Top 10 Vision Pro Apps

[ArtOfWarfare]

eesh... this is not selling it

I suspect this won’t change until Apple massively changes their behavior towards developers.

Apple has five app stores. Only one of them - the first one - was successful. We developers bought into the hype and delivered hundreds of killer apps that turned the iPhone into the success it was.

Apple responded with nothing but hostility and contempt to us and our customers.

In return, when Apple launched app stores for the Mac, TV, Watch, and now the Vision Pro (and does Home Pod have an App Store?) they got… not much. We want nothing to do with Apple’s App Stores.

Apple is on their own for making apps. There was a time when they could do that (iLife/iWork), but… IDK, I kind of suspect they’ve burned so many developers for so long with their App Stores that developers don’t even want to work at Apple anymore.

 

[Rychiar]

Synth Riders is a lot of fun on the Quest. It would be interesting to know what it's like on the AVP without controllers.

Better visuals, less immersion and fun without controllers

 

[Rychiar]

well I’ve definitely never heard someone say they liked synthriders over beatsaber before lol

 

[svish]

Juno will be good for now till an official YouTube app is launched. Spatial Cam also seems to be good.

 

[Piggie]

Having just watched this video I will say I'm more than happy now to wait.
Even if I had a Vision Pro, nothing in that list I'd be interested in, even if they were all free.

To be totally fair, yes, it's very early days, the devs have not had much time and I'm sure (I hope) a vast library of amazing VR/AR software will come, and this time next year I'll be blown away.

But right now, zero interest in anything so far, other than the enjoyment I'd have of simply playing with a vision pro for a week, before putting it away and waiting.

 

[Piggie]

well I’ve definitely never heard someone say they liked synthriders over beatsaber before lol

I have both Synthriders and Beatsable on both my Quest 2 and Quest 3.
I've played both, but will admit, Beat Sabre is the one I've played vastly more.

Not sure why as SynthRiders looks good in concept, but perhaps it's that Beatsabre is cleaner looking and feeling, and Synthriders feels a bit more messy in my eyes.
that could be a very personal preference of course.

As I've said before. When you are "riding" the rails in Synth Riders, you get haptic feedback from the controllers so you can feel what you are doing, the same with Beatsable, you feel what you are doing.
Taking that away I strongly feel would be a much worse experience, just waving your empty hands in the air.
In both games I am holding items I can see, and in real life I am holding controllers, so in your brain, it just works.

 

[robertosh]

Using a prototype Blender app in the AVP.

https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualreality/comments/1akt609

Typical “wow” app for showing in SM that are not really useful in practice. I do use Blender and it’s easier to just use the mouse to rotate the model (and you don’t break the workflow)

 

[oldwatery]

View attachment 2347855Flow Infinity: Dreams Spacial meditation app using binaural beats and neuroscience backed visual techniques to naturally bring you to a state of DEEP relaxation. There’s an iOS version as well but the Vision Pro version was made from the ground up to provide a calming immersive experience. Check it out!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/flow-infinity-dreams/id6475706417

that looks anything but calming! this is your brain on Vision Pro!

I’ve been enjoying Connect3D. It’s an immersive 3D tic tac toe.

wow…tic tac toe. I’m impressed.

 

[Dremmel]

I had a Quest 2. It was an absolute waste of money. Pure garbage. After one week of use, it got put into storage and hasn't been seen since.

You won't last a week with the Vision Pro based on the apps so far.

 

[BGPL]

I think the biggest letdown in terms of my expectations is the lack of useful applications and entertainment, mostly AR-type apps. The best use I've found for my AVP is watching movies while I'm on the road (figuratively speaking), and even then, there's a glare that hits the display which started bothering me after two days of use, now it's a pretty significant issue and I can't unsee it. Since then, my AVP sits around a lot, which is a shame for $4k piece of gear. I also get a headache from using it, I'm not sure if it's the weight, the seal, or just my eyes working to focus on something so close. The personal movie theater is amazing, but I've also found there is a lack of apps that support common video formats. I'm accustomed to having VLC on the Mac and iOS. I'm talking about common mpeg4 video with h.265 compression.

It's also missing good integration with my Macs and even my iPhone. I should be able to do everything on the AVP, and I can't even control my Macs - it still expects me to use a keyboard and mouse. It should integrate and impose the desktop and dock on the AR display like it's part of the AVP, but instead you just get a square where you can see your Mac display, nothing else. I expected a LOT more. The screen blur while moving your head is also a big issue.

This is an amazing piece of technology, but it's still not ready - and mine is going back to Apple before the 14 days is up. It needs a solid year of application development and I think they need an SE version for under $2k. I'm glad I tried it though. In a few years this is going to be like the sh*t you saw with Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

 

[Rychiar]

I have both Synthriders and Beatsable on both my Quest 2 and Quest 3.
I've played both, but will admit, Beat Sabre is the one I've played vastly more.

