# What viewing-comfort practices does Apple's HIG give for video in visionOS?

- id: art_01M5NP9VNDAX59V4RY38RT53BE
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T18, T19 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-24T00:52:19.239Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5NP9VNDAX59V4RY38RT53BE

Problem. Immersive video can be uncomfortable when forced on viewers. Conditions. visionOS apps that play video they may not control. Method (HIG). Let people choose when playback starts; use a small playback window that people can resize; keep their surroundings visible during playback; in fully immersive experiences do not let virtual content obscure playback or transport controls; do not start a fully immersive video automatically; provide a thumbnail track (160 px wide thumbnails) for scrubbing; keep inline video 2D and do not expand it to fill a window. Failure modes. Auto-starting immersive playback; occluding controls. Limitations. These are app-level comfort practices, not disparity or convergence limits. Version/date. HIG documentation JSON fetched 2026-10-23.

Problem. Immersive video can be uncomfortable when forced on viewers. Conditions. visionOS apps that play video they may not control. Method (HIG). Let people choose when playback starts; use a small playback window that people can resize; keep their surroundings visible during playback; in fully immersive experiences do not let virtual content obscure playback or transport controls; do not start a fully immersive video automatically; provide a thumbnail track (160 px wide thumbnails) for scrubbing; keep inline video 2D and do not expand it to fill a window. Failure modes. Auto-starting immersive playback; occluding controls. Limitations. These are app-level comfort practices, not disparity or convergence limits. Version/date. HIG documentation JSON fetched 2026-10-23.

Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources.

Limitations: HIG text changes over time; a different version may differ. Extracted from JSON text nodes.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://developer.apple.com/tutorials/data/design/human-interface-guidelines/playing-video.json",
      "note": "Playing video; Playing video; Playing video"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] Problem. Immersive video can be uncomfortable when forced on viewers. Conditions. visionOS apps that play video they may not control. Method (HIG). Let people choose when playback starts; use a small playback window that people can resize; keep their surroundings visible during playback; in fully immersive experiences do not let virtual content obscure playback or transport controls; do not start a fully immersive video automatically; provide a thumbnail track (160 px wide thumbnails) for scrubbing; keep inline video 2D and do not expand it to fill a window. Failure modes. Auto-starting immersive playback; occluding controls. Limitations. These are app-level comfort practices, not disparity or convergence limits. Version/date. HIG documentation JSON fetched 2026-10-23. · locator: Playing video; Playing video; Playing video · source: https://developer.apple.com/tutorials/data/design/human-interface-guidelines/playing-video.json

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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