About Optic ID advanced technology

Find out how Optic ID helps protect your information on Apple Vision Pro.

Optic ID for Apple Vision Pro

Much of our digital lives are stored on our Apple devices, and it’s important to protect that information. Like every Apple product and service, Apple Vision Pro was designed to help protect your privacy and keep you in control of your information. It builds on the foundation of existing Apple privacy and security features with new technologies such as Optic ID.

In the same way that Touch ID revolutionised authentication using a fingerprint and Face ID revolutionised authentication using facial recognition, Optic ID revolutionises authentication using iris recognition. Optic ID provides intuitive and secure authentication that uses the uniqueness of your iris, made possible by Apple Vision Pro’s high-performance eye-tracking system of LEDs and infrared cameras.

With a look, Optic ID unlocks your Apple Vision Pro securely. You can use it to authorise purchases from the App Store and Book Store, payments using Apple Pay and more. Developers can also allow you to use Optic ID to sign in to their apps. Apps that support Touch ID or Face ID support Optic ID automatically.

Find out how to set up Optic ID on your Apple Vision Pro

Find out more about the built-in privacy and security protections of Apple Vision Pro

Advanced technologies

Optic ID results from the combination of some of the most advanced hardware and software we’ve ever created. When you set up Optic ID, spatiotemporally modulated eye-safe near-infrared light illuminates the eye, so that the Apple Vision Pro eye cameras can capture images of your iris. This iris image data is sent to and processed on the Secure Enclave and a portion of the Apple M2 chip’s neural engine that’s protected within the Secure Enclave, where it is transformed into a mathematical representation for enrolment. When you authenticate with Optic ID, the authentication attempt uses the same process to compare your iris to the enrolled biometric data to determine whether there is a match.

Optic ID adapts to changes in conditions automatically by updating your enrolled template after a successful authentication. This helps improve Optic ID performance in various lighting conditions, under which the visible portion of your iris and the size of your pupil may vary. Optic ID is designed to work with prescription soft contact lenses and ZEISS Optical Inserts for users who require vision correction.

When you unlock your Apple Vision Pro with Optic ID, the Optic ID icon will be displayed prominently in the centre of your line of sight. After you’ve successfully unlocked Vision Pro or authenticated in an app, Optic ID will keep continual track of your eye area and make sure it is visible to the Apple Vision Pro eye cameras. While you continue to wear the device, if you need to authenticate again, this continual tracking will be used by Optic ID for authentication. To help prevent inadvertent purchases using Apple Pay, the authorisation 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.

Security safeguards

With Optic ID, we’ve done some important things to safeguard the information on your Apple Vision Pro – the same way we did with Touch ID and Face ID. Optic ID uses near-infrared imaging and processing, including machine learning, for a secure authentication solution. Optic ID data is encrypted, never leaves your device and is only accessible to the Secure Enclave processor.

The probability that a random person in the population could unlock your Apple Vision Pro using Optic ID is less than 1 in 1,000,000. As an additional protection, Optic ID allows a maximum of five unsuccessful match attempts before a passcode is required. The statistical probability that a random person could unlock your Apple Vision Pro using Optic ID is higher if only a single eye is enrolled in Optic ID, which is an accessibility option.

Optic ID matches against detailed iris structure in the near-infrared domain, which reveals highly unique patterns independent of iris pigmentation. It’s designed to protect against spoofing through the use of sophisticated neural networks that analyse the authenticity of the iris and surrounding region.

When you enable Optic ID, your Persona will be linked to your Optic ID enrolment and can only be used after successful Optic ID authentication.

To use Optic ID, you must set up a passcode on your Apple Vision Pro. You may need to enter your passcode for additional security validation when:

  • The device has just been turned on or restarted.

  • The device hasn’t been unlocked for more than 48 hours.

  • The passcode hasn’t been used to unlock the device in the last six-and-a-half days and Optic ID hasn’t unlocked the device in the last four hours.

  • After five consecutive unsuccessful Optic ID attempts.

In some of these cases, such as when the device has just been turned on or restarted, you may still be able to use Optic ID if your iPhone is nearby and set up to enable Optic ID in Settings.

Find out how to use your iPhone to enable Optic ID

Privacy

At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right and we’ve designed Optic ID to protect your privacy. Optic ID data – including mathematical representations of your iris – is encrypted and protected by the Secure Enclave. This data will be refined and updated as you use Optic ID to improve your experience, including when you authenticate successfully. Optic ID data doesn’t leave your device and is never backed up to iCloud or anywhere else. In addition, eye-tracking information is not shared with Apple, third-party apps or websites.

If you choose to set up Optic ID, you can control how it’s used or turn it off at any time.

  • To control how it’s used, go to Settings > Optic ID & Passcode > “Use Optic ID For”, then adjust the settings. For example, if you don’t want to use Optic ID to unlock your device, turn off Apple Vision Pro Unlock.

  • To turn off Optic ID entirely, go to Settings > Optic ID & Passcode, then select Reset Optic ID or Reset Optic ID for All Prescriptions (if you use ZEISS optical inserts) – which will delete Optic ID data, including mathematical representations of your iris, from your device.

If you choose to erase or reset your device by erasing all content and settings, all Optic ID data will be deleted.

Within supported apps, you can use Optic ID for authentication. Apps will only be notified about whether the authentication has been successful or not. Apps can’t access Optic ID data.

Safety

We’ve designed the near-infrared illumination system used in Optic ID – which consists of multiple infrared emitters placed behind the lens – with safety at the forefront. This system complies with international safety standards and won’t cause harm to the eyes or skin due to the low output of the emitters.

If Optic ID isn’t working, you should contact Apple for a service. Repairs should be completed by a trained technician who uses genuine Apple parts. Improper repair, modification or use of non-genuine components in the illumination systems may make the output non-compliant with the standards, and could cause hazardous exposure and injury to the eyes or skin.

The infrared emitters may be visible when viewed by a camera. In addition, some users may be able to detect the light of the emitters – which could appear as a faint red flickering – in a completely dark environment. This is considered safe and normal.

Get help with setting up or using Optic ID

Accessibility

Accessibility is an integral part of Apple products and we build our products to support a wide variety of use cases.

If you rely upon a dominant eye, you can choose to control Apple Vision Pro with only one eye. When you choose this option, only that eye will be used with Optic ID.

To customise which eye you use to control Apple Vision Pro and with Optic ID: in Settings, scroll down and select Accessibility > Eye Input. You can choose Both Eyes, Left Eye Only or Right Eye Only.

If you’re blind or have low vision, Optic ID enrolment may be feasible by focusing your gaze forwards in the centre of the screen during the setup process. If you choose not to use Optic ID or if it’s not a feasible solution, you can unlock Apple Vision Pro and use Persona via passcode.

Find out more about accessibility features for Apple Vision Pro

Published Date: