Google’s Vision Pro Finally Gets a YouTube App
▼ Summary
– The official YouTube app for Apple’s Vision Pro headset launched two years after the device’s initial release, addressing a major user complaint.
– The new app is a native spatial experience, not just an iPad port, and supports 3D, 360-degree, and 180-degree videos.
– It offers the full signed-in YouTube experience, including watch history, and a dedicated interface for Shorts vertical videos.
– For two years, users were directed to the web interface or third-party apps, one of which was later removed following a Google policy complaint.
– Unlike Google, Netflix has not announced plans for a Vision Pro app, making its availability unlikely in the near future.
The long wait is finally over for Apple Vision Pro users seeking a dedicated YouTube experience. Google has officially launched a native YouTube application for the Vision Pro headset, directly addressing a major point of user feedback since the device’s initial release. This new app moves beyond a simple port, offering a spatial interface with panels arranged in the user’s environment and full support for immersive content formats including 3D, 360-degree, and 180-degree videos.
For nearly two years after the Vision Pro’s debut, the absence of an official YouTube app was a notable gap, especially given the platform’s vast library of VR-ready content. Users were initially directed to access YouTube through a web browser, a functional but suboptimal solution for a device built around immersive media consumption. The void led to the emergence of third-party applications, though one popular option, Juno, was removed from the App Store following Google’s assertion that it violated API usage policies.
The newly available app promises the complete YouTube experience. According to its App Store listing, users can watch “every video on YouTube,” which includes a specialized interface for YouTube Shorts. It also delivers the full signed-in experience, integrating personal watch history, subscriptions, and playlists directly within the spatial computing environment.
The arrival of this native app aligns with Google’s broader investments in extended reality (XR), though the specific development path for the Vision Pro version remains unclear. Its release now raises questions about other major streaming holdouts, most notably Netflix. However, unlike Google, Netflix has given no public indication that a Vision Pro application is in development, suggesting YouTube’s launch may remain an isolated victory for Apple’s headset users in the near term.
(Source: Ars Technica)
