Like Netflix, YouTube also didn’t make an Apple Vision Pro app and is opting out of making its iPad app available.
In a statement given to Bloomberg, as Netflix did last week, YouTube said it didn’t make a visionOS app and that its iPad app won’t be available on visionOS either. Instead, also like Netflix, YouTube recommends Vision Pro owners access it via the web browser.
Apple previously announced that iPad & iPhone apps are available on the visionOS App Store “by default” and developers have to intentionally opt-out if they don’t want theirs to be.
It’s unclear why Google made this decision. It already has an immersive YouTube app on Meta Quest and ByteDance’s Pico 4. It’s possible YouTube will launch a visionOS app at a later date, or Google may be holding out for the Samsung headset it’s developing the system software for.
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Media watching on Apple Vision Pro.
The news comes as Apple confirmed last week that most of YouTube and Netflix’s major competitors will be available on Vision Pro at launch, including Disney+, Max (formerly HBO Max), Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+, Paramount+, and Peacock.
The Disney+ visionOS app will even include four unique immersive environments: a cinema based on the iconic El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, the Scare Floor from Monsters Inc, the Marvel’s Avengers Tower, and the cockpit of Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder on Tatooine.
Watching traditional media on a giant virtual screen is a key focus of Apple’s marketing for Vision Pro so far. You can choose between watching in your real room (optionally darkened), a fully virtual environment, or a blend of both. As well as the plethora of 2D streaming content, Apple says Vision Pro will have access to over 150 3D movies at launch.
Some Vision Pro buyers may struggle to keep the headset on for the full duration of a show or movie, however, as early impressions suggest it feels very heavy – at least with the default strap.
David Heaney
