Apple Vision Pro won’t have Netflix, Spotify or YouTube at launch – is the headset already doomed as a media player?
While excitement is building for the release of the Apple Vision Pro mixed-reality headset (pre-orders are now live), potential users will not only have to make do without YouTube or Spotify, but also without Netflix. While Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus are (obviously) guaranteed to be available right out of the box, we have to wonder if you can take advantage of the headset’s cinematic qualities without these three media giants.
While some streaming competitors rush to embrace the Apple Vision Pro (including Peacock, ESPN and Paramount Plus), Netflix and YouTube appear to be playing the waiting game, and when the headset launches, Apple Vision Pro users will have to access their respective services via the Safari browser (which has its own Vision Pro version) rather than via dedicated apps. According to a report from BloombergNetflix is the latest to confirm that it will not offer a visionOS app.
YouTube in particular is quite an omission, as it’s probably the best place to find immersive content, especially videos tailored to the Vision Pro’s VR experience capabilities. The videos available on the platform may not be as refined and curated as the content you can find on Netflix or Disney Plus, but it is a media platform that is used by many people almost every day and makes the headset somewhat empty without it. feels – especially now that Netflix is joining in and abstaining from visionOS.
All work and no fun?
It’s a troubling start for Apple’s big foray into mixed reality. If you sit down to use a headset that cost you $3,499 but have to open Safari and start typing on your connected MacBook just to watch a video or episode of your favorite Netflix show, is it really worth it? the money? Using Safari is a clunky solution at best.
There are almost certainly several factors at play behind the scenes here. Netflix and Apple have quite a tense relationship at the best of times. Netflix has historically had trouble sharing revenue from Apple’s App Store, and this claim certainly wasn’t helped by the arrival of Apple TV. Another likely reason why we don’t see Netflix jumping on the opportunity to produce a visionOS app is simply that the company has little confidence in Apple’s headset.
You could even argue that the streaming service has so little faith in the Vision Pro that it isn’t even willing to adapt a version of the Netflix iPadOS app to work on the new platform (much like Instagram on iPadOS is just a scaled-down version is). newer version of the iOS app). Netflix, YouTube and Spotify will likely wait to see how the headset is received before spending time and money developing apps for it. As someone who has been skeptical of the headset since its announcement, I can’t help but feel more than a little vindicated by this – it’s not just me watching from the sidelines with very little faith in Apple’s grand plans.
I mean, the Nintendo Switch came out in 2017 and it has a dedicated YouTube app (the Nintendo 3DS had one too!) so if an almost seven year old console can have a dedicated app for the world’s largest video streaming platform but this futuristic headset can’t do that, that really doesn’t look good for Apple.
Ultimately, we can only speculate as to why exactly these major media companies are being so hesitant, but one reason may be the way the headset has been marketed. From the beginning, Apple has advertised the Vision Pro as this incredibly immersive media experience device that puts you right in the middle of the action, but the fact that it’s called a Vision Pro – and the sky-high price tag – gives the impression that it is more for business users. Could this case of identity confusion be the reason behind this highly visible display of hesitation?
So far, there’s no sign that we can ever expect a dedicated visionOS app from Netflix, YouTube, or Spotify. It’s likely we’ll have to wait and see how well the Vision Pro sells when it launches to have an idea of whether we’ll actually get these apps – if it proves successful, they’ll have no choice but to commit. .
If this hasn’t quite dampened your enthusiasm for the Apple Vision Pro, there’s still a lot to look forward to. Although it mainly concerns the more business side of things, we now have one clear list of confirmed apps for the Vision Pro – including Slack, Display Plus, Zoom, Microsoft 365, Safari and many more. And if it’s really intended as a business device, would it even need a Netflix app?