Apple accidentally leaked its VR headset OS

Apple is well known for its strong secrecy when it comes to future product launches. But yesterday, the Cupertino giant accidentally let loose a key detail about its upcoming VR headset, confirming rumors about the name of its operating system: realityOS.

It seems the developers over at Apple accidentally toggled the "public" setting on a private GitHub code repository, holding all sorts of source code used in the development of the headset. As Digital Trends also reports, the repository is unmistakably an official Apple file, and contains plenty of scattered hints on various features of realityOS throughout the wording in the code.

Originally discovered by iOS app developer Matthew Davis, the repository contains some commented (non-executable) code, which talks about certain iOS programs having access to realityOS libraries, hinting at a link of interaction between iOS on iPhone and the headset's realityOS. 

The code also makes mention of the phrase “realityOS_simulator,” which suggests that the realityOS operating system will be tested in Apple’s Xcode simulator app. Xcode is a software used by developers for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS, allowing them to fully test their apps in the simulator before publishing them.

The operating system name "realityOS" also isn't mentioned just once, but nine separate times throughout the code.

For over a year now, Apple has been developing a headset which it hopes will be a revolutionary step for the company into the world of VR and AR, along with the Apple Glass. There is already some anticipation of future major head-to-head competition between Apple and Facebook's grand plans on the Metaverse, which will also be built on virtual and augmented reality.

Apple has been known for firing employees in the past for revealing confidential details and tipping off the press, and whoever leaked that GitHub repository for the VR headset—well, we just hope Apple isn't too hard on them.