Not sure why as SynthRiders looks good in concept, but perhaps it's that Beatsabre is cleaner looking and feeling, and Synthriders feels a bit more messy in my eyes.
that could be a very personal preference of course.

As I've said before. When you are "riding" the rails in Synth Riders, you get haptic feedback from the controllers so you can feel what you are doing, the same with Beatsable, you feel what you are doing.
Taking that away I strongly feel would be a much worse experience, just waving your empty hands in the air.
In both games I am holding items I can see, and in real life I am holding controllers, so in your brain, it just works.

There’s just something about light sabers and the fun flow of slashing them through things that punching tiny blah looking colored balls can’t compete with and yeah the controllers make it feel like the hilt of a sword and it’s just natural

 

[simonsea]

So, no killer App then !!

 

[hans1972]

I suspect this won’t change until Apple massively changes their behavior towards developers.

Apple has five app stores. Only one of them - the first one - was successful. We developers bought into the hype and delivered hundreds of killer apps that turned the iPhone into the success it was.

Apple responded with nothing but hostility and contempt to us and our customers.

I think you're completely wrong.

You have to look at developers as (upscale) prostitutes. As long as the developers prostitutes believes it's money to be made (or defend), they'll suffer all kinds of abuse.

iOS is proof of all the abuse developers are willing to suffer.

The main reason some Apple application stores have less support from developers, is because there is less money to be made or it's not just suited for a lot of developers.

 

[deepspacecowboy]

The main reason some Apple application stores have less support from developers, is because there is less money to be made or it's not just suited for a lot of developers.

When you look at Apple's financials, the vast majority of revenue is still tied to the iPhone. Apple's beloved "Services" category is largely iPhone driven, so when you add Services + iPhone, the vast majority of Apple's sales are iPhone related. Developers are going to follow the money. None of Apple's other platforms comes close to the iPhone in terms of cash generating potential for developers.

The iPad is basically just a big screen iPhone with some UI tweaks, so porting an app is relatively easy. Even so, there are plenty of developers that still can't be bothered to release iPad versions of their apps.

The Mac has pretty much been stuck with the same marketshare for ages now. Established developers continue to support it, but we don't see a lot of new Mac apps. Even with all of the work Apple has done to make it easier to bring iOS apps to the Mac, most of the iOS apps I use still don't offer Mac versions.

I don't think Apple quite knew what to do with the Watch in the early days. Is it a platform...or an iPhone accessory? They ultimately landed on iPhone accessory, which makes total sense and further explains why many developers who initially supported it have abandoned their apps. You can't do much on a screen the size of a postage stamp. It's great for quick glances or recording a quick note or replying to a text via dictation, but it's never going to be a platform. There's basically no need for stand-alone, full-featured apps on the Watch.

AppleTV...another platform that simply doesn't sell enough units to merit significant developer interest.

And now we have Vision Pro and the new visionOS platform, a problem in search of a solution. Until/unless it starts to sell significant quantities, there's zero incentive for developers to create apps. As you said, it's all about the money. If you're a developer, the obvious/best place to allocate your time and resources is the iOS/iPhone market. There are no doubt some developers who are very interested in Vision Pro personally and will release apps because of their love and excitement for the new platform, not because it makes sense financially. Once that wave crests, we'll see how well developers support the Vision platform.

I predict that a year from now the Vision Pro App Store will most closely resemble the AppleTV App Store.

 

[Polinsky]

What a sad, sad, life. A beautiful day in which you could be out enjoying REALITY but instead you have a helmet on that inhibits you from experiencing the beauty of the outside world. “But I could see the world around me”. Through SCREENS.

OMG. Some of you have obviously gone from irrationally bashing the AVP to irrationally bashing the people who own the AVP. Your comment is so ludicrous as to defy comprehension. He watched a film outside and that means he has a sad life?? OMG. You are presumably inside typing nonsense instead of being outside, enjoying the environment. Doesn't that mean you also have a sad life?

I just don't understand the need that you, Surf M, and the seaplane have to hurt other people. What do you get out of it?

I love the AVP. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Will things improve with subsequent software updates? Yes. Will a more refined device come out in the future? Yes. I don't object to reasonable and intelligent criticism of the AVP. I have plenty of thoughts on how to improve it. There are clearly some bugs that need to be fixed. But for first generation product, it's simply incredible and fun.

Instead of thanking us for spending the money and time to use and refine the experience for future products, you try to irrationally berate the product and now you've graduated to hating and trying to hurt the people who are enjoying the AVP? What are you trying to accomplish? Why does this give you pleasure? I really feel sad for those who are spending their lives hating these products and those who use them.

