Earlier this week, Netflix confirmed it would not offer a dedicated app for the upcoming Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset. Now, two more major mobile entertainment apps, Google's YouTube and Spotify, have also decided to skip the next hardware product launch from the team at Cupertino.
Bloomberg reports that Google has confirmed it will not make a dedicated visionOS app for the Vision Pro. It also won't allow its iPad app to be used on the headset. (There is a YouTube app for the Meta Quest VR headsets). Spotify will reportedly do the same, according to an unnamed source.
This means that three of the most popular streaming entertainment apps will not be available when the Vision Pro launches on February 2. The companies could just allow their respective iPad apps to run on the Vision Pro, without any special visionOS features, but the fact that they blocked those apps from working is a pretty major snub towards Apple.
So far, there's no official word from Netflix, Spotify, or Google's YouTube as to why they opted not to support the Vision Pro with native apps. However, customers can still access all three services on the headset via Apple's Safari web browser.
Apple's next major product launch has been highly promoted as a high-end entertainment device, and indeed, a large number of other smaller streaming services will be supporting the Vision Pro with their apps at launch. Some time ago, even Microsoft announced that it would support Vision Pro with versions of its Word, Excel, and Office apps for the device.
Pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro begin tomorrow, January 19, for $3,499. Apple is reportedly preparing its retail store employees to demonstrate the Vision Pro with sessions that could last as long as 25 minutes.
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