Google reportedly plans to develop a YouTube app for Apple Vision Pro

A YouTube app for the Apple Vision Pro is apparently something Google aims to develop. A YouTube source reportedly confirmed to The Verge that the company intends to develop a native Vision Pro app while, in the meanwhile, optimising YouTube for Safari. Developer Christian Selig, the man behind the well-known Apollo software that Reddit removed in 2023, made the U-turn after an unofficial YouTube app for Apple’s $3,500 headset was released.

An email from YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby to The Verge’s Nilay Patel purportedly said, “We do not have any specific plans to share at this time, but can confirm that a Vision Pro app is on our roadmap.” “We’re excited to see Vision Pro launch and we’re supporting it by ensuring YouTube users have a great experience in Safari.”

As late as January 19, YouTube announced that it had no plans to create a Vision Pro app, despite the fact that Vision Pro launched with over 600 native apps. (Netflix is yet another well-known exception.) Furthermore, a spokesperson for the YouTube firm said Engadget at the time that there were no plans to release the iPad app on the visionOS App Store. The (quite) quick and simple method for developers to get their program onto Apple’s “spatial computing” device is to port iPad apps.

The last two and a half weeks have seen something shift the company’s perspective. A theory suggests that Apple’s mixed reality headset, which retails at an astounding $3,500, is proving popular among the company’s wealthiest and most devoted customers, who scooped up pre-orders with ease. Ming-Chi Kuo, a reputable analyst, calculated that during the first weekend of sales, Apple sold between 160,000 and 180,000 headsets.

According to a different theory, YouTube saw an independent creator making up for lost time. Launched at launch, Juno was an unofficial third-party YouTube software developed by Christian Selig, the creator of the now-defunct Apollo for Reddit app. Having developed one of the most popular Reddit apps for iOS users prior to the company’s controversial API rules killing out the majority of third-party Reddit apps, Selig enjoys a great deal of trust and prestige among users of Apple devices.

In a blog post last week, Selig said, “I was more than a little sad when YouTube announced that they don’t have plans to build a visionOS app, and disabled the option to load the iPad app.” YouTube is definitely one of the areas of the internet that I use the most. “This leaves you with Safari, and the website is okay, but definitely doesn’t feel like a visionOS app.”

Vision Pro does not presently support 360-degree or 3D videos on YouTube. If the business intends to include those in its app, that is not yet clear.