Apple's $3,500 face computer has been on shelves for a while now, and the app situation is finally getting weird enough to talk about.
The Vision Pro launched with the usual corporate suspects—Zoom, Teams, a bunch of "imagine your spreadsheet in 3D" demos nobody asked for.
But the real story is what developers are actually shipping now that the novelty has worn off and the return window has closed.
Turns out the killer app for a headset that costs more than a used Honda Civic is... watching movies alone in a fake theater.
Yes, several apps now let you simulate sitting in a giant empty cinema, which is either the future of entertainment or the saddest thing ever coded.
Apple keeps calling this "spatial computing." Everyone else calls it "avoiding your roommates." The productivity pitch is where things get genuinely funny.
There are apps that let you arrange multiple virtual monitors around your head, which sounds incredible until you remember you're wearing a scuba mask to check email.
Developers have built virtual whiteboards, 3D model viewers, and at least four different apps that promise to "redefine collaboration." None of them have figured out how to make your coworkers not look like floating Muppets.
Gaming remains the awkward elephant in the room.
The Vision Pro has no controllers, so you're stuck waving your hands at floating objects like you're conducting an orchestra that hates you.
A few indie studios have leaned into this with gesture-based puzzle games, which is admirable, but the install base is roughly the size of a small town's population.
The most genuinely useful stuff is boring, and that's the point.
Apps for streaming your Mac screen, controlling smart home gadgets, and viewing 3D photos you took on your iPhone are quietly the reason people keep the thing charged.
The flashy demos got the headlines; the mundane utilities are what justify the shelf space.
There's also a growing category of apps clearly built by people who assume you're rich and bored.
A meditation app that puts you inside a giant glowing orb.
If that sounds like your thing, congratulations, you've found your people.
For most Americans, absolutely not, and Apple knows it.
This is a developer kit wearing a consumer product's clothes, and the app store reflects that awkward phase.
But it's also the only game in town if you want to know where headsets might go in five years.
The apps are weird, half-finished, and occasionally brilliant—which is exactly how the iPhone App Store looked in 2008, minus the part where everyone could afford one.
Our take: wait for the price to fall off a cliff or the apps to get genuinely essential, whichever comes first.
Final Thoughts
Right now you're paying a premium to be a beta tester with a very expensive neck workout.