With Apple Vision Pro headset almost here, there are many doubts regarding the apps that will be available when it releases. How many will there be? What would it be like to use. Are well-known developers jumping on board? We’ve been wondering what Apple has in store for us.
However, not everything is a complete mystery. With just a week till the Vision Pro arrives in people’s hands, we’re getting a better understanding of the headset’s app situation. Some of it sounds interesting, while others may be just ugly — but if Apple wants to develop a new platform around the Vision Pro, app support will be critical.
The good: 3D movies, iPad apps
Despite the fact that the Vision Pro is not yet accessible to customers, a few journalists (including our own Giovanni Colantonio) have had firsthand interactions with the gadget. According to those sources, Apple’s spatial films, which can be seen in 3D with the Vision Pro, are among its greatest features. The good news is that they will not be confined to the videos you watch in the Photos app.
That’s because we know Disney+, as well as the Apple TV app, will have a plethora of 3D movies available straight away. Regarding Disney+, our correspondent was able to witness a “360-degree recreation of Avengers Tower” using the headgear, which could be transformed into a “personal movie theater.” That’s an excellent method to experience movies in an immersive manner.
And 3D will be applied to more than simply films. It works for games, jobs, and immersive “experiences” as well, such as touring Yosemite National Park or attending musician practices. We got to play with a cheeky dinosaur, a Formula One vehicle replica, and more. It’s all perfectly executed and way ahead of Apple’s competitors.
The quantity and quality of apps available for Apple’s visionOS platform will be critical to the Vision Pro’s success. While creating custom apps will take time, Apple is making things as simple as possible for developers by instantly converting existing iPhone and iPad apps to the Vision Pro.
This is similar to how Apple assisted developers in getting their programs to run when the business switched from Intel to Apple silicon Mac processors. With the Vision Pro, Apple will import all compatible iPhone and iPad apps to the headset’s own App Store “by default,” eliminating the need for developers to perform any further work.
That implies there should be an abundance of apps accessible from the outset. While not all of them will be fully optimized for the Vision Pro, they should nonetheless operate flawlessly, providing you lots of alternatives to get started right away.
Bad: restrictions and a ack of native apps
Despite the enormous number of applications accessible on day one, we’ve learned that there won’t be a great number of apps available that fully utilize the Vision Pro’s capabilities – at least not right away. Apps that are expressly created for the platform, for example, may exploit the device’s gesture-based interactions in novel ways or do tasks that an imported iPad app could never accomplish.
According to some estimates, there are only about 150 native Vision Pro apps available at the present. Compare that to the 500 that debuted with the original iPhone and the thousands that were available on the first iPad’s release day.
The absence of native apps is likely due to a number of factors. Because of the novel and unusual interactions that developers must create while developing a Vision Pro program, it differs significantly from developing an iPhone or iPad application. There is also ambiguity about the size of the Vision Pro market, so some developers may choose to wait and see if their efforts will be rewarded with a large audience. Of course, there’s the question of Apple’s commission on app sales, which has remained a source of contention for years.
Another challenge that Vision Pro developers have is limited access to some of the headset’s strongest capabilities. Right now, it appears that Apple is blocking access to the Vision Pro’s eye-tracking and motion-sensing functions, with no word on when (or if) apps will be allowed to use them.
That’s a pity, because that type of capability may allow developers to create some genuinely engaging apps. I previously discussed how this might take Vision Pro gaming to the next level, and it has applications in a wide range of industries, including interactive educational programs, fitness and exercises.
This might be a temporary constraint, with Apple currently working on toolkits for these complicated features. It’s also possible that Apple just does not want anybody else to have access to these technologies. However, considering the importance of a flourishing app environment to the Vision Pro’s future prospects, Apple would be making a tremendous error by restricting developers. If the firm wants to fill its Vision Pro App Store with compelling apps, it must improve the scenario.
Ugly: notable misses
While the lack of native apps is a disadvantage for the Vision Pro, it becomes worse when you consider that three really popular apps will be completely absent from the device. YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify have all declared that they would not be building custom apps for Apple’s headgear, but will also not let existing iPad and iPhone apps to be ported to the gadget.
This is an exceptional move, as allowing your iPad and iPhone apps to run on Vision Pro appears to require no more effort from developers. That shows that the developers of all three apps have a problem with Apple, the Vision Pro, or both. Netflix’s co-CEO, Greg Peters, has stated publicly that the lack of a native app is due to the Vision Pro being “subscale,” but that they will “see where things go with the Vision Pro.” This makes logical, but it does not explain why you would choose not to utilize the streaming service’s iPad app.
We’re left to think that they believe their iOS applications would be a terrible alternative experience. Spotify has a long-running conflict with Apple regarding App Store commissions, which might have influenced its decision. YouTube, in particular, feels like the biggest letdown. We haven’t heard from Google about why they opted out.
Whatever the issue may be, the absence of such well-known apps from the Vision Pro’s platform is not promising. Instead, you’ll have to use a web browser to access these applications, which isn’t ideal. It’s a horrible picture for Apple and the Vision Pro’s software ecosystem.
