Background
With the launch of Apple Vision Pro, spatial computing entered a new era—but developers lacked a dedicated space to explore its potential. There was no global forum to connect builders, share experiments, and push visionOS beyond entertainment into health, science, and new use cases.
Core Problem
Early visionOS developers needed community, visibility, and momentum. Many had big ideas but lacked a platform to showcase them, collaborate, or turn their experiments into real impact.
The Approach
I founded and organized Vision Hack, the world’s first global hackathon for visionOS. In just three days, we brought together 185 developers across 21 countries and awarded $20k in prizes. I led sponsorships, branding, community engagement, and overall production—launching the event directly from inside a Vision Pro during a FaceTime conversation.
We emphasized health, lifestyle, and human connection—sparking a wave of meaningful projects:
Spatial Lab Assistant – A team enhanced experimental research by auto-capturing snapshots and procedural summaries using Vision Pro, generating lab reports in real-time while conducting experiments—laying the foundation for scientific documentation in XR.
Spatial-Med – A visionary project that overlaid 3D medical assets onto patients’ heads using native object tracking and personal reference points, enabling doctors to visualize anatomy in mixed reality using DICOM scans. The first patient? The creator’s own son.
Sign Language Translator – This accessibility-first app used hand joint tracking to interpret sign language into real-time text and speech. It included visual feedback to help users improve their gestures, bridging communication barriers with elegance and empathy.
Results and Impact
The results were extraordinary: 61 projects submitted, a thriving Discord community, and three apps went on to be featured by Apple. Vision Hack proved that when you give developers a focused stage and mission-driven themes—like health, accessibility, and human betterment—you unlock real breakthroughs.