SonarSight — Help & Troubleshooting Guide

SonarSight turns the room around you into a real-time, thermal-style depth visualization on Apple Vision Pro. This guide walks through how to use it, what to expect, and how to fix the most common issues.

If you can’t find what you need below, get in touch at info@mickeydesigns.com.

Table of Contents

  1. Getting Started
  2. Effects
  3. Troubleshooting
  4. Privacy
  5. Safety
  6. Contact & Feedback

Getting Started

  1. Open SonarSight from the Home View on your Apple Vision Pro.
  2. A small window will appear with the SonarSight title, two effect toggles, and an Enter Immersive Space button.
  3. Tap Enter Immersive Space.
  4. The first time you do this, Vision Pro will ask permission to sense the world around you. Tap Allow — SonarSight needs this to map the shape of your room.
  5. Within a few seconds, the surfaces around you (walls, floor, ceiling, furniture) will begin to glow in a smooth gradient of color. Closer surfaces appear warm; distant ones cool down toward blue and violet.
  6. To leave, tap Exit Immersive Space in the same window.

Tip: SonarSight works best in a room you can move around in safely. Stay aware of your real surroundings — the visualization overlays your room but doesn’t change what’s actually there.

Effects

SonarSight includes two optional effects, controlled by the toggles in the main window. They only become active once the immersive space is open.

Sonar Pulse

A rhythmic wave of brightness that travels outward from your viewpoint and washes across the surfaces of the room. Use this when you want a more dynamic, “echolocation”-like feel.

Edge Glow

Highlights the edges of surfaces with a luminous outline. This makes architectural detail — door frames, shelves, room corners — stand out more clearly. Great for rooms with a lot of flat surfaces that would otherwise blend together.

You can toggle either effect on or off at any time, and they can be used together or independently.

Troubleshooting

The toggles are greyed out

The Sonar Pulse and Edge Glow toggles only become active after you’ve opened the immersive space. Tap Enter Immersive Space first, and the toggles will become tappable.

Nothing happens when I enter the immersive space — I don’t see any color on the walls

A few possible causes:

  • Give it a moment. SonarSight has to build a 3D mesh of the room before it can render anything. This usually takes a few seconds, but in larger or more complex rooms it can take a little longer.
  • Move around slowly. The visualization updates as Vision Pro learns the shape of the space. Turning your head, walking a few steps, or looking at a part of the room you haven’t seen yet will fill in more surfaces.
  • Lighting matters for scene scanning. Vision Pro’s scene reconstruction works best in normal indoor lighting. In a pitch-black room, it may struggle to map surfaces. Try with at least a little ambient light.
  • Check world sensing permission. Open the Settings app on Vision Pro → Privacy & Security → Surroundings, and make sure SonarSight is allowed. If you accidentally denied it, you can re-enable it here.

The colors look stuck or don’t update as I move my head

The visualization is driven by Vision Pro’s head tracking. If it isn’t responding to your movement:

  • Exit the immersive space and re-enter it.
  • Make sure you don’t have a Persona or another spatial experience interfering.
  • If the issue persists, restart Vision Pro by holding the top button and the Digital Crown together, then sliding to power off.

The app launched but no window appeared

This is rare and usually means the immersive space session ended unexpectedly. Close SonarSight fully (look at it in the App Switcher and pinch the close button), then reopen it.

SonarSight says it’s not supported on this device

SonarSight requires:

  • Apple Vision Pro
  • visionOS 26 or later
  • Scene reconstruction support (built into every Vision Pro device)

If you’re getting this message on a real Vision Pro, make sure your system software is up to date: Settings → General → Software Update.

The visualization flickers or has gaps in it

This happens when Vision Pro is still learning parts of the room. The gaps will fill in as you move around. Reflective surfaces (mirrors, glass), very dark surfaces, and thin objects (curtains, hanging cables) are sometimes harder to scan and may appear less complete.

Performance feels sluggish

SonarSight runs at the headset’s full frame rate on supported hardware. If things feel sluggish:

  • Close other immersive apps that may still be running in the background.
  • Restart Vision Pro.
  • Make sure your device isn’t overly warm — performance can be reduced when the device throttles thermally.

I want the visualization to stop, but the toggles don’t seem to turn it off

The Sonar Pulse and Edge Glow toggles only control the extra effects. The base thermal depth visualization is always active while the immersive space is open. To turn everything off, tap Exit Immersive Space.

Privacy

SonarSight uses Vision Pro’s world-sensing capability to read the shape of your room in real time. This data is used only to render the visualization on-device, in the moment. SonarSight does not:

  • Save any scans, meshes, photos, or video
  • Send any data over the network
  • Use third-party SDKs, analytics, or trackers
  • Have any accounts, sign-in, or in-app purchases

You can revoke world-sensing access at any time from Settings → Privacy & Security → Surroundings.

Safety

Even though SonarSight runs in mixed immersion and you can still see your real environment, please:

  • Keep a safe area around you, free of trip hazards.
  • Don’t use SonarSight while walking down stairs, near pets, or in any situation where reduced attention to your surroundings could cause harm.
  • Take breaks if you experience any discomfort from extended headset use.

Contact & Feedback

Found a bug, have a feature request, or want to send a screenshot of how your space looks? I’d love to hear it.

Email: info@mickeydesigns.com

Please include:

  • What you were trying to do
  • What happened instead
  • Your Vision Pro’s visionOS version (Settings → General → About → Software Version)
  • The SonarSight version (visible in Settings → Apps → SonarSight)

Thanks for trying SonarSight.