A native Max app for Vision Pro will provide “a completely different experience” than the current iPhone, iPad and Apple TV apps or streaming via the Safari browser.
The native Max streaming app will let you stream HBO movies and television shows on your Apple Vision Pro headset from day one, with a WarnerMedia executive saying it’ll bring “a completely different experience” than the current Max apps.
Vision Pro owners can run existing iPad apps on their spatial computer, including the Max app. However, this feature introduces overhead that slows things down.
A native app explicitly built for visionOS will stream shows without using too much battery and provide an immersive interface optimized for spatial computing.
A native Max streaming app for Vision Pro is coming
“I’m very excited about the Apple Vision Pro launch,” wrote Adam Bader, Director of Product at Warner Bros. Discovery, shared on X (formerly Twitter).
“My team and I have been working on bringing Max to Apple Vision Pro on launch day. We can’t wait for our customers to try it!” He wouldn’t say whether WarnerMedia is planning on supporting stereoscopic 3D movies on Vision Pro.
Vision Pro owners will also be able to use the Max service in the Safari browser, but as Adam noted, “a native app offers a completely different experience.”
Apple will start taking Vision Pro pre-orders beginning this Friday, January 19. The AR/VR headset will launch at Apple’s retail stores in the United States on February 2. Vision Pro will arrive in other countries later in 2024.
It’s movie time on Vision Pro
Vision Pro lacks a single one killer app, but watching immersive video and 3D movies is apparently one of Apple’s favorite use cases for its expensive headset.
Vision Pro lets you “watch movies and TV shows from Apple TV+, Disney+, Max and other services on a screen that feels 100 feet wide with support for HDR content,” reads the Vision Pro press release.
3D movies and Apple Immersive Video
Apple has uploaded over 150 titles that can be enjoyed in stereoscopic 3D on the headset. visionOS includes support for a new entertainment format, called Apple Immersive Video, that promises to put you inside the action with “180-degree, three-dimensional 8K recordings captured with spatial audio.”
It’s unclear how much run time people can expect in terms of watching 3D movies, but expect it to be shorter than the two hours of “general use” that Apple advertises.
However, the company did say that early adopters can expect up to 2.5 hours of video playback when watching 2D movies through its TV app.