BTW MR, I feel this comment is very much on topic and I hope you don't delete it or suspend me again for saying this, especially given the nastiness and malignancy that I'm responding to.

 

[Skyscraperfan]

I thought I had already seen the craziest Apple Vision Pro videos:

 

[Surf Monkey]

OMG. Some of you have obviously gone from irrationally bashing the AVP to irrationally bashing the people who own the AVP. Your comment is so ludicrous as to defy comprehension. He watched a film outside and that means he has a sad life?? OMG. You are presumably inside typing nonsense instead of being outside, enjoying the environment. Doesn't that mean you also have a sad life?

I just don't understand the need that you, Surf M, and the seaplane have to hurt other people. What do you get out of it?

I love the AVP. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. Will things improve with subsequent software updates? Yes. Will a more refined device come out in the future? Yes. I don't object to reasonable and intelligent criticism of the AVP. I have plenty of thoughts on how to improve it. There are clearly some bugs that need to be fixed. But for first generation product, it's simply incredible and fun.

Instead of thanking us for spending the money and time to use and refine the experience for future products, you try to irrationally berate the product and now you've graduated to hating and trying to hurt the people who are enjoying the AVP? What are you trying to accomplish? Why does this give you pleasure? I really feel sad for those who are spending their lives hating these products and those who use them.

BTW MR, I feel this comment is very much on topic and I hope you don't delete it or suspend me again for saying this, especially given the nastiness and malignancy that I'm responding to.

Curiously, from my viewpoint it’s the rabid Apple acolytes around here who have been the most vicious and personally insulting.

 

[MrWillie]

3 games, 1 app to get around a provider's momentary restriction (Juno), 1 app that does something for you but then warns you not to do it (Crouton), and 1 app to, let's be real, take photos of people, without them noticing (Spatial Cam). The rest is okay in my opinion, but overall this selection is not convincing so far.

But, you get to use those apps on a $3500 computer device that ships with 256 gigs of storage.

 

[Antoniosmalakia]

Curiously, from my viewpoint it’s the rabid Apple acolytes around here who have been the most vicious and personally insulting.

Those expressing disinterest in or discussing the issues they have with Vision Pro have been called poor, jealous, jobless, in need of a better job and just all round general haters for daring to have a conversation.

I don’t think any of that was ever necessary, but it has been happening. It’s almost like rational thought and human decency leaves the minds of some when a new Apple product gets birthed

 

[Abazigal]

I suspect this won’t change until Apple massively changes their behavior towards developers.

Apple has five app stores. Only one of them - the first one - was successful. We developers bought into the hype and delivered hundreds of killer apps that turned the iPhone into the success it was.

Apple responded with nothing but hostility and contempt to us and our customers.

In return, when Apple launched app stores for the Mac, TV, Watch, and now the Vision Pro (and does Home Pod have an App Store?) they got… not much. We want nothing to do with Apple’s App Stores.

Apple is on their own for making apps. There was a time when they could do that (iLife/iWork), but… IDK, I kind of suspect they’ve burned so many developers for so long with their App Stores that developers don’t even want to work at Apple anymore.

I don't think this has anything to do with Apple's perceived behaviour towards developers. Developers will flock to whether the money is, and the reality is that the iPhone is extremely profitable in part because of its 1-billion strong active user base. That's why there's an iPhone app for everything these days.

There aren't many apps for the Apple TV and the Apple Watch because the install base isn't really there for the TV and consumers generally don't spend on smartwatch apps (it's more for passively consuming data).

At the same time, I haven't really seen any signs of widespread developer resentment towards Apple, much less evidence that there is some boycott of the vision pro. My guess is that the majority of developers may not be ready to support yet another Apple platform just yet. It still has a relatively small install base (albeit one that has enabled the developer of Apollo to recoup the cost of his Vision Pro headset by selling a third party YouTube app that he put together in a week). Most developers probably don't even have a Vision Pro headset that they can use to properly test their app (the simulator only goes so far). They could be adopting a wait-and-see approach irrespective of how the DMA or the various lawsuits against Apple turn out, because it doesn't really affect them at the end of the day (that 15% cut isn't gong anywhere, and these developers are still better served by staying inside the App Store).

Make a good app that people want, like what David Smith and Christian Selig have done, and the money will come. Try to use resentment towards Apple as a cover to excuse the fact that you simply aren't ready to support the vision pro, and we see right through the lies.

 

[Antoniosmalakia]

I don't think this has anything to do with Apple's perceived behaviour towards developers. Developers will flock to whether the money is, and the reality is that the iPhone is extremely profitable in part because of its 1-billion strong active user base. That's why there's an iPhone app for everything these days.

