Setting up your Apple Vision Pro for development thankfully does not require the $299 Developer Strap, but does require a few quick hoops to jump through.
Software Prerequisites
macOS 14.2 or greater
Xcode 15.2 or greater
A new Xcode project targeting visionOS. Don’t forget this one.
Setting up Apple Vision Pro for development
Paradoxically, setting up Apple Vision Pro for development requires you to start with having an Xcode project targeting visionOS. This will make sense in a moment. Assuming you have this, here’s how to set up Apple Vision Pro for development and run your app on the device:
In Xcode go to the device dropdown and click Manage Run Destinations
In Apple Vision Pro, navigate to Settings > General > Remote Devices. This will put the device in pairing mode.
In Xcode you’ll see Apple Vision Pro in the Run Destinations dialog. Follow on-screen prompts from here.
After pairing has completed, try to run the app from Xcode. This step is important as you may not see the Developer Mode option on a device that hasn’t yet attempted to have an app run on it.
Xcode will say you need to enable Developer Mode, which due to this operation just became an option on Apple Vision Pro.
In Apple Vision Pro go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Enable Developer Mode. The device will restart, and once complete it will ask you to confirm that you want to Enable Developer Mode. Enter your PIN.
In Xcode, select Apple Vision Pro from the Run Destinations dialog. At this point some preparation will need to complete but your job is done. Once Xcode has finished, now you can run your app from Xcode.
That’s it – that was how to run and develop your app on Apple Vision Pro. And yes, this was written on my Apple Vision Pro :)