Apple's Vision Pro has been on sale for over a year now, and if you've been waiting for a killer app to justify that second mortgage, the wait continues.
But hey, at least the app store isn't a ghost town anymore.
Developers have been slowly trickling in, and the results are a mixed bag of genuinely cool and deeply weird.
The headset's big pitch was "spatial computing," which is Silicon Valley speak for "we glued an iPad to your face." Early adopters dropped serious cash for a device that mostly excelled at watching movies alone in a very expensive way.
The app situation didn't help—launch day offerings felt like a tech demo reel that someone forgot to finish.
Fast forward to now, and there's actually stuff worth opening.
Streaming apps finally let you watch Netflix and Disney+ on a virtual IMAX screen, assuming you enjoy the sensation of wearing a warm brick on your cheekbones for two hours.
Productivity apps let you scatter windows around your living room like a disorganized wizard, which is either revolutionary or just a fancy way to procrastinate.
Apps that turn your home into a holographic art gallery, apps that let you pet virtual creatures that definitely aren't real pets, and at least one app that simulates being in a spaceship for reasons nobody has adequately explained.
It's the Wild West out there, minus the horses and plus a lot of people gesturing at nothing.
The real question is whether any of this moves units.
Apple reportedly sold somewhere in the hundreds of thousands, which sounds impressive until you remember the iPhone moves that many before lunch.
At $3,500 a pop, this thing was never going to be a mass-market hit, and the app catalog reflects that—niche, experimental, and occasionally brilliant.
Some developers are clearly betting big on spatial computing being the next platform.
Others are just porting their iPad apps and calling it a day because, well, that's basically what it is.
The headset runs on a modified iPadOS, so the path of least resistance is obvious.
Whether that's a feature or a bug depends on how generous you're feeling.
For now, the Vision Pro remains a fascinating toy for people with disposable income and a high tolerance for looking ridiculous in public.
The apps are getting better, slowly, like a garden that only grows one vegetable per season.
If you already own one, you've got more to do than last year.
If you don't, nothing here screams "sell your car." The headset's future hinges on whether Apple can convince developers that spatial computing is worth the effort.
So far, the answer is a shrug and a maybe.
That's not nothing, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement either. **Our take:** The Vision Pro is still a solution in search of a problem, and a handful of new apps doesn't change that math.
If you've got the cash and the curiosity, go for it—just know you're paying early-adopter tax on a device that's still figuring out what it wants to be.
Final Thoughts
Everyone else can safely wait for the sequel, whenever that shows up.