Apple's $3,500 headset was supposed to reinvent how we use computers.
Instead, a growing number of its most talked-about apps are quietly packing up and leaving.
The latest casualty: a wave of developers have pulled their apps from visionOS in recent weeks, and users are noticing.
Apps that once defined the early Vision Pro experience are now ghost towns, with no updates, no support, and no explanation.
For a device that costs more than a decent used car, that stings.
The Vision Pro launched with a burst of hype and a handful of marquee apps built specifically for spatial computing.
Fast forward, and many of those same apps haven't been touched in months.
Developers are voting with their keyboards, and the message is loud: the audience just isn't big enough to justify the work.
You're not just porting code, you're rethinking every button, gesture, and menu for a headset that most people still don't own.
When the install base is a rounding error compared to the iPhone, the return on investment looks like a bad joke.
Small studios can't afford to burn cash on a platform that might never scale.
And it's not just indie developers bailing.
Big names have been suspiciously quiet too.
Some shipped a bare-bones version at launch, collected the press, and then vanished.
Others skipped visionOS entirely, betting that the headset stays a niche toy for early adopters and tech reviewers.
For the people who dropped thousands on day one, this is a gut punch.
They bought into a vision of the future, and the future keeps losing its apps.
A headset with no killer apps is just an expensive paperweight you wear on your face.
So what should you do if you're eyeing a Vision Pro?
Be honest about what you actually want it for.
If it's movies, virtual monitors, and the occasional spatial photo, the built-in stuff still works fine.
But if you're waiting for a thriving app ecosystem to arrive, don't hold your breath.
Apple, for its part, keeps touting the platform's potential.
Potential doesn't update your apps, though.
Until the company either drops the price or floods the market with a cheaper model, developers have little reason to stick around.
And every app that walks out the door makes the next one easier to lose.
But its app store is starting to feel like a neighborhood where the lights keep going out, one house at a time.
Our take: Apple built a stunning piece of hardware and then handed developers a bill they can't pay.
Until the economics change, expect more empty shelves.
Final Thoughts
If you already own one, enjoy what's there, because the shelf isn't getting fuller anytime soon.