Apple's Vision Pro launched with the usual fanfare and the usual problem: a breathtaking demo reel followed by a barren app store.
Remember when everyone strapped on a ski goggles-looking headset, watched a dinosaur walk through their living room, and then quietly placed it on eBay?
Well, the apps are finally trickling in, and the results are exactly what you'd expect from a platform where the install base could fit inside a single Best Buy.
A handful of developers have built genuinely clever stuff — virtual cinema apps that make your $12 AMC ticket look like a flip phone, spatial productivity tools that let you pin twelve browser windows around your head like a paranoid detective, and a few games that actually justify the eye-tracking and hand gestures.
If you've got the cash and a high tolerance for looking like a cyborg on a transatlantic flight, there's fun to be had.
We're talking apps that exist purely because a product manager somewhere demanded a "spatial strategy." A meditation app where a floating orb judges your breathing.
A "virtual workspace" that's just a gray room with a chair.
Apple spent years and billions developing this hardware so you could do long division in midair.
Developers build for platforms where people actually live, and right now the Vision Pro is a luxury item for early adopters, tech reviewers, and that one guy in your office who won't stop talking about "spatial computing." Every app store needs a critical mass of users to justify the investment, and a $3,500 headset with a niche audience isn't exactly screaming "build here or die." Apple's playbook is familiar, though.
The original iPhone had no App Store at all.
The Apple Watch was a laggy mess for two generations.
The company is patient, wealthy, and stubborn in equal measure.
If the next Vision headset drops to something resembling a normal price, the app floodgates could open.
Until then, we're in the awkward phase where every new app feels like a science fair project with a subscription fee.
Unless you're a developer, a die-hard Apple collector, or someone who genuinely needs a floating spreadsheet while cooking dinner, probably not yet.
The apps are getting better, but "better than nothing" is a low bar for three and a half grand.
Our take: the Vision Pro isn't doomed, but it's stuck in the same purgatory as every first-gen Apple product before it — beloved by reviewers, ignored by everyone else.
Final Thoughts
Until then, enjoy your spatial calculator, I guess.