Apple's Vision Pro launched to a chorus of "who is this for?" and a resounding "not me." The headset has been sitting on shelves like an expensive paperweight that judges you through ski goggles.
But a year in, the app situation is finally getting weird enough to matter.
Here's the thing nobody tells you about strapping a computer to your face: the killer app isn't productivity.
It's the absurd stuff developers cook up when they're left alone with a $3,500 dev kit and too much free time.
Users are filming their kids' birthdays in 3D and sobbing into the foam cushion when they replay them.
Apple quietly pushed this feature hard, and it's working.
There's something genuinely unhinged about reliving a memory through goggles, but people are doing it anyway.
Then there's the enterprise crowd, which has basically adopted the Vision Pro as its own.
Surgeons are previewing procedures in 3D.
Architects walk clients through buildings that don't exist yet.
None of this is sexy, but it's the kind of boring money that keeps a platform alive.
The entertainment apps are where it gets fun.
Disney+ dropped a 3D movie environment that makes you feel like you're watching from a floating theater in the clouds.
NBA games in spatial mode are legitimately wild — you can sit courtside without the $3,000 ticket price or the guy behind you spilling beer on your shoes.
Apple Arcade titles look sharp, but nobody's buying a headset for a glorified mobile game.
The real gamers are waiting for something that justifies the price tag, and it hasn't arrived.
Productivity apps exist, and they're fine.
You can float a giant spreadsheet in your living room and pretend you're Tony Stark.
But after twenty minutes, your neck hurts and you realize a $200 monitor would've done the same job without the migraine.
The weirdest win might be the niche stuff.
Meditation apps that turn your room into a zen garden.
A karaoke app that puts you on a stage in front of a fake crowd that loves you unconditionally.
None of this is necessary, and that's exactly the point.
Apple's betting that spatial computing follows the same curve as the iPhone — clunky and pointless until suddenly it isn't.
The App Store for Vision Pro has crossed a few thousand titles now, which sounds impressive until you remember most of them are ports and tech demos.
It's heavy, expensive, and makes you look like you're preparing for a very polite cyberpunk dystopia.
The external battery pack is a design choice that screams "we ran out of room." Until Apple ships a lighter, cheaper version, these apps are preaching to a very small choir.
But here's the contrarian take: the Vision Pro doesn't need to sell like the iPhone.
It needs to be the dev kit that figures out what spatial computing is actually for.
If you already own one, the app situation is finally worth revisiting.
The second or third generation is when this gets interesting, and your wallet will thank you for the patience. **The Verdict:** The Vision Pro is still a rich person's toy, but the toy is starting to have actual toys inside it.
Final Thoughts
That's progress, even if it costs more than a used car.