In the days leading up to the launch of the Vision Pro, Apple heavily promoted a number of apps designed for its spatial computing headset. Download Disney+ and watch the movie on Tatooine! Slack and Fantastical and Microsoft Office are right in your face! FaceTime with your friends as a floating hologram! But it’s becoming increasingly clear that the Vision Pro’s early success, and most of the answers to questions about what the headset will actually do, will come from one app: Safari.
That’s right, friends. The web browser is back. Apple needs them more than ever if it wants its $3,500 Face Computer to be a hit. Embracing the web means threatening the very things that have made Apple so powerful and so rich in the mobile age, but at least initially, opening up the web is Apple’s best chance of making its headphones a winner. Because at least so far, developers don’t seem entirely eager to build new apps for Apple’s new platform.
Historically, Apple has been unparalleled in its ability to keep app makers up to date with its latest products. When it releases features for iPhone and iPad, most of the content in the App Store will support them within a few weeks. But so far, developers appear to be moving slowly toward Vision Pro development. The specific reasons vary from App Store to App Store, but there are many good reasons to choose from. One of them is just that it’s a new platform, with new user interface concepts and usability issues, on a very expensive device that few people can use for the time being. Sure, you can more or less check a box and port your iPad apps to Vision Pro, but that might not be to everyone’s standards.
The bigger reason is the growing rift between Apple and its developers. A number of high-profile companies have announced they haven’t yet built apps for Vision Pro and its VisionOS platform – Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, etc. – and it’s these companies that have raised serious questions about the way Apple operates. App store. Spotify has complained for years about Apple’s 30% cut of in-app purchases. Netflix, which struck a sweetheart deal with Apple a few years ago to share just 15% of revenue, recently refused to participate in the Apple TV app’s discovery feature and has long since stopped allowing you to subscribe to Netflix from your iOS device. YouTube stopped allowing in-app purchases a few years ago and even canceled subscriptions people purchased in the App Store to avoid Apple’s commission.
You might think that the end of the recent Apple-Epic dispute would make things better, as Apple was required to allow developers to link to other places where users can pay for apps. But Apple changed the terms, saying that in fact, even if someone clicks on the link and subscribes online, the developer still owes Apple a commission. Granted, that’s 27%, not 30%, but that’s unlikely to change anyone’s mind. The message is clear: If you sell through the App Store, Apple gets a cut in some way.
All this corporate infighting has the potential to revolutionize the way we use our devices
But what if you no longer need the App Store to reach Apple users? All this corporate infighting has the potential to revolutionize the way we use devices, starting with the Vision Pro.it’s not like you cannot Use Spotify on headphones; just you have to visit Spotify.com instead of clicking on the Spotify app icon. The same goes for YouTube, Netflix, and every other web application that chooses not to create native content for Vision Pro.For gamers, whether you want to use Xbox Game Pass or just play games fort night, you also need a browser. Over the past decade or so, we’ve all stopped opening websites and started clicking on app icons, but the days of URLs may be coming back.
If you believe that the open web is a good thing and that developers should spend more time on their web apps rather than native apps, then this is a huge boon for the future of the web victory. (Disclosure: I believe all of these things.) The problem is, this comes nearly two decades after mobile platforms systematically degraded and neglected their browsing experience. You can create home screen bookmarks, which are just shortcuts to web apps, but those web apps don’t have the same access to offline mode, cross-app collaboration, or some of the phone’s other built-in features. After all this time, you still can’t easily run browser extensions on mobile Safari or mobile Chrome. Apple has also made it extremely complicated to keep different apps logged into services on the network. Mobile platforms treat the browser as a web viewer rather than an app platform, and it shows.
We have some hope, though: Apple recently added multiple profiles, external webcam support, and some other Safari features to the iPad, which at least suggests Apple is aware of Safari’s existence and is willing to give it access to some native Function. For years, it has been assumed that Apple would happily abandon Safari entirely if given the choice. After all, it tightly controls everything about its platform, and the web is a completely uncontrollable place. But the company appears to still be investing in Safari’s operations. (All the Safari-centric antitrust pressure may also be helping to push things along.)
Safari for VisionOS will also come with some platform-specific features: you’ll be able to open multiple windows at the same time and move them around in virtual space. A recently leaked video shows users manipulating 3D objects within a web page. Apple engineers said at WWDC last year that they had completely redesigned the tab overview of VisionOS and also made some changes so that the browser can support touch as well as the eye tracking and double-pinch mechanism that is the core of VisionOS. Apple has been warning developers to adapt their apps to various new screen sizes and layouts because users are doing weird things with their headphones. The company also confirmed that it will support WebXR, a browser-based VR protocol that can be used for some impressive immersive experiences.
Many users may mostly not notice the difference between opening the Spotify app and visiting Spotify.com
There have been rumors for a few years that Apple would drop WebKit requirements for developers, meaning other browsers could be built on other rendering engines. If this happens, you may be able to run a fully functional Chrome or Firefox on your Apple device, which may include Vision Pro. This change, coupled with the growing focus on Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) (Android, Windows and even Apple are starting to more actively support cross-platform, web-based apps), may make your headphones Browsers became more powerful overnight. . With a good browser and a powerful PWA, many users may essentially not notice the difference between opening the Spotify app and visiting Spotify.com. This is a victory for the entire network.
A powerful, deeply integrated desktop-class browser will make Vision Pro useful and powerful from day one. Apple should embrace Safari, allow the use of other desktop-class browsers, and treat Vision Pro as a power user platform. Still, no one knows enough about Safari for VisionOS to know if it meets all of these requirements, and I’m not sure Apple wants it to. Because the real question for Apple is: Which is more important, getting Vision Pro off to a good start or protecting the sanctity of its App Store control at all costs? As Apple attempts to create a platform shift toward PCs, I’m not sure it can have the best of both worlds.
