Google reportedly plans to develop a YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro. edge A YouTube spokesperson confirmed that the company plans to make a native Vision Pro app while optimizing YouTube for Safari as a stopgap measure. Things took a U-turn when developer Christian Selig (creator of the popular Apollo app, which was blocked by Reddit in 2023) launched an unofficial YouTube app for Apple’s $3,500 headphones .
YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby reportedly wrote in an email: “We are excited to see the launch of Vision Pro and we will ensure that YouTube users have a great experience in Safari. Support it.” edgeNilay Patel. “We don’t have any specific plans to share at this time, but can confirm that the Vision Pro app is on our roadmap.”
Although Vision Pro launched with more than 600 native apps, YouTube said as late as January 19 that it had no plans to launch a Vision Pro app. (Netflix is another high-profile boycotter.) Additionally, the company also has no plans to make its iPad app available on the visionOS App Store, a YouTube spokesperson told Engadget at the time. Porting iPad apps is a (relatively) quick and easy way for developers to port their software to Apple’s “spatial computing” devices.
Over the past two and a half weeks, something happened that changed the company’s thinking. One theory is that even though Apple’s mixed reality headset costs a hefty $3,500, it appears to be off to a good start as the company’s most loyal and deep-pocketed fans are quickly snapping up pre-orders. Well-informed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that Apple sold 160,000 to 180,000 headphones in the first weekend.
Another theory is that YouTube noticed an indie developer picking up the slack. Christian Selig, the developer of the now-defunct Reddit app Apollo, has launched an unofficial third-party YouTube app called Juno that will be available at launch. Selig has a lot of trust and status among Apple device users: He’s a former Apple developer and the creator of one of iOS users’ favorite Reddit apps (after the company’s controversial API rules effectively killed before most third-party Reddit apps).
“YouTube is probably one of the parts of the web I use the most, so I was very sad when YouTube announced they had no plans to build a VisionOS app and disabled the option to load iPad apps,” Selig wrote in a blog post last week As explained in the article. “That leaves you with Safari, which is OK for websites, but it definitely doesn’t feel like a VisionOS app.”
YouTube supports 3D and 360-degree videos, but neither currently works with Vision Pro. It’s unclear whether the company plans to include this content in its app.
