Apple’s upcoming Vision Pro AR/VR headset won’t have a native Netflix app at launch, but you’ll be able to run the iPad version unmodified instead.
Watching movies on the Vision Pro’s dual-4K screens in immersive 3D environments “with a screen that feels 100 feet wide” is one of Apple’s pitches.
The Apple TV+ service will work out of the box on the Vision Pro, and many streamers will provide native apps for visionOS, Apple’s spatial computing operating system powering the device. But Netflix reportedly won’t be among them.
Netflix won’t make a native Vision Pro app
But the biggest streamer of all, Netflix, will take a pass. I’m told that the company has no current plans to develop a native app for the Vision Pro. Of course, Netflix will still let its iPad app run on the headset unmodified.
Netflix offers a native app for Meta’s Quest headsets that includes an immersive environment in a virtual living room with a massive virtual TV set.
Now, visionOS supports three types of apps, according to Apple’s website.
Three types of visionOS apps
You’ve got your native apps that are optimized for spatial computing. Native apps can run side by side in a window within the user’s shared space or take over the screen, fully immersing the user in a virtual environment.
visionOS also runs existing iPad apps unmodified.
So if Gurman is correct, then early Vision Pro adopters will be able to run the iPad version of the Netflix app as a good-enough solution.
This means no virtual environments to immerse yourself in and no giant virtual screen to watch your favorite Netflix shows. Instead, the Netflix iPad app will run in a window in your shared space alongside other apps.
$20 will become the new $1 for Vision Pro apps
The $3,500 device will need strong support from third-party developers to succeed. As the biggest streaming platform, Netflix doesn’t expose its content in Apple’s TV app and still refuses to support AirPlay and Apple’s in-app purchasing solution.
Some developers will undoubtedly wait to see how successful the headset becomes before committing significant resources into porting their apps for visionOS.
To that end, Gurman suggests that developers could justify this extra work by charging a premium for the visionOS version of their apps.
The author believes developers might get away with charging a $20 premium for a universal binary bundling the iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro versions. As for productivity (one of Vision Pro’s strong use cases), Gurman says developers could offer apps priced at $50 and $250.
From the Bloomberg article:
I wouldn’t be surprised if $20 is the new $1 for most Vision Pro apps. And we could see many of them costing between $50 and $250, especially in the graphic design or productivity categories. Games on the Vision Pro may even be priced closer to their console equivalents, somewhere in the range of $40 to $60, compared with much lower levels on the iPhone and iPad.
Apple has announced that Disney+ will create 3D interactive experiences for the Vision Pro, including Star Wars and ESPN content. Several other developers have announced support for the new platform, including Zoom and Microsoft.