When Apple launched the Vision Pro, the pitch was simple: this isn't a toy, it's a new computing platform.
Spatial apps would change how we work, watch, and create.
But six months in, something strange is happening in the App Store.
The most-downloaded Vision Pro apps aren't productivity tools or immersive workspaces.
They're ports of things you can already do on your phone.
Apple spent billions developing a headset that costs as much as a used car, then handed developers a toolkit that most of them quietly ignored.
Big names like Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify never built native apps.
A handful of indie developers filling the gap.
Apps like Spatial Puzzle and a few meditation experiences are getting traction, but the download numbers are microscopic compared to iPhone launches.
One developer told me their Vision Pro app made less in a month than their iOS app made in a day.
Here's the angle the tech press keeps dancing around.
Apple is betting that developers will build for a device with maybe a few hundred thousand active users, at $3,500 a pop.
That math doesn't work for studios with payroll.
It only works for hobbyists and true believers.
Meanwhile, Meta's Quest store has thousands more apps, and it runs on hardware a fraction of the price.
Apple's answer has been to lean on "spatial computing" branding and hope the ecosystem catches up.
But ecosystems don't catch up because a company wants them to.
They catch up when there's money on the table.
Many Vision Pro apps are just iPad apps running in a floating window.
Apple lets developers check a box and call it a spatial experience.
They can tell the difference between something built for the headset and something stretched to fit.
The result is a feedback loop that should worry anyone who bought in early.
Fewer developers means fewer reasons to buy.
Apple's only escape hatch is a cheaper model, which rumors suggest is coming.
But even a $1,500 headset faces the same fundamental question: what do you actually do with it?
For now, the honest answer is: watch movies, look at photos, and occasionally impress your friends.
And no amount of marketing copy changes that.
None of this means the Vision Pro is a failure.
It's a v1 product from a company that plays long games.
But the "spatial computing revolution" narrative took a hit the moment people realized the killer app is just Safari.
If Apple wants developers to show up, it needs to show them a path to paying customers.
Final Thoughts
Until then, the most honest thing you can say about Vision Pro apps is that they're waiting for the rest of us to care.