Pico’s Project Swan XR headset wants to go where the Apple Vision Pro failed
ByteDance, the Chinese the company best known for creating TikTok, got into the virtual reality game when it bought the original Pico in 2021. Now, Pico is taking its mixed reality (XR) efforts even more seriously by creating software that allows people to run multiple applications in 3D digital workspaces. Many of its features feel very similar to what you’d find in the Apple Vision Pro, two years after that device’s launch.
On Monday, Pico announced its new operating system for the XR, Pico OS 6. The OS won’t run on the company’s existing Pico 4 starting in 2022, but is intended to run on an unreleased Pico headset, called Project Swan. Pico has only provided a small amount of information about its upcoming headset, but the details about what features it plans to include in its OS provide a good look at what Pico hopes to achieve with its flagship device, which it says will arrive this year.
One of the main focuses of the new version of the operating system is what Pico calls PanoScreen, a feature that allows the wearer to run multiple applications at once while maintaining a 360-degree view of the real-world space around them. Other users can enter the space as 3D avatars while you navigate to see spreadsheets, browser tabs, design software, or whatever else you’re working on. “Pico OS 6 represents a step towards making the XR a functional computing device, not just a gaming device,” the company said in its press release. (WIRED asked for comment directly, but Pico declined to answer any questions about its new OS or Project Swan.)
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If Pico’s 3D workspace focus sounds familiar, it’s probably because Apple had a similar approach when it launched its Apple Vision Pro headset in 2024.
“It’s strange, their timing,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager at analyst group IDC. The fact that they are entering the market also seems strange.
Pico isn’t the only one working on XR workstations. Sightful’s Spacetop glasses brought spatial computing to the workplace in a way that was more affordable than the Apple Vision Pro, not to mention a lot easier to wear than a bulky headset. In July 2025, Information reported that Pico was working on a separate light headset intended to go head-to-head with Meta’s Orion glasses, but it was eventually cancelled.
Like all face computers out there, Pico’s upcoming headset will aim to find a delicate balance between usability and wearability. Pico offered a few hints about how that might work for Project Swan. Pico says the headset will feature a Micro-OLED display with a pixel density approaching 4,000 pixels per inch. It should also have a resolution of 40 pixels per degree (PPD) with a “middle sweet spot” of around 45 PPD to help read all that small text on your floating spreadsheets.
Those are the closest specs to the Apple Vision Pro. To compete, Pico will have to make something cheaper and simpler, but also have developers building on their platform. (The Apple Vision Pro starts at $3,499.)
Pico OS 6 will work with developer tools like Spatial, OpenXR, and WebXR. It also allows development in Unity and Unreal Engine. The OS has support for Android apps, web apps, and PCVR streaming. WebSpatial, an open source toolkit, allows users to develop their applications using standard web tools such as HTML and CSS to create spatial computing resources. Those apps can run cross-platform on Pico OS, Apple’s visionOS, and Android XR.
