Google reportedly intends to develop a YouTube application for Apple Vision Pro. The edge said A YouTube spokesperson confirmed the company's plans to create a native Vision Pro app, while optimizing YouTube for Safari as a stopgap measure. The U-turn comes after developer Christian Selig (creator of the popular Apollo app that Reddit killed in 2023) launched an unofficial YouTube app for The $3,500 Apple headset.
“We're excited to see the launch of Vision Pro and support it by ensuring YouTube users have a great experience in Safari,” YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby reportedly wrote in an email to The edgeThis is Nilay Patel. “We have no specific plans to share at this time, but can confirm that a Vision Pro app is on our roadmap.”
Despite Vision Pro launch with over 600 native appsYouTube said as recently as January 19 that it I hadn't planned for a Vision Pro application. (Netflix is another high-level resistance fighter.) Additionally, a YouTube company spokesperson told Engadget at the time that it also had no plans to make its iPad app available on the visionOS App Store. Porting iPad apps is the (relatively) quick and easy way for developers to install their software on the Apple system. “spatial computing” device.
Something has changed the company's mind in the last two and a half weeks. One theory is that, despite its whopping $3,500 price tag, Apple's mixed reality headset it seems to be starting well as the company's most loyal and wealthiest fans quickly snapped up pre-orders. Knowledgeable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that Apple sold between 160,000 and 180,000 headsets during its opening weekend.
Another theory is that YouTube noticed an independent developer taking over. Christian Selig, the creator of Apollo app for Reddit, now defunctlaunched a unofficial third-party YouTube app called Juno which was available at launch. Selig enjoys considerable trust and stature among Apple device users: he is a former Apple developer and creator of one of iOS users' favorite Reddit apps (before the company was founded). controversial API rules Effectively killed most third-party Reddit apps).
“YouTube is probably one of the parts of the Internet that I consume the most, so I was beyond sad when YouTube announced that it had no plans to create a visionOS app and disabled the option to load the iPad app.” Selig explained last week in a blog post. “That leaves you with Safari, and the website is okay, but definitely doesn't look like a visionOS app.”
YouTube supports 3D And 360 degrees videos, but none currently work on Vision Pro. It's not yet clear whether the company plans to integrate them into its app.