One of the drawbacks of Apple’s new Vision Pro headset is the small number of available apps. Sure, you can load most iPad apps onto the mixed-reality headset, but it’s the tailor-made apps that really bring out the best in the Vision Pro.
The good news is that the Vision Pro App Store now has 1,000 visionOS apps ready for download by owners of the face-based computer, which started shipping for $3,499 on February 2.
The 1,000-app figure was revealed by Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president for marketing, in a post on social media on Tuesday. It marks an increase of 400 apps compared to when the Vision Pro was launched.
“A huge thank you to our developers,” Joswiak wrote. “Their hard work has already resulted in over 1,000 incredible spatial apps designed specifically for Vision Pro, along with over 1.5 million compatible apps. We’re thrilled to see how they’ll continue to push the boundaries for what’s possible.”
A huge thank you to our developers! Their hard work has already resulted in over 1,000 incredible spatial apps designed specifically for Vision Pro, along with over 1.5 million compatible apps. We're thrilled to see how they'll continue to push the boundaries for what’s possible.
— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) February 13, 2024
Of course, 1,000 apps is a tiny number for an app store, especially considering that the equivalent hub for the iPhone currently has somewhere in the region of 1.8 million. But yes, Apple’s popular handset launched 17 years ago and has had something of a head start, whereas the Vision Pro is a brand new device category for Apple that only launched 11 days ago.
If Vision Pro owners only had 1,000 apps to choose from, that would be pretty lousy, which is why Joswiak is keen to point out that the headset also has “1.5 million compatible apps” ready for download. However, as these were designed for the iPad, they won’t take full advantage of the Vision Pro’s capabilities.
The growth of a fledgling app store is often a slow process. Many developers can be reluctant to spend time creating apps for a new platform because the device hasn’t sold enough, and therefore, app take-up will be minimal, but a lack of available apps can hold back sales of the device. Apple is confident that over time, the Vision Pro App Store will see steady growth as more people buy the device, with those sales prompting developers to take a greater interest in creating software for the platform.
Tech Reader has pulled together some examples of the kind of unique features that you can enjoy with bespoke Vision Pro apps.
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