Vision Pro’s popularity forces Google to create dedicated YouTube app

Well, here’s a plot twist for you: YouTube is apparently gearing up to launch a Vision Pro app. YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby, in an email to The Verge, wrote: “We’re excited to see Vision Pro launch and we’re supporting it by ensuring YouTube users have a great experience in Safari. We do not have any specific plans to share at this time, but can confirm that a Vision Pro app is on our roadmap.”

So, after YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix all turned down the idea of letting their iPad apps run on the Vision Pro before it launched, things seemed pretty set in stone. Last time we checked, there was no hint of a real visionOS YouTube app in the works. But now, it looks like something’s shifted over at Mountain View. Gibby didn’t drop a date for this roadmap, so we’re in the dark on what exactly YouTube’s got up its sleeve. They could just give the iPad app a little makeover, or they might be planning something way bigger. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

YouTube and Apple still haven’t cracked the code on supporting the vast collection of 360 and VR videos available on YouTube. Even though YouTube has been rocking 3D support since 2011 and 360 support since 2016, none of that goodness is compatible with the Vision Pro yet.

The Verge also inquired YouTube to see if this new app will handle VR and 360 videos on the Vision Pro, but no word back yet. And speaking of which, many new Vision Pro owners are realizing that Safari’s WebXR support isn’t quite up to snuff, so other types of VR videos aren’t playing nice either.

Roy from Apple mentioned they’re on it, but it seems like there might be some hiccups along the way, and it’ll be a bit before everything’s sorted out.

“WebXR is still a relatively new open standard and as such it doesn’t take full advantage of the power, performance and interaction capabilities of Apple Vision Pro and visionOS,” she told The Verge. “We’ve been actively contributing to the W3C web standards including WebXR — for example, proposing interaction standards that protect users’ privacy. We will continue to work with the community to help deliver great spatial computing experiences via the web.”