Apple revealed the Vision Pro in 2023, describing this headset worth $3,500 as the next major platform, and a year later this product from the technology giant emerged on the market, and already in 2025, it was unequivocally confirmed that the device received a small number of apps, which rather corresponds to such definition as a problem, rather than a feature of functioning or a certain specificity.
It is worth noting that the mentioned company, based in Cupertino, California, rarely publishes statistics on the number of apps available for the Vision Pro. For this reason, it is difficult to talk about the specified indicator in a kind of real-time mode in the context of headset operation, but this figure is not a gigantic and impressive imagination.
According to AppFigures, a consulting company that tracks Apple platforms, the number of new apps for the Vision Pro has been decreasing month by month since sales of the device were launched in February last year.
During the presentation of the mentioned headset, the company’s executives stated that developers will be able to create new experiences that are not available in the practice of interacting with traditional computers. At the same time, the leading developers are still focused on other devices. Major technology companies like Meta, Netflix, and Google have yet to release their most important apps for Apple’s headset.
It is worth noting that many of the new apps and ideas for the Vision Pro come from independent developers, some of whom, as noted by the media, in addition to their main work, are also involved in hacker attacks, which are their kind of shadow activities.
Adam Roszyk a programmer from Poland, has developed 17 apps for the Vision Pro since the launch of this headset as a product available for purchase on the mass market of technical devices. The Night Vision app, elaborated by the mentioned specialist, costs $4 and allows the user of this product to tap on a camera with a depth sensor to see objects in the dark. By spending $5, consumers can perform a chore in a Luigi’s Mansion-like video game through the Vacuume app, which overlays virtual coins on the floor. The mentioned coins can be vacuumed along with any real dirt or dust. The Scan Export app for $6, developed by a Polish programmer, allows users to create a 3D digital scan of the entire building just by walking around it. It is a useful virtual tool for those who are engaged in construction or real estate.
Adam Roszyk stated that the development of the Vision Pro apps as a process is still at an early stage, and it is currently unknown how useful it can really be in life. The programmer also noted that there are many different ideas related to the elaborating of relevant digital products. Adam Roszyk continues to work on apps for the Vision Pro due to the belief that spatial computing will be the next big platform. It’s worth noting that spatial computing is Apple’s preferred terminology for headset and glasses technologies that can integrate 3D objects with the world around them. Adam Roszyk is betting that app development will provide a leading position when more and more people use the Vision Pro or, possibly, lightweight glasses. According to the programmer, this type of computing is the future, which in terms of the impact on the industry in general and the Apple ecosystem in particular can be compared with the debut of the iPhone.
In August, Apple updated the count of the latest apps for the Vision Pro. At that time, Tim Cook, the company’s chief executive officer, told investors that there are 2,500 apps on the platform. In this case, among other things, it means corresponding digital products with full immersion, which overlay virtual objects over the real world. There are also 2D apps with some spatial components on the technology giant’s platform.
AppFigures data shows that as of the end of January, fewer than 1,900 apps for the Vision Pro remained active. Apple did not comment on the relevant information.
Meta, one of the competitors of the Tim Cook-led company, claimed in 2023 that it had 500 apps in its Quest store. Last year, this technology giant published information according to which the mentioned indicator increased tenfold.
The price of the Quest 3S, which has many of the features also available to the Vision Pro users, starts at $300. Meta has sold millions of its predecessors in recent years. The technology giant does not disclose information about the number of users, but at the same time, the Meta Quest app was downloaded about 6 million times in 2024, according to AppFigures data. This is a useful proxy, as consumers need to download the app to set up the headset.
It is worth noting that there are also about 1.5 million Vision Pro apps, which are ported versions of the corresponding digital products for Apple devices such as iPad and iPhone. The technology giant automatically ports apps to the Vision Pro when they are downloaded, but companies can decline. The mentioned digital products can be used inside the headset but appear as 2D flat screens. Meta began to emulate that strategy last year by developing 2D Android apps for Quest. At the same time, the technology giant does not have a library of millions of existing mobile apps.
It is worth noting that Apple does not publish information about sales of Vision Pro. IDC estimates that less than 1 million devices have been sold to date.
Some services such as YouTube and Netflix, and game streaming services like Nvidia GeForce, are now available through the Apple Vision Pro browser. Existing apps often receive updates that introduce a spatial mode, such as the NBA scores app, which has an experimental feature that allows consumers to watch a basketball game live as if the players were miniature figures on a table.
Apple Arcade, a monthly game subscription from Apple, requires its titles to support the Vision Pro in addition to the iPhone and iPad. The technology giant pays Apple Arcade developers, and their apps are free for subscribers.
Many of the mentioned games are 2D, some of which are exclusive to Vision Pro. Last month, Apple released Gears & Goo. This Vision Pro app enables the player to control an army of goofy frog-like characters on a table in the real world.
In the meantime, Meta is striving to form a practice of cooperation with virtual reality developers, promising that they will be able to earn money. Last month, the technology giant published information according to which the volume of payments for Quest headsets increased by 12% in 2024. At the same time, the company did not provide a specific figure. The technology giant also published information according to which it has 200 apps that have made more than $1 million in software sales.
The Vision Pro app gold rush has seen a slower uptake compared to the iPhone’s app boom. The iPhone App Store was launched in 2008. A year after the launch of this platform, the company announced that the corresponding segment of its virtual ecosystem has 50 million users, 2 billion downloads, and 85,000 apps. The technology giant regularly provided developers and investors with information about how much money it had paid from App Store sales. At the same time, the company does not publish similar data on the Vision Pro.
Ahead of Apple’s presence in the virtual reality industry, many experts expected that this starting moment of the technology giant’s involvement in the corresponding dimension of the digital being space would have the same effect as the iPhone’s debut for the mobile apps area, creating fortune as millions of users sought to fill their new devices with fresh software.
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