After two long years of waiting, Apple Vision Pro owners can finally watch YouTube the way it was meant to be experienced on a spatial computing headset. Google launched its official YouTube app for visionOS on Thursday, ending one of the most conspicuous app absences on Apple’s $3,499 mixed-reality device.
YouTube arrives on Vision Pro (was it worth the wait?)
The wait has been frustrating for Vision Pro users, forced to rely on Safari’s web interface or third-party workarounds since the headset’s February 2024 launch. Google initially said it had no plans to develop a dedicated app, suggesting users simply access YouTube through web browsers. That stance changed just days after the headset’s launch when YouTube added the app to its roadmap. But the actual delivery took nearly two years. That’s late-but-good news for owners of the fabulous M5 Vision Pro (read Cult of Mac’s review, “The M5 Vision Pro is still the ultimate entertainment device”).
The new app, available as a free download in the App Store, supports the full YouTube experience including standard videos, Shorts and, critically for Vision Pro users, immersive formats like 3D, 360-degree and VR180 content. A dedicated “Spatial” tab makes discovering this immersive content easier. Users with the newer M5 chip version of Vision Pro can even watch videos in 8K resolution. But early reports suggest compression issues make the quality underwhelming.
Mixed first impressions
Photo: App Store
Early reactions from reviewers of the new app have been decidedly lukewarm. The app offers spatial features like floating sidebars and video controls, functioning similarly to YouTube’s iPad app. But significant limitations frustrate some reviewers.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment: the app lacks theater mode for standard 2D videos. The massive virtual display that can hover over scenic visionOS environments simply isn’t enabled in the YouTube app. For regular YouTube watching, Safari actually provides a better experience with its theater mode support. The app seems primarily optimized for immersive 3D and VR180 content rather than the standard videos most users watch daily.
There are bugs, too. The Shorts tab currently appears blank despite being present in the interface, a puzzling omission given that vertical video would work well on the Vision Pro’s expansive display. Even TikTok managed to create a fully native Vision Pro experience, making YouTube’s stumbles more noticeable.
TechCrunch pointed out the awkward timing of the app release, noting lukewarm user engagement with the headset (with only about 45,000 units shipped in Q4 2025). The app’s arrival feels less like a vote of confidence in the platform and more like a grudging acknowledgment that Google couldn’t ignore spatial computing forever, especially as it launches its own Android XR ecosystem.
MacStories offered a more optimistic take, calling the app’s arrival “a win” for both YouTube-loving Vision Pro users and anyone hoping to see the platform mature. The site notes third-party options like Juno (which Apple removed from the App Store after Google complained about Terms of Service violations) filled the gap reasonably well, but having an official solution matters for the platform’s credibility.
What you get (and don’t get)
Photo: App Store
The app includes expected features like subscriptions, playlists, watch history access and the ability to read comments in floating boxes above videos, Neowin reported. The app works with visionOS’s built-in environments, allowing you to watch videos while surrounded by scenic virtual backdrops. Size-wise, the app weighs 180MB. It supports more than 75 languages.
What’s missing is more telling. There’s no custom YouTube environment, no optimized theater mode for regular videos, and the compression quality on even 8K VR content reportedly leaves much to be desired. Engadget succinctly captured the sentiment: navigating YouTube’s desktop interface via finger gestures in Safari was already awkward; the native app “certainly couldn’t be worse,” according to Engadget.
Was it worth the wait?
Photo: App Store
For Vision Pro owners who primarily want to explore YouTube’s growing library of spatial videos — 3D content, 360-degree videos, and VR180 experiences — the app is a clear improvement. The dedicated Spatial tab and native playback make discovering and enjoying this content significantly easier than the Safari workaround.
But for the vast majority of YouTube watching, which involves standard rectangular videos, the app feels like a bare-minimum effort. Safari actually delivers a better experience for traditional content thanks to its theater mode support. Perhaps Gizmodo put it best when calling it a reminder that Vision Pro “still has a long way to go before becoming the XR revolution Apple had hoped.”
The real question isn’t whether the app was worth the two-year wait — clearly it wasn’t. The question is whether YouTube’s arrival signals growing developer confidence in the platform, or if it’s simply Google hedging its bets as it launches competing spatial computing hardware. For now, Vision Pro users finally have official YouTube access, even if it feels more like checking a box than delivering a premium spatial computing experience.
The YouTube app for Vision Pro requires visionOS 26 or later and is compatible with both M2 and M5 chip models.
Where to download: App Store
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
