Apple's spatial computing headset launched with a lot of hype and a few hundred apps.
Six months later, the app library looks less like the future of computing and more like a very expensive fidget toy.
The most downloaded Vision Pro apps, according to recent store data, are not productivity suites or 3D design tools.
They are virtual lava lamps, floating aquariums, and a $5 app that puts a fake window on your wall.
The pitch for the Vision Pro was always about doing real work in a spatial canvas.
Instead, users are strapping a ski goggle to their face to watch a giant virtual TV while lying in bed.
Apple's own marketing showed people editing 3D models with their hands.
Real people are using it to avoid looking at their actual ceiling.
The eye tracking feels like a magic trick.
But a platform is only as good as its software, and right now the killer app for Vision Pro is "pretending you are somewhere else while doing the exact same thing you would do on a couch." Some developers are trying.
There is a decent 3D chess game, a handful of meditation apps, and a spatial version of a popular note-taking tool that costs more than a monthly car payment.
But the breakout hits are the cheap, silly ones.
A $2 app that turns your room into a spaceship cockpit has more reviews than most professional tools.
The market has spoken, and it wants dopamine, not deliverables.
The bigger problem is that nobody has figured out the "why." Smartphones replaced cameras, maps, and music players.
The Vision Pro has not replaced anything.
It is a second screen for people who already own three.
When you spend that much on a gadget, you want a reason to use it daily.
Instead, owners report the same arc: two weeks of amazement, then a slow return to the laptop.
The headset ends up in a drawer next to the Peloton.
Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper model, which is smart.
The current price tags it as a developer kit that consumers accidentally bought.
But cheaper hardware does not fix a thin app store.
If the best thing you can do with a spatial computer is watch a movie on a floating rectangle, you do not need a spatial computer.
You need a $200 projector and a bag of popcorn.
It is a very impressive answer to a question nobody asked.
Meanwhile, the app store fills up with digital pets and floating plants, because that is what people actually want to do when they strap a computer to their face.
Turns out the future of work is just the present of goofing off with extra steps.
So if you are thinking about buying one, ask yourself an honest question: do you want to be productive, or do you want a $3,500 aquarium?
If it is the second one, congratulations, you are the target market.
Final Thoughts
Just do not pretend it is a business expense.