Apple's $3,500 face computer has been on shelves for a while now, and the app situation is starting to tell a story nobody at Cupertino wants narrated out loud.
Developers are quietly abandoning ship, and the ones who stayed are basically building the same three experiences over and over.
Search the App Store for Vision Pro exclusives and you'll find a graveyard of "immersive meditation" apps, a dozen virtual cinema clones, and roughly four thousand ways to look at a 3D model of a sneaker.
Meanwhile, the apps people actually use on their phones — the ones that made the iPhone worth carrying — are either missing entirely or running as blown-up iPad windows floating in your living room like sad little ghosts.
The killer stat floating around developer forums: a huge chunk of Vision Pro owners reportedly fire up the thing a few times, watch a movie on a virtual mega-screen, and then let it collect dust next to the Peloton.
That's an expensive novelty that happens to play Disney+.
Part of the problem is that making a real spatial app is a nightmare.
You need a team, months of work, and a business model that doesn't exist yet because the install base is roughly the population of a mid-sized Iowa town.
So devs do the math, shrug, and go build another AI wrapper for the iPhone instead.
Apple keeps trotting out sizzle reels of surgeons using it, architects walking through buildings, and some guy editing 8K footage with his hands like a wizard.
They're a tech enthusiast who dropped rent money on a headset and now needs a reason to justify it to their spouse.
The genuinely good apps exist — a few spatial games, some wild art experiences, and the movie-watching thing is legitimately great if you live alone and hate your TV.
But "great if you live alone and hate your TV" is not a pitch that moves units.
Neither is "it's like an iPad strapped to your face, but heavier." The next big test is whether developers stick around long enough for a cheaper model to show up.
If a $1,500 version lands and the app catalog is still 90% meditation apps and virtual shoe stores, the whole category might get remembered the same way we remember 3D TVs — fondly, briefly, and from a safe distance. **Our take:** The hardware is genuinely impressive and the software ecosystem is genuinely embarrassing, which is a brutal combo for anyone who already bought in.
If you're on the fence, wait for the cheaper model and a real reason to wear it.
Final Thoughts
Right now you'd mostly be paying a premium to be a beta tester with a neck ache.