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The Vision Pro’s app problems could soon be over, though some hurdles remain

February 1, 2024
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Reviewers have got their hands on the Apple Vision Pro, and while the displays and specs have impressed so far, a common theme of the sites featured in our Apple Vision Pro review roundup is that the software lacks some luster.

That’s not to say it isn’t a blast to watch a 3D movie on a massive virtual screen. But a lot of the apps you’re using or just ported from iPadOS, focus on watching something, using a game controller to enjoy a flat game, or doing work with a Mac and keyboard. There are very few that let you get properly hands-on with virtual objects – the sorts of experiences people think of when they think of VR and AR software from the Quest or Steam platforms.

But the Vision Pro's app problem might soon be over.

The Carrot Weather app shown in augmented reality using Apple's Vision Pro headset. — Carrot Weather is one of the new Vision Pro apps (Image credit: Grailr)

For a start, Apple has said over 600 “new apps” are being released for the Vision Pro. This is quite a lot more than the 230-odd estimate given by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Twitter in late January – who often has solid insider knowledge of Apple’s systems.

That said, beyond Fruit Ninja AR, Apple still has yet to show off many AR apps that involve much interaction. Many of those shown in its blog post still look like you’re mostly interacting with massive floating windows or viewing 3D objects rather than getting super hands-on.

We’ll have to wait and see what’s what when the software and Vision Pro hardware are released for the public on February 2nd (tomorrow at the time of writing).

Still some hurdles to jump

Apple Vision Pro battery pack — (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

What’s perhaps more interesting is the announcement that Unity has launched the 1.0 version of its developer tools to create Vision Pro software. In the blog post, it said that after spending time in beta the tools are now available to “all Unity Pro, Enterprise, and Industry subscribers.”

The big upshot of this for people using Vision Pro is it’s now easier for Unity developers to create and port their apps to the Apple headset – so be on the lookout for a wave of new Unity apps heading to the Apple system in the coming months following the likes of LEGO Builder’s Journey and Tripp (with the team behind these titles having had access to the Unity beta for Vision Pro development).

Epic Games – the team behind Unreal Engine, a popular Unity competitor – hasn’t made clear when its tools will also offer Vision Pro development support if they’ll even come at all. The last we heard it was “exploring” the possibility back in September 2023.

Girl wearing Meta Quest 3 headset interacting with a jungle playset — AR game Lego Bricktales on the Meta Quest 3 (Image credit: Meta)

Unfortunately, there are still some big hurdles to Vision Pro app development that may cause problems in getting long-term support from a wide pool of app creators.

The first is that visionOS app development – even through Unity – requires access to Mac computers running on Apple silicon. This won’t be a problem for every development team, but for software makers who mostly use non-Mac hardware for development buying all-new computers would be a serious investment in a brand-new platform.

Another problem is the Vision Pro’s lack of controllers. Apple’s dedication to only using hand-tracking certainly makes the device feel futuristic but many app developers have told us it makes porting existing VR and AR software to the system a bit of a challenge. That’s because most VR headsets use nearly identical controllers, so software is designed to work with these standardized handsets in mind.

To create a Vision Pro app they’d have to rethink the whole way players interact with the virtual world, which might mean effectively starting from scratch. What’s more, Apple has a unique version of hand tracking that also relies on eye-tracking – something most other headsets don’t have. So even if an app already has a hand-tracking mode in place there are still some hurdles to jump to accommodate the control scheme.

Over time developers should overcome these and other hurdles, but we'll have to wait and see how much they affect the availability of Apple Vision Pro software in the near and long-term future.

Date uncertainty

For one thing, January 27 is a Saturday, an unlikely day for an Apple product launch. It could be that Wall Street Insights is referring to January 27 in China which, thanks to time zone differences, aligns with Friday January 26 in the United States. That’s a much more probable release date, as it doesn't coincide with the weekend, when many of the media outlets that would cover the Vision Pro will be providing reduced news coverage. Yet the report specifically mentions the date in the US, meaning that questions remain.

Moving past the specific date, an early 2024 launch date has been put forward by a number of reputable Apple analysts. Ming-Chi Kuo, for example, has suggested a late January or early February timeframe, while Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has zeroed in on February as the release month.

Either way, it’s clear that the Vision Pro is almost upon us. Apple has reportedly been training retail staff how to use the device, which implies that the company is almost ready to pull the trigger.

We’ll see how accurate the Wall Street Insights report is in a few weeks’ time. Regardless of whether or not it has the correct date, we’re undoubtedly on the brink of seeing Apple’s most anticipated new product in recent memory.

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