YouTube Launches Official Apple Vision Pro App After Two-Year Wait
YouTube has finally arrived on the Apple Vision Pro, offering a dedicated app for immersive video viewing. The app supports standard videos, Shorts, and 3D/360 formats, delivering a native visionOS experience.
YouTube’s arrival marks a long-awaited expansion of the headset’s content ecosystem. Until now, users relied on Safari or unofficial apps, missing immersive features and offline options.
The dedicated app unlocks different video playback formats and gesture-driven navigation, enhancing the Vision Pro’s usability.
Official VisionOS App Launch
According to The Verge, the Apple Vision Pro now has an official YouTube app available on the visionOS App Store. Apple spokesperson Corey Nord explained that the app lets users watch all videos, including Shorts, 3D, 360, and VR180 formats.
YouTube initially had no plans for a native app, but added it to its roadmap shortly after the headset launched over two years ago. The Verge also notes that the app integrates seamlessly with Apple’s visionOS interface, and allows multi-window use for multitasking.
Users experience smooth performance, optimized for both the M2 and M5 Vision Pro models, ensuring broad hardware compatibility.
Immersive Features and Timing
TechCrunch reports that YouTube’s earlier web-based approach limited functionality, which prevents offline downloads and full immersion. The new app offers a theater-sized virtual screen and a Spatial tab for discovering immersive videos, with 8K playback for M5 chip models.
Gesture controls make it easier to interact with videos, and YouTube released the app carefully after Vision Pro sales showed only modest interest.
The launch could encourage other streaming platforms to create visionOS apps, as YouTube shows how immersive videos can work well and makes the headset more useful for high-quality or longer videos.
Filling the Long-Standing Gap
CNET highlights that the Vision Pro lacked native YouTube support despite the platform’s strong 3D and 360-degree video catalog.
Previous attempts, such as the Juno app, a third-party YouTube player for the Vision Pro, were pulled from the App Store shortly after launch for violating YouTube’s terms of service. The official YouTube app now aligns the headset with other major streaming services and opens opportunities for broader Google app support on Apple’s mixed-reality device.
CNET adds that the gesture controls provide creators with new ways to showcase immersive content, potentially encouraging more VR-focused uploads and securing its spot as the premier Next-Gen VR Headset for high-fidelity video.
iExpanding the Vision Pro Ecosystem
With YouTube’s dedicated app, the Apple Vision Pro takes a significant step toward becoming a mainstream immersive media platform. Users can enjoy fully native playback of standard and immersive videos, leveraging gesture controls and high-resolution support.
The launch also signals potential future collaboration between Apple and Google, paving the way for broader app adoption on visionOS. The update could reshape how mixed-reality content is consumed, setting a benchmark for developers.
As more streaming platforms optimize for the Vision Pro, Apple’s headset may finally see stronger traction in the immersive media market.
Source: Two years after Google said that a YouTube app was on the roadmap, it’s finally here.