There aren't many apps for the Apple TV and the Apple Watch because the install base isn't really there for the TV and consumers generally don't spend on smartwatch apps (it's more for passively consuming data).

At the same time, I haven't really seen any signs of widespread developer resentment towards Apple, much less evidence that there is some boycott of the vision pro. My guess is that the majority of developers may not be ready to support yet another Apple platform just yet. It still has a relatively small install base (albeit one that has enabled the developer of Apollo to recoup the cost of his Vision Pro headset by selling a third party YouTube app that he put together in a week). Most developers probably don't even have a Vision Pro headset that they can use to properly test their app (the simulator only goes so far). They could be adopting a wait-and-see approach irrespective of how the DMA or the various lawsuits against Apple turn out, because it doesn't really affect them at the end of the day (that 15% cut isn't gong anywhere, and these developers are still better served by staying inside the App Store).

Make a good app that people want, like what David Smith and Christian Selig have done, and the money will come. Try to use resentment towards Apple as a cover to excuse the fact that you simply aren't ready to support the vision pro, and we see right through the lies.

750 sales at 4.99 would be just about enough to recoup the cost of a Vision Pro.

🤷

 

[Surf Monkey]

Those expressing disinterest in or discussing the issues they have with Vision Pro have been called poor, jealous, jobless, in need of a better job and just all round general haters for daring to have a conversation.

I don’t think any of that was ever necessary, but it has been happening. It’s almost like rational thought and human decency leaves the minds of some when a new Apple product gets birthed

I got called a straight up terrorist. But somehow noticing that there are some pretty high hurdles to wide adoption presented by Vision Pro makes me a horrible trolling monster who is only here to personally insult people.

The problem is that some can’t separate themselves from the product. If the product is being criticized they feel that they themselves are being attacked. It’s pretty common on boards like this.

 

[lilkwarrior]

Yes, I'm played it on Quest 2 and Quest 3 a few times.
You really need the controllers for the tactile feedback you get when you are "riding the rails"

I know Apple really don't like to admit this will be amazing for gaming, but I do hope, behind the scenes they are working on controllers for games.
If they are dam stubborn (which sadly they are known for often) and simply refuse to make them it will be a shame as you benefit so so much from a tactile feedback from pressing actual buttons and getting levels of vibration from controllers.
Waving your hands in the air touching nothing, whilst fine for some things, it just going to be horrid for other things.

…You don't invest in a Mac computing platform if you primarily play games.

Like their other prosumer computing products Apple didn't make this headset to primarily target VR gaming (standalone VR headsets with their mobile APUs are switch-level VR gaming anyways).

Time and time again it's futile to think Apple will focus on catering to gamers primarily with their computing platforms. It's a nice to have but Apple understands the bigger picture of making a meaningful spatial headset more broadly appealing to those with the ability to afford high-end computing but do NOT want to compromise such computing just for games is a prosumer headset:

A spatial computing headset at a quality appropriate for productivity, high-end/pro-quality consumption of media, and everyday computing.

This is a headset primarily for affluent and productive adults vs the more budget-conscuious people gaming spatial computing headsets targets.

This isn't even going into the fact a computing-capable spatial computing headset to traditional laptops and other computers for general computing is always going to be priced higher due to the costs of having the sensors, screens, and additional dedicated hardware for the spatial computing headset to be comparable.


With their focuses on High pixel density over lower resolution but higher refresh rates as well as their productivity-oriented OS affordances, Apple has made this VERY clear for over a decade.

 

[hans1972]

When you look at Apple's financials, the vast majority of revenue is still tied to the iPhone. Apple's beloved "Services" category is largely iPhone driven, so when you add Services + iPhone, the vast majority of Apple's sales are iPhone related. Developers are going to follow the money. None of Apple's other platforms comes close to the iPhone in terms of cash generating potential for developers.

Just like upscale prostitutes?

That's my entire point: Developers follow the money and they'll suffer abuse if they believe there is enough money to be made.

The reason the App Store is successful and the Mac App Store isn't, have nothing to do with how kind Apple is or isn't towards developers.

Very few developers, if any, HAS to be in the Mac App Store to be successful. That's why it isn't successful.

 

[Antoniosmalakia]

I got called a straight up terrorist. But somehow noticing that there are some pretty high hurdles to wide adoption presented by Vision Pro makes me a horrible trolling monster who is only here to personally insult people.

The problem is that some can’t separate themselves from the product. If the product is being criticized they feel that they themselves are being attacked. It’s pretty common on boards like this.

A terrorist for what?

Perhaps the realisation that there are so many people uninterested in the device is actually terrorising them?

Anyway, there is nothing on this list that is going to make me buy the thing, and I have a decent tv, cinema set up, monitors, iPad and Mac. There is no justification for me to own it, and “ooo, new shiny thing”, isn’t a good enough reason.