YouTube and Spotify won’t launch Apple Vision Pro apps, joining Netflix
GOOGLE’S YouTube and Spotify Technology, the world’s most popular video and music services, are joining Netflix in steering clear of Apple’s upcoming mixed-reality headset.
YouTube said on Thursday (Jan 18) that it is not planning to launch a new app for the Apple Vision Pro, nor will it allow its longstanding iPad application to work on the device. YouTube, like Netflix, is recommending that customers use a web browser if they want to see its content: “YouTube users will be able to use YouTube in Safari on the Vision Pro at launch.”
Spotify also is not planning a new app for visionOS – the Vision Pro’s operating system – and does not expect to enable its iPad app to run on the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. But the music service will still likely work from a web browser. Bloomberg News reported on Netflix’s decision on Wednesday.
The Vision Pro will include access to Apple’s apps for music and podcasts, which compete with Spotify’s offerings. But getting snubbed by Netflix, Spotify and YouTube means that the most popular streaming apps will not be available when the headset launches on Feb 2. Apple has largely marketed the device as a platform for video, games and other entertainment.
YouTube is a particularly large omission for the product. When Apple’s original iPad launched in 2010, YouTube was one of a handful of apps preinstalled on the tablet.
YouTube and Spotify continue to offer popular apps for the iPhone and iPad. And that, theoretically, gave them an easy path towards supporting the Vision Pro. Developers with iPad software in the regular App Store will see those apps appear in the Vision Pro store by default. That means developers have to opt-out if they do not want to participate.
Several other entertainment apps are still participating, including Disney+, Max, Peacock, ESPN and Amazon Prime Video. Altogether, Apple says the device will support more than one million titles in the headset’s App Store. The company will begin taking preorders for the Vision Pro on Friday.
YouTube and Spotify declined to say why they bowed out of supporting the US$3,499 device. Spotify does not offer an app on competing headsets, such as Meta Platforms’s Quest, though YouTube does. Spotify also has been embroiled in a fight with Apple over App Store policies, but the decision on the Vision Pro is not related to that, according to the source familiar, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private.
Searches conducted by MacStories on Thursday indicated that other key iPad apps, including Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, are not currently set to work on the Vision Pro either. But that could change by the device’s launch, or those developers could be planning new dedicated versions for visionOS. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG
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