kit for new spatial developers :

What makes a good spatial developer?

Don't think that a good spatial developer is one who knows how to create 3D/Spatial apps. No, a spatial developer is one who knows how to create experiences based on the new parameters of spatial computing, like eye tracking & pinch gesture. 3D exists on traditional computers. Interacting with our body isn't something that translates on paper or video, just like windows mobile 7 people thinking the iPhone brought nothing new to the table.

Other than that, the capabilities are there, but developing serious 3D applications is going to take more than the 6 months a tiny group of developers had with access to hardware.

Become a spatial developer

To become a spatial developer, you'll need to start by learning the basics of computer development in general. You need to learn programming languages and frameworks that support 3D graphics, computer vision, and spatial audio. Some of the most popular options are C#, C++, Java, Python, Unity, Unreal Engine, ARCore, ARKit, Vuforia, OpenCV, and WebXR.

Start by asking yourself what you'd really like to do:
Vision Pro apps? Quest apps? - And what kind of apps? Socials? Games?..

Based on this, you have to learn the optimal language(s).

If you want to develop simple apps on Vision Pro:

1. Learn Swift

• https://shreethaanur.medium.com/a-beginners-guide-to-developing-your-first-visionos-app-43c74b62ccef

• https://bastianreality.com/tutorials/2023/spring/FirstApp

2. Learn SwiftUI

• https://swiftwithmajid.com/2024/01/23/introducing-swiftui-on-visionOS/

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCcvH-VvwFA

2. Learn 3D APIs like RealityKit

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ-TJ8Ln7NY

• https://developer.apple.com/documentation/visionos/designing-realitykit-content-with-reality-composer-pro

The best way to learn is to practice

To make progress, you're going to have to practice, and faster than you think:

Right from the start

To do this, you have 2 main choices.

A) You can create your own applications (recommended). As far as ideas are concerned, you can develop applications that meet your needs, but you can also take inspiration from the requests of users of space computers.

For example, you'll find a list of 100 space application ideas above 👆

B) You can also find small freelance missions or even full-time jobs on the subject. In most cases, you'll need a minimum of experience, but there's nothing like having the pressure of a customer waiting for you to make his application, to help you progress quickly. You can also Fake it until you make it.

To find missions, you can list your profile on SpatialFreelance.com or find job offers on external platforms. A good practice is to set up a job alert on linkedin with the keyword "Spatial Computing", "vision pro" or "meta quest".

The secret to learning fast

One practice that many spatial developers use is to use github repositories of open source spatial applications to start building their applications using them. In other words, instead of starting from scratch, you start from a project that's already been built. So you'll save time and get the right reflexes.

Here are 3 open source spatial applications on Apple that you can use to get started:

- Simple immersive app (Netflix clone):
https://github.com/barisozgenn/NetflixVisionPro

- Simple crypto & stocks aggregators:
https://github.com/6/StonksPro

- Simple utility app (clock):
https://github.com/FlipByBlink/SpatialClock

Don't overthink it

"I can’t pay thousands $ for a VR headset to become spatial developer".
NO. You can start developing apps from development software such as Xcode (Apple), Android Studio or others. Everyone propose emulators.

“There are no jobs for spatial developer.”
The term spatial developer is new, there are a few posts but it's true that they're still few and far between. You can broaden your search by looking for "VR / AR developer".

I hope you liked this edition!
If you want daily tips on spatial computing, let’s chat on Twitter🤝