After two years of preliminary hesitation, YouTube has lastly unveiled its dedicated app for the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional.
When Apple’s headset first launched, YouTube opted for a web-based strategy as a substitute of growing a devoted app, directing viewers to make use of Safari to entry content material. Till now, anybody wanting to observe YouTube on the headset has missed out on useful options like offline downloads — making it a lot much less helpful for journey or offline viewing.
To fill the hole, third-party choices, reminiscent of Juno, briefly appeared on visionOS earlier than being eliminated for violating YouTube’s Phrases of Service.
At this time’s announcement modifications the sport, permitting customers to get pleasure from their favourite content material — together with all customary movies and YouTube Shorts —on a theater-sized digital display screen in a completely immersive surroundings.
Standout options embrace a Spatial tab that lets customers uncover spatial movies, together with 3D, VR180, and 360-degree codecs. For customers with the newest Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional fashions powered by the M5 chip, the app helps 8K playback, a notable improve.
Moreover, customers can work together with the brand new visionOS app utilizing gesture controls, reminiscent of resizing home windows or scrubbing by way of movies.
The timing of this app’s launch is attention-grabbing, as YouTube initially hesitated to spend money on a devoted visionOS expertise, probably ready to gauge the headset’s traction. Most main streaming providers have supplied native experiences on the platform since launch, together with Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount, and Peacock, amongst others.
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Another excuse why YouTube’s choice to launch the app now could be attention-grabbing is that the preliminary hype surrounding the headset seems to have diminished.
Regardless of the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional introducing Apple Intelligence-powered options virtually a 12 months in the past, consumer engagement with the headset has reportedly been lukewarm. Current estimates point out that gross sales have considerably declined, with solely about 45,000 new items shipped in the course of the fourth quarter of 2025. The Financial Times reported that manufacturing was halted on account of weak demand, leading to a pointy discount in advertising and marketing efforts throughout key markets.
The app is now out there within the visionOS App Retailer and is appropriate with each the M2 and M5 chip fashions.
