Arkit Visionos Developer

ARKit visionOS Developer

Overview

Use this skill to implement ARKit-powered features on visionOS with ARKitSession and data providers, then bridge anchors into RealityKit content safely and efficiently.

Quick start workflow

1. Add NSWorldSensingUsageDescription and NSHandsTrackingUsageDescription to Info.plist as needed.
2. Ensure the experience runs in a Full Space (ARKit data is unavailable in Shared Space).
3. Create a long-lived ARKitSession and the data providers you need.
4. Request authorization for provider-required data types before running the session.
5. Run the session with your providers and observe anchorUpdates streams.
6. Map anchors to RealityKit entities and keep state in a model layer.
7. Observe ARKitSession.events for authorization changes and errors.
8. Stop the session and cancel tasks when leaving the immersive space.

Core concepts

• ARKitSession lifecycle: Keep a strong reference, call run(_:) with providers, stop on teardown.
• Authorization: Use requestAuthorization(for:) or queryAuthorization(for:) and handle denied states gracefully.
• Data providers: Choose providers for world tracking, plane detection, scene reconstruction, and hand tracking based on the feature set.
• Anchors and updates: Consume provider anchorUpdates and reconcile added, updated, and removed anchors.
• RealityKit bridge: Use ARKitAnchorComponent to inspect backing ARKit data on entities when needed.

Implementation patterns

• Prefer one session per immersive experience and reuse providers when possible.
• Normalize anchor IDs to your own state model for reliable entity updates.
• Treat ARKit streams as authoritative and keep rendering logic in RealityKit.

Pitfalls and checks

• Do not use ARView on visionOS; use RealityView and ARKitSession instead.
• Do not expect ARKit data in Shared Space; use Full Space only.
• Do not block the main actor while awaiting provider updates.
• Do not drop session references; ARKit stops sessions on deinit.

References

• references/REFERENCE.md - ARKit session and provider code patterns.
• references/accessory-tracking-provider.md - Accessory tracking provider patterns.
• references/barcode-detection-provider.md - Barcode detection provider patterns.
• references/camera-frame-provider.md - Camera frame provider patterns.
• references/camera-region-provider.md - Camera region provider patterns.
• references/environment-light-estimation-provider.md - Environment light estimation provider patterns.
• references/hand-tracking-provider.md - Hand tracking provider patterns.
• references/image-tracking-provider.md - Image tracking provider patterns.
• references/object-tracking-provider.md - Object tracking provider patterns.
• references/plane-detection-provider.md - Plane detection provider patterns.
• references/room-tracking-provider.md - Room tracking provider patterns.
• references/scene-reconstruction-provider.md - Scene reconstruction provider patterns.
• references/shared-coordinate-space-provider.md - Shared coordinate space provider patterns.
• references/stereo-properties-provider.md - Stereo properties provider patterns.
• references/world-tracking-provider.md - World tracking provider patterns.